Generally, the dents and scratches are covered by car insurance. Before going into details, we will briefly discuss the types of drivers depending upon their knowledge about insurance claims.
- Driver type 1: With long-time experience in road traffic, he knows the differences between motor vehicle liability, partial insurance, and comprehensive insurance. He is aware of the types of damage that are insured and where the benefits of the respective insurance are. Therefore, he knows exactly when which insurance makes sense and when not.
- Driver type 2: He knows that motor vehicle liability insurance is required by law and applies to damage caused to others by his vehicle. He is also aware that partial and full insurance is voluntary and insures additional risks. However, he cannot say which they are. He is also not necessarily sure when comprehensive insurance makes sense and when not.
Be honest: you recognize yourself more in type 2? Then you should be in the vast majority. Very few road users can specify exactly what types of damage are insured under what circumstances and with what restrictions. You don’t have to either – here is an overview in a compact format.
In fact, this insurance is required by law. The proof is required when the vehicle is registered. The cover card used to be used for this, today the EVB number is sufficient. You will receive this “electronic insurance confirmation” (EVB number) immediately after taking out your car insurance, often directly online or by e-mail.
Table of Contents
What does car liability insurance pay?
Motor vehicle liability insurance only applies if the damage was caused by the use of the vehicle. “Use” means driving, boarding and alighting, loading and unloading as well as washing or refueling. The following damage is usually insured:
- Property damage to third-party property.
- Personal injury caused by an accident you caused.
- Financial losses for which no persons or property precedes.
- How is the premium for motor vehicle liability calculated?
The premium rates are e.g. B. depending on the vehicle type and type as well as on the profession, the place of residence and the damage-free class (SF class) of the insured person. The longer you drive damage-free, the higher the discount on the basic premium. Cars can be credited for up to 50 years (SF class 50) since 2019, previously it was a maximum of 35 years.
If you wish, you can also take out comprehensive insurance. This pays (in contrast to motor vehicle liability) if your own vehicle is damaged. Comprehensive insurance is divided into partial and full insurance.
What does partial insurance pay?
The third-party insurance covers, among others, the following risks:
- Fire and explosion
- Wildlife accidents
- Breakage of the glazing
- (Parts) theft and robbery
- Animal bite damage like (“marten damage”)
- Immediate weather effects (hail, flood, a storm from wind force, and lightning).
What does partial insurance cost?
The premium is calculated e.g. B. depending on the place of residence of the driver, the vehicle type and the amount of the deductible per claim. The deductible regulates the extent to which you contribute to the repair costs. The higher the deductible, the cheaper is premium.
- Advantage: Partial insurance covers the most common claims and is usually cheap.
- Disadvantage: Accidents caused by you and vandalism are not covered. No-claims discounts are not granted.
What does comprehensive insurance include?
The comprehensive insurance covers all services of the third party insurance, and also still pays for damage to the vehicle, which can result from human intervention. This includes:
- Accident damage to the vehicle caused by the policyholder (personal debt).
- Damage including dents and scratches caused by undetectable people after driver flight.
- Vandalism.
Scratches and comprehensive insurance
It happened quickly, briefly not paying attention and the vehicle has a scratch or a dent. It’s always annoying, but even more so with a new vehicle. Fortunately, there is comprehensive insurance for such mishaps. But does the comprehensive insurance always help if you cause damage to your own vehicle?
This question is easy to answer. Fully comprehensive insurance generally pays all self-inflicted accident-related damage to your vehicle. There are a few exceptions, however. For example, driving under the influence of alcohol should be mentioned here. This is grossly negligent and cannot be covered. Damage caused intentionally cannot be insured. The consequences would be, among other things, higher premiums for all insured persons – and who wants to have higher costs just because the neighbor with two per thousand causes one accident after the other or urgently needs money and therefore z. B. damaged his car?
What does the comprehensive insurance cost?
The premium is calculated in a similar way to partial insurance – however, a no-claims discount similar to motor vehicle liability applies. The higher your damage-free discount, the cheaper the full insurance – in individual cases, even cheaper than the partial insurance. It can even be worthwhile to pay for small damages yourself; then you will not be downgraded in the damage-free class after an accident.
The bottom line is fully comprehensive insurance. This makes sense, for example, if it is a high-priced new or used vehicle, if you drive a lot yourself and let other people drive, or if the vehicle is financed or leased (the credit bank usually insists on fully comprehensive insurance).
Fully comprehensive insurance is always more expensive than partial comprehensive insurance?
If you take out car insurance for a relatively new vehicle, the question arises: fully comprehensive or only partially comprehensive? Full insurance is definitely always more expensive than partial insurance. After all, it also offers significantly more performance. What do you think is true?
Basically, it is correct that fully comprehensive insurance costs more than partial comprehensive insurance. But it can also be the other way around. Then, however, there must always be several favorable circumstances. The policyholder must be fully comprehensive in a very high damage-free class – this does not exist for partial insurance. He also has to live in a region in which insurance companies have to pay very different amounts for fully or partially comprehensive damage. In addition, it also depends on the vehicle itself.
- Advantage: The comprehensive insurance covers most of the damages to the vehicle, including self-caused, and grants freedom-of-damage discounts.
- Disadvantage: With comprehensive insurance, you are on the safe side – but not necessarily on the cheapest.
Final Thoughts:
Long story short scratches and dents can be reimbursed depending on the type of vehicle insurance plan you are signed up with. Third-party insurance will not help you with scratches and dents on your own car and will only pay for the damages of other people’s vehicles. So with that said, if you have fully comprehensive car insurance then you are able to claim where you see fit in the respect to the terms and conditions of your plan.
If you are looking for cheaper car insurance then click here and fill out some info to check the available rewards and deals in your state/area/country.