Your comprehensive insurance coverage is designed to help you pay for damage that isn’t caused in a collision, like vandalism or natural disasters. But what happens if you’re driving along, and a pebble flies up from the road and cracks your windshield? Or what if a bored kid with a baseball bat comes strutting through your neighborhood in the middle of the night bashing in windshields?

Now your vehicle needs a new windshield, which could set you back hundreds! Unfortunately, your auto insurance deductible is $500, meaning that you’ll pay for almost all of the damage out of your own pocket. What’s a perturbed car owner to do?

Well, if you’ve added glass coverage to your policy, then what you won’t be doing is paying completely on your own for a new windshield. Full glass coverage pays the amount of a covered glass loss, and as an added perk, it has a low deductible or no deductible. Your insurer will cover the full costs of the repairs up to your policy limit, and as long as the costs of the damage doesn’t exceed your coverage limit, you’ll pay only your small deductible.

Why Do Auto Insurance Companies Use Glass Deductibles?

To understand why auto insurance companies use glass replacement deductibles, you have to understand why deductibles are used in the first place.

Deductibles are used as a measure to control the number of claims filed. Say that you have 2,000 people in your neighborhood and everyone gets into a car accident. If no one had to pay a deductible, then every single person would file a claim, regardless of how minor or extensive the damage done to their vehicle. However, if everyone had a $1,000 deductible, only those whose vehicle sustained more than $1,000 of damage would file a claim.

The higher your deductible, the less likely you are to file a claim. This makes you less risky to insure, which is why high deductibles and low premiums tend to go hand-in-hand.

There’s a downside, though. If you have a $1,000 deductible and you’re in an accident that results in $1,200 of glass damage, your insurer will only cover $200 of damage, rendering your coverage almost useless. Because of this, you’ll likely not file an auto insurance claim. If you added glass coverage to your auto insurance policy, you may only pay a $100 deductible, and your insurer will cover the rest.

Adding Glass Coverage

Generally speaking, glass coverage is a part of your comprehensive auto insurance coverage. If your vehicle was vandalized and your windshield was shattered, you would file a claim under your comprehensive coverage and pay your deductible. If you had a $750 deductible and the cost of replacing your windshield was $800, then you would be paying for the bulk of the replacement cost. A glass replacement deductible is optional coverage that can be added to some auto insurance policies. This coverage reduces the deductible specifically for glass damage to your vehicle’s windshield.

Allow Nevada Insurance Enrollment To Help You

Talk to an experienced auto insurance agent to review your policy and discuss how adding glass coverage can protect you and your family from the unexpected.