Do Comprehensive Claims Count Against You?

Filing an auto insurance claim often raises concerns about premium increases. Understanding how comprehensive claims, which cover incidents beyond a driver’s control, affect your policy is important for managing insurance costs.

What Comprehensive Coverage Is

Comprehensive auto insurance protects your vehicle from damage not caused by a collision. It covers “other than collision” events like theft or vandalism.

Coverage also extends to damage from natural disasters like hail, floods, wildfires, falling objects, or striking an animal. While often optional, lenders require comprehensive coverage for financed or leased vehicles.

How Comprehensive Claims Affect Your Policy

Comprehensive claims are “no-fault” and don’t involve another driver’s liability, but they can still influence insurance rates. A single claim may not significantly increase premiums. However, multiple comprehensive claims over time could signal increased risk to an insurer, potentially leading to rate adjustments.

All claims become part of a policyholder’s claims history, recorded in reports like the Comprehensive Loss Underwriting Exchange (CLUE) report, which details up to seven years of claims history. Insurers use this report to assess risk when you apply for new coverage or renew a policy. An unusually high number of comprehensive claims might suggest an elevated risk profile, potentially affecting insurability or leading to non-renewal of a policy.

It is important to remember that comprehensive claims are subject to a deductible. This is the amount you must pay out-of-pocket before your insurance coverage begins to pay for the damages. The deductible amount is chosen when you purchase the policy, and selecting a higher deductible generally results in a lower premium, though it means greater out-of-pocket expense if a claim is filed. Before filing a comprehensive claim, it can be beneficial to compare the estimated repair cost with your deductible to determine if filing a claim is financially advantageous.

Distinguishing Comprehensive Claims from Other Claims

Comprehensive claims are treated differently by insurers compared to other common types of auto insurance claims, such as collision and liability claims, primarily due to their non-collision, no-fault nature. Collision claims cover damage to your vehicle from an accident involving another vehicle or object, regardless of fault. These claims, especially those where the policyholder is at fault, are typically more likely to result in significant premium increases.

Liability claims, which cover damage or injuries you cause to others in an accident, have the most substantial impact on insurance rates. This is because liability coverage directly relates to negligence and can involve high payouts for bodily injury and property damage. Unlike liability and collision claims, comprehensive claims generally involve events outside the driver’s control, such as theft, vandalism, or natural disasters.

While the “no-fault” aspect of comprehensive claims often mitigates their negative impact on premiums compared to at-fault incidents, it does not mean there is no impact at all. Insurers may still view a history of comprehensive claims as an indicator of increased risk, even if the events were unavoidable. However, the premium increase for a comprehensive claim is typically much less severe than for collision or liability claims.