Recent Reports Put Spotlight on Comprehensive Auto Insurance

RANCHO CUCAMONGA, CA, October 12, 2010 (Press-News.org) Recently released reports show that there were more than 2 million vehicle-deer collisions in the past two years and nearly 800,000 auto thefts that occurred in 2009, meaning that a huge amount of people have come across car-related financial hurdles that they may not have expected. Although not all automobile owners may know it, standard auto insurance liability policies are not likely to cover costs related to these types of incidents.

Property damage liability policies required by most states generally provide no protection for the policyholder's property. Rather, the coverage afforded by these plans goes to pay for the other parties' costs that resulted from damages caused by the policyholder. To cover damages to an insured vehicle, the owner needs to add comprehensive insurance to a policy.

Although some people might assume that collision coverage would cover a crash with an animal, this type of accident is actually covered under a comprehensive policy, as is theft.

Source: http://www.newjersey.gov/dobi/division_consumers/insurance/basicpolicy.shtml

According to the National Association of Insurance Commissioners, the average expenditure on comprehensive protection in the United States in 2007 was $136. Although prices have changed since then, consumers can compare auto insurance quotes online to see how much extra it would be to get protection against these specific types of losses.

If the associated costs still seem to be a little too high, shoppers can run the same comparison again with a higher deductible -- though it should be taken into account that higher deductibles will require greater out-of-pocket expenses when paying for a claim.

According to this year's State Farm Deer-Vehicle Collision Frequency report, drivers in West Virginia, Michigan and Iowa are most likely to have such a collision. The report indicates that the likelihood of a driver in these states hitting a deer in the next year is between one-in-42 and one-in-70, with the property damage costs from these accidents averaging $3,103.

To learn more about different coverage types and to get a free rate comparison, consumers can go to http://www.onlineautoinsurance.com/quotes/ where they can access articles and make use of the quote-comparison generator.