Collision insurance is possibly one of the most misunderstood types of policies drivers get confused about. Of course, there are many aspects of car insurance policies that can get confusing, collision insurance seems to leave people unsure of what they are actually getting. The problem is, without a clear understanding you could end up thinking you have more coverage than you actually do.

Here’s the basic run down on what collision insurance is:

• Collision car insurance is meant to cover your vehicle’s repairs in the event you are in an accident involving another vehicle.

That may sound simple yet too many drivers find out once they have a wreck that their collision auto coverage doesn’t cover as much as they had thought or hoped. Where the confusion comes in is what type of collision is included. In most cases, collision coverage does not include:

• an accident involving an animal
• an accident in which you, the driver, strikes a structure like a home
• a wreck in which you, the driver, make contact with any type of personal or public property like a fence, mailbox, guard rail, business sign or street light for example
• In other words, this insurance doesn’t cover a collision with anything other than another car.

To have coverage for most of these types of collisions you generally need to have extra coverage. In most cases, comprehensive car insurance is what drivers use to make sure these other types of collisions are covered. It is also important to make sure your collision auto policy covers medical bills you could incur unless you have your own private health insurance that would help with medical expenses.

So Who Needs it?

In most cases, drivers who have a car of value that is paid off may get collision as opposed to just liability in order to have the cost of their car covered. In the event of an accident in which you are at fault your repair or replacement bills would be fully or partially covered, depending on the amount of coverage you have.

If you have a financed car you will have to carry collision insurance coverage, usually in addition to things like comprehensive and possibly even gap insurance. The reason for this is that the lender will want to make sure you have the car insured well enough so that if you total it the car will be covered. The good news is that there are no states in which collision auto insurance coverage is required. Although almost every state requires drivers to carry some level of car insurance, this usually ranges between liability and no-fault car insurance.

If you think you want or need collision auto insurance coverage it is time to get an idea of what kind of rates you could be looking at. By using just your zip code you can get this kind of information right away. Find out now just how affordable collision insurance could be for you.