My Car Was Stolen At My Home. Does Home or Auto Insurance Cover It?
Your homeowners insurance will cover a multitude of situations. In addition to protecting you against loss by fire, hail, lightning or vandalism, some policies will in some cases defend against the theft of your personal possessions.
Would the same be true of your personal automobile if a thief should back it out of your driveway and take off down the street? It’s only natural to think that you’d still be covered, but in this case, you’d probably be wrong.
Even though it is a personal possession and even if someone steals if from your own property, the clear majority of homeowners insurance policies will not consider your automobile among its list of covered items. People who don’t understand this could be in for a rude awakening.
Why Your Auto is Exempt
By law, every automobile in the country must carry its own auto coverage. For this reason, most homeowner policies treat personal vehicles as separate entities and expect you to charge any loss by theft to your auto insurance. Unfortunately, unless you have opted for comprehensive coverage, you still could find yourself left in the lurch.
Comprehensive auto insurance, if you do have it, will cover the theft of your car up to its value as shown in the Kelley Blue Book. However, the law does not require any motorist to purchase this coverage, and in the interest of economy, some prefer to take their chances and do without it entirely. Unfortunately, this is not always the smartest course of action, since comprehensive insurance will cover more than theft. Most such policies will also have your back in cases of:
- Broken glass.
- Damage caused by hitting an animal.
- Fire.
- Flood.
- Vandalism.
In situations of this sort, comprehensive insurance will assist in repairing your vehicle or even help with its complete replacement if the loss you have suffered is total.
Protecting Your Vehicle’s Contents
Although your homeowners insurance will not cover the theft of your car per se, it will protect you against the loss of personal items that someone has filched from within its confines. However, there is one caveat. The missing items must either not have ever been a part of the vehicle in any way or not have existed as part of its original equipment. In other words, if the stolen objects do currently belong to the car, it makes a difference whether they came preinstalled or are simply aftermarket accessories. Most homeowner policies will cover the loss of a stereo system that you’ve plugged into the dashboard after the fact, but if someone makes off with any of the vehicle’s factory-installed components, your homeowners insurance will quickly back away.
Regarding personal items in the car, the same exclusions apply from your home policy. So, if you had your purse stolen with $1000 cash in it, the cash would not be covered, or only up to $200 which is the home policy limit.
The Varying Costs of Comprehensive Auto Insurance
Although many car thieves appropriate their vehicles of choice directly out of private garages and driveways, an equal number of vehicles disappear from curbside on a regular basis. The likelihood of any one person’s losing a car from a crime-infested location will ordinarily affect the amount he or she will pay for comprehensive insurance. Major factors in determining the cost include:
- The ZIP code of your residence or workplace.
- Whether you normally park your car on the street, in the driveway or in a locked garage.
- The age of your vehicle.
- Whether you own your car outright, lease it or are paying down a loan.
Many auto lenders will insist that you purchase comprehensive coverage, and when they do, it will likely cost you more than it would if you chose to purchase it voluntarily. On the other hand, if you have paid your vehicle off in full and would prefer to do without comprehensive insurance, there is one situation under which your homeowners insurance policy might have your back. It may not apply to a lot of people, but if you should happen to keep home furnishings or accessories in your car, your homeowners insurance policy could view the vehicle as an extension of your home and agree to make good on its loss through theft.
When you’re in the market for coverage against auto theft, All Kinds of Insurance can find you the appropriate policy at an attractive rate. Call today at 702-534-4697 and let our smart and innovative approach put you one step ahead on obtaining the proper protection for your car.