Collision & comprehensive

Collision and comprehensive are the two optional coverages on an auto policy that pay to repair or replace your own vehicle. Liability pays other people; these pay you. Together they're often nicknamed "full coverage," but that phrase isn't an official coverage type — it's just shorthand for carrying both alongside your required liability.

What each one covers

Collision pays for damage to your car from a crash — hitting another vehicle, hitting an object like a guardrail, or a single-car rollover. Fault doesn't matter for whether it applies; the coverage responds either way.

Comprehensive pays for almost everything else that can damage a car: theft, vandalism, fire, hail, falling trees, flood, and animal strikes. A simple way to hold it — collision is "I hit something," comprehensive is "something happened to my car that wasn't a crash."

When they're required

Neither coverage is required by Massachusetts law. But if you finance or lease your vehicle, the lender or leasing company will almost always require both until the loan is paid off or the lease ends. Once you own the car outright, keeping or dropping either coverage is your call.

How to think about the choice

Both coverages carry a deductible you choose (typically $500 or $1,000), and both are priced based on the car's value. As a vehicle ages and loses value, the ceiling on what insurance will pay out shrinks — while your premium for that coverage doesn't drop as quickly. On an older car worth a few thousand dollars, the annual premium for collision may be a meaningful fraction of what you'd ever get back after a total loss. The right question is whether you could comfortably replace the car out of pocket if it were totaled tomorrow.