Does car insurance cover sliding on ice?

Damage to your own car from sliding into another car, a pole or a ditch is usually a collision claim. If you only carry liability, it pays for the damage you cause to others, not for your car.

Is hitting a deer collision or comprehensive?

On most personal auto policies, hitting an animal falls under comprehensive, not collision. Check your own policy's wording.

Does my insurance cover a tree branch or ice falling on my car?

Usually, if you carry comprehensive. It covers damage from causes other than a crash, including falling objects.

Driving in Illinois winters: what your auto policy covers — From Elona’s desk

Q: Who pays if I slide into someone else's car?

Illinois is an at-fault state. If you're responsible, your liability coverage pays for their damage and injuries, up to your limits.

If your car slides on ice into a pole, a ditch or another car, the damage to your own car is usually a collision claim. If a branch heavy with ice falls on it, or you hit a deer on a dark county road, that’s usually comprehensive. With liability only, neither one fixes your car.

Illinois winters test a policy in ways a sunny July never does. Here’s how the pieces fit when the roads turn white, so you know before the first storm, not after.

Sliding into something: collision

Collision pays to repair your car when it hits another vehicle or an object, or rolls over. On ice, that covers most of what goes wrong: the slow slide into the car ahead at a stoplight, the spin into a guardrail, the drift off the shoulder into a ditch.

It pays regardless of fault, minus your deductible. And the deductible applies to each claim, so it’s worth knowing yours before you need it.

Collision isn’t required by Illinois law. A lender or leasing company usually requires it, but once a car is paid off, some people drop it without thinking about what an icy January can do.

Things that fall, and animals: comprehensive

Comprehensive covers damage from causes other than a crash. In winter, that tends to mean:

Falling objects. An ice-laden branch, or a sheet of ice sliding off a roof onto your car.
Hitting an animal. On most personal auto policies, a deer strike is comprehensive, not collision. Deer crashes peak in October and November, and the season runs into December, just as the days get shorter and the weather turns.
Theft and vandalism.

Like collision, comprehensive is optional under Illinois law, and it carries its own deductible.

When you hit someone else: liability

Illinois is an at-fault state. If you slide into another car, the question of who pays turns on who caused the crash, and ice on the road doesn’t decide that by itself. If you’re responsible, your liability coverage pays for the other driver’s car and injuries, up to your limits. The law requires at least $25,000 per person and $50,000 per crash for injuries and $20,000 for property damage (625 ILCS 5/7-203).

Fault can also be shared. Under Illinois law, if you’re found more than 50% at fault, you can’t recover anything from the other driver. At 50% or less, you can recover, but your damages are reduced by your share of the fault (735 ILCS 5/2-1116). That’s one reason to report every crash to your insurer and let them sort out the details.

When someone hits you

If the other driver is responsible, their liability insurance should pay for your damage. If they have no insurance, or drive off, your uninsured motorist coverage helps with injuries, and it’s required on every Illinois policy. Uninsured motorist property damage can pay for your car when an identified uninsured driver is at fault, but it’s optional, so check whether you have it.

The coverages people forget until they’re stuck

Towing and labor reimburses a tow when your car breaks down or is damaged and has to be taken to a shop.
Rental reimbursement helps pay for a rental while your car is in the shop after a covered claim, up to the limit on your policy.
Medical payments helps with limited medical bills for you and your passengers, whoever caused the crash.

None of these is required, and all of them show up, or don’t, on your declarations page.

Good to know

Check before the first storm. Look at your declarations page for collision, comprehensive and their deductibles. If they’re missing, your own car’s damage is on you.
Photos first, if it’s safe. The car, the road, the other vehicle and the weather. They help the claim later.
Report it even if it seems small. A fender-bender on ice can turn into an injury claim weeks later.
Don’t guess on the deer. If you hit one, report it as what happened. How it’s covered is your insurer’s job to sort out, not yours.

Want me to look at yours before winter?

Send me your declarations page and I’ll tell you exactly what would happen if you slid into a pole tomorrow, or met a deer on the way home. Better to know now than in February.

Talk to Elona