Car Insurance That Covers Repairs to Your Car: What You Need to Know
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Most states legally require drivers to have a minimum amount of auto insurance. However, the legally mandated minimums are rarely enough to cover the costs of a collision, theft, or other damage to your vehicle. Moreover, basic insurance policies often don't cover mechanical issues and routine maintenance. That's why many drivers opt for car insurance that pays for repairs to their car and other costs.
But what do you actually need? Is there such a thing as too much insurance? What do different types of coverage work? We answer all that and more here.
Types of Car Insurance Coverage
There are several types of car insurance coverage, some of which you may be familiar with and some of which may be new to you:
Most states require basic liability coverage. Most also require uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage, but the rest are optional. The two most common car insurance types that pay for repairs are comprehensive and collision insurance.
Review the insurance requirements of your state:
Car Repair Insurance vs. Extended Warranties
When you buy or lease a car, you likely can sign up for an extended warranty. However, it's important to note this is different from car repair insurance.
Extended car warranties may pay for routine maintenance or cover mechanical issues with your car up to a certain amount. While an extended warranty can lower your maintenance costs, it's an additional charge separate from your insurance costs. It may also have limitations on specialty repairs and fixes to mechanical failures.
An auto insurance policy with collision and comprehensive coverage is necessary to pay for accidents, theft, and other damage to your car. When you add car repair insurance to a policy, you get even more coverage that is very similar to what's covered by an extended warranty. However, it will not cover routine maintenance.
Rather than pay for both insurance and a warranty, different types of car insurance and optional coverages allow you to give your car more complete protection for a single insurance premium.
What Repairs Are Typically Covered?
Insurance policies vary between auto insurance companies and optional coverages, but most collision and comprehensive coverage plans cover repairs from accidents, mechanical failures, and specialty repairs. Car repair insurance goes even further.
Repairs from accidents
Collision insurance covers accidents with other vehicles or from hitting objects like guardrails or street signs, whether you were at fault or not. With comprehensive coverage, you'll also have car insurance that pays for repairs to your car from natural disasters, theft, vandalism, and possibly more events.
Mechanical failures
Comprehensive insurance doesn't always cover mechanical failures, but mechanical breakdown insurance does. With mechanical breakdown insurance, your insurance provider will likely pay for roadside assistance, towing costs, and the costs to repair the mechanical issue after your deductible.>
Components typically covered by car repair insurance include:
- Air conditioning
- Brake system
- Convenience technology like a convertible top, keyless entry, and sunroof
- Cooling and heating systems
- Drive axle
- Electrical systems
- Engine
- Exhaust
- Fuel systems
- Safety technology like cameras
- Steering components
- Suspension systems
- Transmission
Specialty repairs
As you can see from the list above, car repair insurance is often extensive, covering all major vehicle components. That's particularly useful if you drive a luxury, foreign, or electric vehicle, as maintenance can get expensive for these cars. Parts are more expensive for luxury and foreign cars, while electric cars have more unique components that require special care. Car repair insurance can help cover those higher costs, especially if an extended warranty does not cover specialty repairs.
Common Exclusions in Car Insurance Coverage
Depending on the insurance provider and optional coverages you get, an insurance policy can provide a lot of protection for your vehicle. However, there are some common exclusions to note.
Routine maintenance
One main difference between an extended warranty and car repair insurance is that routine maintenance is excluded from car insurance coverage. Oil changes, tune-ups, and tire rotations will typically not be covered.
Wear and tear
Car insurance does not usually cover impacts from wear and tear like corrosion and rust, worn brake pads and tires, and damage caused by improper maintenance.
Pre-existing conditions
Like many health insurance policies, insurance providers rarely agree to cover pre-existing conditions. If your car already has a damaged fender and you're hoping to get a new insurance policy before getting it fixed, you're probably out of luck.
How To Lower Insurance Costs
Insurance premiums rise when you get more comprehensive car insurance, but there are still many ways to save. One of the best ways to do this is to use EverQuote's comparison tools to shop and compare different coverage options depending on your needs. Not only can you get collision and comprehensive coverage, but you can also shop for car insurance that pays for repairs to your car.
Other good ways to save include:
- Increasing deductibles: The more you agree to pay out of pocket before making the insurance company pay, the lower your monthly premiums will be.
- Bundling policies: Many insurance providers offer discounts for bundling home and auto insurance or insuring multiple cars and drivers.
- Maintaining a good driving record: Safer drivers pay lower insurance premiums, so it's in your best interest to avoid accidents and traffic violations that can damage your record.