Fully or partially comprehensive insurance. What is the difference?

A storm leaves its mark on your car. A pillar gets in the way as you are reversing out of a parking space. A deer appears out of nowhere on a country road and it is too late for you to stop. Damage to your vehicle can happen in the blink of an eye. And the costs can add up very quickly, too.

With our comprehensive insurance policies, we cover the costs of loss and damage to your car. Read this guide to find out which kind of cover is best for you.

Partially comprehensive cover assumes the costs of loss or damage to your car for which you are not at fault. Examples of this include marten bites, hail damage, theft and glass breakage. Collision cover also insures damage to your vehicle that you cause yourself in a collision – such as if you scrape a pillar while parking or run into the back of another vehicle in a traffic jam. 

The combination of partially comprehensive and collision cover is referred to as fully comprehensive insurance.

All of a sudden there is a pebble lodged in your windscreen. One morning, you go out of the house and your motorbike is nowhere to be found. Our partially comprehensive insurance is there for you in cases like these. It covers almost all types of loss and damage for which you are not at fault, such as:

• Damage caused by rodents and martens
• Damage to glass parts in your car
• Theft
• Damage caused by natural hazards such as hail and flooding
• Collisions with wild animals

With the “parked-vehicle damage” add-on, you can also insure damage that occurs to your vehicle when it is parked – such as when you come out of the supermarket to discover a scratch on your car that definitely was not there before. Find out exactly how this works in our guide to parked-vehicle damage.

And for even more extensive cover, we recommend fully comprehensive insurance for your car.

Fully comprehensive insurance offers real all-round protection as it includes both partially comprehensive and collision cover.

All the benefits of partially comprehensive insurance are provided, and the fully comprehensive component additionally insures damage resulting from collisions that you cause yourself. Such as when you drive into your garage just a little too energetically, or when a rear-end collision demolishes not only the other party’s bumper but also your own fender.

Fully comprehensive insurance is primarily worthwhile for new cars, expensive models and inexperienced drivers. It is mandatory for leased vehicles.

As mentioned above, fully comprehensive insurance provides more extensive cover than partially comprehensive insurance. As a result, it is generally more expensive. The premium for comprehensive insurance depends on various factors, such as the model and age of your vehicle and the agreed deductible – the more you pay yourself in the event of a claim, the lower the premium.

Furthermore, the rule in collision cover is that if you cause a claim, your premium will increase. You can take out our no-claims bonus protection for your car insurance to prevent this from happening. As long as you do not make more than one claim per year, your bonus level will remain the same.

Would you like to calculate the cost of partially or fully comprehensive insurance?

Don’t forget to include your insurance premium in the maintenance costs for your car.

It is entirely up to you whether to take out fully or partially comprehensive insurance.

In general, we recommend partially comprehensive insurance for vehicles that are more than five years old. It makes most sense if:

• Your car is potentially exposed to fire, natural hazards (hail, storms, flooding, etc.), theft, collisions with animals, glass breakages and damage caused by marten bites
• You are willing to pay the costs of collision damage yourself

Partially comprehensive cover is usually a good option for used cars, too. Click here for tips on buying a used car.

Fully comprehensive insurance is most worthwhile for newer vehicles during the first three to five years of use.  It also makes sense if:

• Your vehicle is leased – fully comprehensive cover is always compulsory for leased vehicles
• Other people drive your vehicle as well as you
• Your vehicle is used by new drivers, as the risk of accident is particularly high in this category of drivers

Find out more about insurance for new cars here.