People often ask me why they should carry collision coverage on their vehicles. It’s expensive. This is what I tell them. When you’re in an accident and it’s your fault, your insurance company will pay for the repair or the value of the vehicle less your deductible. That can be a pretty large expense to have to pay for if you don’t carry collision coverage. You can’t plan when an accident is going to occur and quite often it’s at the worst times financially.

If the accident is not your fault, you do have the ability to go after the other driver’s insurance. However, this process takes quite a bit longer because the opposing insurance company has the right to conduct an investigation into the circumstances of the accident before paying out. When you do have collision coverage, your insurance company gets it done quickly and then goes after the other insurance company for reimbursement. Your life can be put on hold for weeks if you are left without a vehicle while the investigation is ongoing.

If you are in an accident with a vehicle whose state does not require insurance coverage like New Hampshire, without collision coverage you would be forced to go after that uninsured person either in small claims court or in district court to recover the cost of your damage. This could get expensive if you have to hire a lawyer to pursue it as well as the time factor involved in recovering the money.

There is one exception I can think of when it’s not worth having collision coverage and that is when your vehicle is not worth more than the cost of what the collision coverage would cost you yearly.

Leased vehicles will always require that you carry collision coverage.

Anytime a person is involved in an accident, it’s a real inconvenience and sometimes it’s worth minimizing that inconvenience if at all possible.