How to use the full coverage check
Pull out your declarations page. It usually lists the premium for each coverage. Add the collision and comprehensive amounts and make sure the total is for a full year. If your policy is for six months, double it.
Next, find a realistic value for your car today. Then enter the deductible. If your two coverages have different deductibles, using the higher one gives a cautious estimate.
How the check works
When a car is totaled, collision or comprehensive usually pays its actual cash value, which is the cost to replace it minus depreciation (Texas Department of Insurance, accessed October 2026). You pay the deductible first. So the most these coverages can pay is roughly the car’s value minus your deductible. The tool compares your yearly cost with that amount.
A second worked example
What the result means
| Result | What it means | What you might do |
|---|---|---|
| Keep (below 10%) | The yearly cost is small compared with what the coverage could pay | Keep the coverage; review again next year |
| Review (10% or more) | You pay a large share of the possible payout each year | Compare a higher deductible, dropping one coverage, or keeping it if you could not replace the car |
| No payout | Your deductible is as large as the car’s value | Collision and comprehensive cannot pay anything on a total loss |
The Insurance Information Institute suggests that if your car is worth less than 10 times the premium, collision and comprehensive may not be cost-effective. This tool applies a similar idea but uses the payout after the deductible, which is a little stricter. Treat the 10% line as a prompt to think, not a rule.
State rules that change the answer
Collision and comprehensive are optional under state law, but your state’s required coverages stay in place even if you drop them. See state minimum car insurance for what you must keep. How a total loss is valued is also regulated. For example, New York’s Department of Financial Services says that on a total loss the insurer may pay actual cash value, described as retail value plus sales tax, subject to depreciation and deductions, or replace the car with a substantially similar one (NY DFS, accessed October 2026). Other states have their own claim rules; your state insurance department can explain them.
Common mistakes
- Using the purchase price. Use today’s value. Cars lose value every year.
- Using the whole premium. Enter only the collision and comprehensive part, not liability.
- Forgetting a loan or lease. Your contract may require both coverages.
- Ignoring your savings. If you could not afford to replace the car, keeping the coverage may be worth more than the ratio suggests.
- Dropping liability by mistake. Liability is required in almost every state. Learn what each coverage does in car insurance coverage types, and why your price is what it is in how car insurance rates are calculated.
When should you rerun this check?
Car values and premiums change, so this check is worth repeating. Good times to run it again include each renewal, after a big change in your car’s value, when you pay off a loan or lease, and when you change your deductible. A car that clearly needed collision and comprehensive three years ago may land in the review zone today.
Think about your own situation as well as the ratio. Keeping collision and comprehensive can still make sense if:
- You rely on the car for work and could not quickly replace it.
- You do not have savings to cover a repair or a replacement car.
- You live where theft, hail or deer collisions are common, so a comprehensive claim is more likely.
Dropping one or both coverages may make more sense if you have savings set aside, the car is old and inexpensive to replace, and the yearly cost is high compared with what the coverage could pay.
Questions to ask your insurer
- How much of my premium is collision, and how much is comprehensive?
- How much would I save with a higher deductible on each one?
- How do you decide my car’s actual cash value after a total loss?
- Would dropping these coverages change my other coverages or discounts?
Related tools
To see how a higher deductible changes your premium and risk, use the deductible savings calculator. For how depreciation lowers a payout, try the actual cash value calculator.
