Coverage explained
Collision coverage in Florida
Collision coverage pays to fix or replace your own car after a crash, whoever caused it, minus your deductible. Florida doesn’t require it, but every lender and lease does.
What it pays for
- Repairs to your car after hitting another car or an object
- Your car’s value if it is totaled, up to its actual cash value
- Damage from an uninsured driver who hits your car
What it doesn’t
- Flood, theft, hail, falling trees or animals (that is comprehensive)
- What you still owe on a loan above the car’s value (that is gap)
- Wear and tear or mechanical breakdown
A real-life example
You slide into a pole in the rain. The repair estimate is $7,400. With a $500 collision deductible, you pay $500 and your insurer pays $6,900. Without collision, the whole $7,400 is yours, even if the car is financed.
Illustrative numbers. What a claim pays depends on your policy wording, limits and deductible.
The Florida rule
Not required by the state. Required by lenders and leasing companies, usually with a maximum deductible.
What most drivers pick
A $500 or $1,000 deductible. Older cars worth little sometimes drop collision.
What it does to the price
Collision is often the largest line on a newer car. A higher deductible is the biggest lever.
Questions
Should I drop collision on an older car?
If the car is worth less than about ten times what collision costs you a year, many drivers drop it. David can show both prices.
Go deeper
Other coverage
- Personal injury protection
- Property damage liability
- Bodily injury liability
- Uninsured motorist
- Comprehensive
- Full coverage
- Gap and loan or lease payoff
- Rental and roadside
- SR-22
- FR-44
- Non-owner car insurance
- Rideshare and delivery
Your policy’s wording decides what’s covered. David can walk you through yours.