Collision vs Comprehensive Coverage: The Real Difference (2025)

My neighbor Carl came over last weekend while I was trying to wrangle Comprehensive back into the yard (the chicken, she’s an escape artist, I swear she waits for me to turn my back) and he’s all panicked because a tree branch fell on his truck during that windstorm we had. Big dent in the hood, cracked windshield, the whole thing. And he goes “I’m filing a collision claim first thing Monday.”

No Carl. That’s not collision. That’s comprehensive.

He looked at me like I’d grown a second head. “But my truck COLLIDED with a branch.” I mean. Technically? But that’s not how it works and honestly the naming is stupid and confusing and I spent six years explaining this exact distinction to people on the phone so I get why nobody understands it.

So here’s the deal, and I’m gonna make this as simple as I can because insurance companies sure as hell don’t want you to understand this stuff.

Collision = your car hit something while you were driving

That’s it. That’s collision. You were driving, you hit a thing. Another car. A guardrail. A pole you didn’t see backing up. That shopping cart in the Costco parking lot that somehow rolled directly into your path even though there was nobody around and I’m still convinced those things are possessed.

If your car was in motion and it hit something because of driving, collision coverage handles it.

Comprehensive = literally everything else that damages your car

Theft. Vandalism. Weather stuff—hail, floods, that tornado that came through last year. Fire. Falling objects (like Carl’s tree branch). Hitting animals. Some dude breaking your window to steal the change in your cupholder which happened to my coworker once and they took like $3.47 in quarters and caused $800 in damage, cool cool cool.

Comprehensive is sometimes called “other than collision” coverage which honestly is a way better name but nobody uses it because insurance companies like being confusing I guess.

The deer thing (I explained this probably 10,000 times)

Okay this is the one that made people actually yell at me on the phone. Ready?

If you’re driving and a deer runs out and you HIT THE DEER—like the deer impacts your car—that’s comprehensive. Animal collision. Comprehensive covers it.

BUT. If a deer runs out and you swerve to AVOID the deer and hit a tree? That’s collision. Your car hit a tree. Doesn’t matter that the deer caused you to swerve. Your damage came from hitting a stationary object while driving. Collision.

Same deer. Two different coverages. Two potentially different deductibles.

“That’s the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard” is something I heard approximately one million times during my adjusting years. And like. Yeah. I agree. But I didn’t make the rules, I just had to explain them to increasingly angry people.

There are over 1 million crashes involving deer each year according to highway safety data. So this isn’t some hypothetical—if you live anywhere with deer, this distinction matters.

This matters because if your comprehensive deductible is lower than your collision deductible—which is pretty common—hitting the deer directly is actually cheaper for you than swerving into a tree. I am NOT telling you to hit deer on purpose. Please don’t do that. Deer are big and can come through your windshield and kill you. I’m just saying the system is weird and you should understand how it works before you’re in a situation where it matters.

Real claims I processed (names changed obviously)

Collision claims:

Guy checking his phone at a red light, rear-ended the car in front of him. Classic collision, 100% his fault, his rates went up, I felt kinda bad but also dude put your phone down.

Woman slid on ice and took out a fire hydrant. Which then EXPLODED and flooded the entire intersection. Her car damage was collision. The fire hydrant and water damage to nearby stuff was her liability coverage. That was a fun file to work on. (I’m being sarcastic. It was a nightmare.)

Teenager learning to drive backed into his family’s mailbox. Same mailbox. Three times in two months. All collision claims. I genuinely felt bad for that family’s premiums.

Comprehensive claims:

Car stolen from a mall parking lot two days before Christmas. Lady was absolutely devastated. That one stuck with me.

A frozen turkey—I am not making this up—flew off a truck on the highway and went through someone’s windshield. Falling object. Comprehensive. The insurance photos were wild.

Someone’s ex keyed their car. Vandalism. Comprehensive. Also very awkward to process because you could tell there was A Whole Situation there.

Deer claims. So many deer claims. I worked in Oregon and deer claims were like… constant. Especially fall and early winter. Deer are dumb and they’re everywhere and they will absolutely run directly into the side of your moving car at 6am.

Which one costs more?

Collision. Almost always collision is the more expensive coverage. This makes sense if you think about it—car accidents happen way more often than car thefts or hailstorms. And collision claims tend to be bigger.

According to NAIC industry data, the average collision claim is around $4,800 while comprehensive claims average like $1,300. Getting rear-ended does more damage than a hailstorm usually.

So collision coverage has higher premiums. That’s why some people drop collision on older cars—if your car’s only worth $3,000 and you’re paying $600 a year for collision coverage with a $1,000 deductible… do that math. Even if you total the car you’re getting $2,000 max. Some people decide it’s not worth it.

I’m not saying you should drop collision. I’m saying understand what you’re paying for and whether it makes sense for your situation.

Does filing claims raise your rates?

Probably. But it depends.

Collision claims—especially at-fault ones—tend to hit your rates harder. You rear-ended someone, that’s on you, insurance companies see you as higher risk now, rates go up. Drivers pay something like $500-600 more per year after an at-fault collision claim according to most industry analyses.

Comprehensive claims usually don’t hit as hard because they’re not your fault. A deer ran into you. Hail fell from the sky. Someone stole your car. None of that says anything about how you drive. Some insurers don’t raise rates at all for comprehensive claims.

HOWEVER. If you file a ton of claims—even comprehensive ones—your rates might still go up because you’re costing them money regardless of fault. Like if you live somewhere with constant hail and you’re filing every season, eventually they’re gonna do something about that.

When you maybe shouldn’t file a claim

And this is where it gets stupid—sometimes having coverage doesn’t mean you should use it.

If your damage is $800 and your deductible is $500, insurance is only paying $300. Is it worth a potential rate increase and a claim on your record for $300? For most people, no.

My general rule: if the insurance payout (damage minus deductible) is less than like $500-700, think really hard about whether filing is worth it. Get an estimate first. Do the math. Sometimes paying out of pocket is the smarter move long-term.

This sucks and I hate that it’s true. You’re paying for insurance! You should be able to use it! But the system is what it is.

So what should you actually do

If your car is worth more than like $5,000, you probably want both collision and comprehensive. Pick deductibles you can actually afford—don’t do the $1,000 deductible just to save $15 a month if you can’t actually come up with $1,000 in an emergency.

Consider making your comprehensive deductible lower than collision. You can’t control weather or theft or deer, so you might as well make those situations cheaper when they happen. Collision is more often driver-related so some people are comfortable with a higher deductible there.

And just—read your policy. I know it’s boring. I know insurance documents make your eyes glaze over. But find your declarations page (the summary with all your coverages) and understand what you have. Before you need it.

Carl still filed his claim wrong by the way. Had to call his insurance company and explain the tree branch situation. They switched it to comprehensive. His deductible was lower. Everything worked out.

Comprehensive the chicken is currently sitting on my back porch looking at me through the window. She knows she’s not supposed to be there. I gotta go deal with this. But yeah—collision is for driving accidents, comprehensive is for everything else. That’s the whole thing.