When a comprehensive insurance is worthwhile for you

When comprehensive insurance is worthwhile for you

If you’ve got yourself a new car for a lot of money, nothing would be worse than not having a drivable car or the money a few months later due to an accident. That is why there is comprehensive insurance that pays for damage to your own vehicle. Whether fully comprehensive or partially comprehensive insurance makes sense for you depends primarily on the age and value of your car. If you have a very old vehicle, comprehensive insurance is usually not necessary. Then a motor vehicle liability insurance is sufficient – which you cannot avoid anyway.

Did you drive significantly less car than you thought in the wake of the corona pandemic? This tip can be particularly worthwhile for commuters who now work from home:

Report to your car insurance company that your mileage has decreased for the current insurance year. If the difference is big enough, your insurance company will reimburse you for part of your premium. You should do this as quickly as possible because some companies only adjust the premium from the date you report. How exactly you should proceed and which insurances reimburse retrospectively (and which not), we keep up to date for you in our blog post.

When does the partially comprehensive insurance pay, when does the fully comprehensive insurance?

Partial comprehensive insurance comes into play, for example, if your car is stolen, burns down or you collide with an animal on the country road.

The partially comprehensive cover usually covers the following damage:

• Theft,
• Robbery and embezzlement,
• Fire and explosion,
• Storm damage such as storms,
• lightning strikes, hail, and floods,
• Damage caused by collisions with the feral game (deer or wild boar),
• Marten bites on cables, hoses, and wires,
• Cable damage due to short circuit,
• Glass breakage, for example, due to falling rocks.

If you want to be covered in the event of accidents and vandalism that you are responsible for, you need fully comprehensive insurance. The partially comprehensive insurance does not pay for this damage. The fully comprehensive insurance, on the other hand, reimburses all damage to your own car.

What else should partial and fully comprehensive insurance cover?

With comprehensive insurance, there are benefits that you should not do without.

No objection to gross negligence – If your insurance contract contains this clause, the insurer will also pay in full if you cause damage to your car through gross negligence. He waives his right to a “plea of ​​gross negligence”. Examples: You run over a red traffic light, drive too fast, or write messages on your cell phone and cause an accident in the process. The insurance does not cover cases in which you have an accident under the influence of alcohol or drugs or if you allow your car to be stolen through gross negligence.

Marten bites with consequential damage – Martens like to hide in warm engine compartments, especially during the mating season in spring. There they nibble on hoses and cables. This can lead to expensive damage. Some providers only assume direct damage to hoses, brake lines, and wiring. Other tariffs also replace the consequential damage. A study that we did for you shows: You often get this additional protection for free. If there is an extra charge, it is usually low.

Extended Game Damage Coverage – This extension has become standard. Without it, the comprehensive insurance only paid for accidents with wild animals such as deer or wild boar. With it, you are also insured if you collide with other animals – for example with cows or horses on the country road.

Replacement value compensation – With fully comprehensive insurance, you should make sure that the insurer pays the replacement value of your car as long as possible in the event of a total loss. Up to 24 months after initial registration are ideal. Otherwise, you only get the current value, which drops very quickly, especially with new vehicles.

Fully comprehensive or partially comprehensive – when is it worthwhile?

Whether fully comprehensive or partially comprehensive insurance is worthwhile for you depends primarily on the age and value of your car.

Fully comprehensive insurance for new and valuable cars
Fully comprehensive insurance is usually worthwhile for new vehicles during the first three to five years. After this time you should consider switching to partial coverage.

It can be worthwhile for you, even with an older car, to remain fully comprehensive. Because there is no- claims discount in partial comprehensive insurance – but there is in fully comprehensive insurance. This means that the fully comprehensive, in contrast to the partially comprehensive, is cheaper every year if you are traveling without damage. As a result, the prices of partially and fully comprehensive insurance can be close to each other depending on the vehicle type, place of residence, and the SF class. To decide between partial and fully comprehensive insurance, you should therefore compare offers. You can read how in our car insurance guide.

Also, be careful if you finance your car through leasing or a loan. Then you should usually take out fully comprehensive insurance. In this case, also remember to arrange GAP coverage.

Partial coverage makes sense for older cars
In most cases, fully comprehensive insurance is no longer worthwhile if a car has clearly lost value after a few years. Then partial coverage is sufficient. If your car is stolen, for example, the partial coverage usually replaces the current value of the car. Since this is getting lower and lower, you can even save the partial coverage for very old cars with hardly any residual value. A motor vehicle liability insurance is sufficient for these vehicles.

How can you save on comprehensive insurance?

You can lower the price of your comprehensive insurance by agreeing on a deductible. We regularly examine for you how high the savings potential is: most recently in our study in August 2021. We recommend that you agree to a deductible of 150 or 300 euros in the partial coverage. In our study, we were able to reduce the premiums by an average of 18 percent with a deductible of 150 euros and by 25 percent with 300$.

If you opt for fully comprehensive insurance, we recommend a deductible of 300$. We cannot express in numbers how high your savings potential is through this deductible. Because many insurance companies do not offer fully comprehensive cover without a deductible – we cannot, therefore, make a meaningful comparison between offers with and without fully comprehensive cover.

The car model and place of residence also influence the price
How much you pay with comprehensive insurance also depends on the type of vehicle. For a 3 Series BMW, you have to pay roughly higher contributions than for an Audi A4 with comparable performance – even though both are mid-range cars. Different statistics flow into the type class, for example how often the respective model is stolen.

In addition to the type class, the region in which you are registered also plays a role for the post – or simply your zip code. Because depending on the region, storms or vandalism, for example, occur more or less frequently. These statistics are taken into account in the regional class.

Your way to the cheapest car insurance

You can only find the cheapest car insurance if you compare several providers. Our large survey of car insurance shows that it is best to combine at least two comparisons. Because not all insurers are represented on all comparison portals.

Save with a combination of comparison portal and direct insurer. First, simply calculate the cheapest suitable vehicle insurance either on Gabi or State Farm. Then get an offer from Metromile. And then conclude the contract with the cheapest provider. How you can find the right car insurance on a comparison portal is explained in our guide to changing car insurance.