Everything you need to know about all-risk car insurance

In order to find the best all-risk car insurance, it is important to know how such a contract works, the current guarantees and options, its price, and its terms of application explains everything you need to know on the subject so that you can take out all-risk car insurance that meets your needs.

What is comprehensive insurance?

The owner of a land motor vehicle, such as a car or a motorcycle, for example, has the obligation to insure it under civil liability in order to be able to travel on public roads. For this, it is possible to take out third-party insurance, which will meet this legal insurance obligation by covering your civil liability as a minimum.

Although it allows you to drive completely legally, third-party insurance has a major drawback: it gives you limited coverage. In fact, you are only covered for material damage and bodily injury that you may cause to a third party. In the event of a responsible accident, you will therefore not be compensated for your own damage. Comprehensive auto insurance, on the other hand, is a more protective form of auto insurance. In addition to covering your civil liability, all-risk insurance will indeed integrate other guarantees, the nature of which varies according to the contract. By opting for all-risk insurance for your car or your motorcycle, you will generally be compensated for all damages suffered by your vehicle, whether or not you are responsible.

Good to know: if the third-party insurance constitutes the basic protection, including the Civil Liability guarantee which is the minimum compulsory cover, the all-risk insurance is very often the maximum cover. Between the two, insurers most often offer so-called “intermediate” formulas. You have the choice between 4 formulas to find the contract that perfectly meets your needs: Economic, Extended, Protective, and Excellence.

Why choose comprehensive insurance?

Offering a higher level of guarantees than a third-party or intermediary formula, all-risk car insurance is therefore generally more expensive. Despite everything, this contract can be relevant in several situations.

• To be more serene: by taking out all-risk insurance for your car, you know that you are covered in many situations (responsible accident, third party identified or not, theft and acts of vandalism, etc.). You can thus use your vehicle more serenely, with less fear of the possible financial consequences of an accident.
• For heavy riders: logically, motorists who use their vehicle daily are more likely to be victims of an accident than an occasional driver, despite generally having more experience. Offering more guarantees, all-risk insurance can therefore be a solution to be better covered.
• For valuable vehicles: in the event of a claim, the cost of repairing or replacing an expensive vehicle may be higher. Taking out all-risk car insurance allows you to be better compensated. 
•  

When to insure a car against all risks?

As we mentioned earlier, all-risk car insurance is mainly intended for vehicles with the highest cost of repair and replacement. Why? Quite simply because it will ensure, in the event of a guaranteed loss, more substantial compensation, making it possible to limit the financial cost borne by the motorist. The interest of all-risk car insurance will therefore relate in particular to:

new or recent vehicles;

high-end and luxury vehicles;

vehicles that required a significant investment or that you have not finished reimbursing;

“rare” vehicles, the value of which is high on the second-hand market (such as collector cars, for example);

“innovative” vehicles, whose labor costs in the event of repair can be high (such as electric cars, for example).

As a general rule, the choice of all-risk insurance for a car that is more than 5 years old or even more than 10 years old will therefore not always be relevant, insofar as its value is then lower. In this situation, the amount of the contributions may indeed seem disproportionate to the compensation to which you are entitled. But this is not always the case: it depends on your personal situation.

The selection of insurance for a motorcycle also responds to the same logic. You will therefore mainly have to rely on the value of your two-wheeler to make your choice between all-risk or third-party motorcycle insurance.

All-risk insurance for young drivers

Comprehensive car insurance works the same way for all drivers. However, there is a major difference for young drivers: the calculation of the price of comprehensive insurance for the young driver or the inexperienced driver. This distinction also concerns you:

if you have held the license for less than 3 years;      

or if you have not been insured for more than 3 years.

As a young driver, your all-risk, third-party or intermediary car insurance may be subject to an additional premium by the insurer. This is a premium supplement that increases the number of your contributions. This increase, the amount of which varies according to whether or not you have followed the advanced driving training, is reduced by half each year if you have no at-fault accident. It disappears completely after 3 full years without an accident involving your responsibility. This additional premium is also combined with the bonus-malus of car insurance which can reduce or increase the number of your contributions, depending on whether or not you are a good driver.

A question therefore arises: should you take out all-risk car insurance for young drivers or not? Although such a contract may be of interest, especially for insuring a valuable vehicle or one’s professional vehicle, the high amount of contributions may lead you to take out third-party or intermediate-level insurance instead.  

Good to know: at , the price increase does not apply to a young driver whose B license has been obtained in accompanied driving. In the case where the permit was obtained in the traditional way, the additional premium disappears after two years, in the absence of a responsible claim during the period.

What does all-risk car insurance cover?

Although the guarantees of all-risk car insurance vary according to the contracts, you generally benefit from extensive protection against all the main claims caused to your vehicle (accident, fire, theft, etc.). Most often, you also have the option of taking out optional guarantees in order to benefit from even broader coverage 

The main guarantees of all-risk insurance

The guarantees of all-risk insurance are likely to vary from one contract to another. Despite everything, most insurance policies include a common base of guarantees, in addition to the coverage of your civil liability.

All-accident damage: collision with another vehicle, collision with a guardrail, overturning of the vehicle, or forgetting to use the handbrake, all-risk insurance covers you in most cases. Even in the absence of an identified third party or if you are responsible for the accident, all-risk car insurance can thus compensate for the damage suffered by the vehicle 

Theft and vandalism: With all-risk insurance, the theft of your car and its accessories are generally covered, as well as attempted theft or acts of vandalism. Theft of hubcaps, tag on the vehicle, or even flat tires: all-risk insurance will be able to compensate you in all these situations  

Fire and explosion: your contract will generally cover damage to your vehicle resulting from a fire or explosion, including if this occurs during a popular uprising (demonstration, etc.)

Climatic events: storm, hail, flood, landslide… so many events that can cause damage to your car or motorcycle. Most often, you will be covered by your contract, even if the state of natural disaster is not decreed