If you find yourself in the position of having to file car insurance claims comprehensive coverage can present some unique challenges
If you find yourself in a position of actually needing to rely on your car insurance coverage to do its job, the type of accident you are involved in will determine the type of insurance claim you'll need to file. It's important to know the difference between, say, car insurance claims for comprehensive damage and claims for collision damage. Whether it's a fender-bender at an intersection, or your car was washed away in a flood, you'll have to file a claim.
Which coverage to claim on?
Two main types of insurance protect your car in the event of damage: collision and comprehensive. Collision 
coverage will repair your vehicle if it's involved in an accident with another vehicle or an object or if you flip it in a rollover. Comprehensive coverage kicks in if your car is damaged or destroyed in an incident that doesn't involve another vehicle. If you have a car loan, you were most likely required to purchase both collision and comprehensive coverage as part of the loan agreement. If you own your car outright, you can voluntarily carry both coverage options. It might seem strange to carry more coverage than is required, but the extra car insurance claims comprehensive coverage can pay off, especially under some unique circumstances. For example:
Situation #1: You notice storm clouds moving in and hear the distant thunder. You roll up the car windows and close the sunroof so your interior doesn't get drenched in the oncoming downpour. Instead of your car getting a bath at Mother Nature's expense, it gets pounded with hail. When then storm passes, you realize your car has more fat dimples than a golf ball and your windshield is pock-marked with spider veins.
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Situation #2: Let's say that the storm from Situation #1 moves in, but instead of hail, it brings a lot of rain and strong winds. While you're hunkered down in your home waiting for the storm to pass, you hear a crack, and then a crash. When you can finally venture outside, you discover the tree, whose shade you've enjoyed for decades, is now resting on your pancaked car.
Situation #3: You head to the movie theater to watch a movie you've been dying to see. It's three hours of excitement, and the film experience cost $42.50 in tickets, snacks and drinks. You leave the theater, still elated from your movie only to find your car is gone. All that remains is some broken glass and the cover to your favorite Kanye West CD.
All three of those scenarios will fall under your car insurance comprehensive coverage. All three incidents will require you file a car insurance claim for comprehensive damage. Filing a claim can be a simple process, if you follow these common steps:
File a report
If your car insurance claims comprehensive coverage filing is due to a theft or an act of vandalism, be sure you contact local authorities and file a police report.
For theft, vandalism and all othe damages that may be covered under your comprehensive policy option, make 
sure you take pictures of the damage and time-stamp them to prove when the damage occurred. Call your insurance agent as soon as possilbe to start the claism process If you have the option with your policy or company, you may be able to start the filing of a claim online. More and more insurance companies are allowing you to file claims via a mobile app on your smartphone or some other mobile device.
Schedule an inspection
If your car insurance agent or claims adjuster fails to set a time to come and examine the damage, pick a day and time that worlks for you and arrange a meeting with your insurance claims adjuster and any other appropriate representatives. Some will come to you, but others might require you to take your vehicle to a mutually agreed-upon location such as a body shop so the adjuster can inspect the damage. If the damage has disabled your car, you may need to make arrangements for having it towed to a repair facility. Unless you have added towing as a part of your comprehensive coverage, or unless you have a more advanced policy that includes road emergency and towing, you may have to pay for this out of your own pocket.
Prepare to wait
If your claim is approved, you may be issued a check to pay for the approved repair of the damages (minus the deductible and up to any coverage limits placed on your policy.) In some instances and with some companies, you will be directed to an approved repair faclity where the work will be completed and the insurance company will be billed directly (though in these cases you will generally have to pay the insurance company or the repair shop the deductible directly.)
If your car was stolen, your policy may have some time requirements for allowing authorities to try and find the car before it is declared a total loss. If it is discovered and returned and it has sustained damage, it will be taken through the same process. If the car is never found or at least not found befire any time restructions run out, you'll receive a check for either the value of the vehicle or for full replacement cost, depending on the coverage you selected.
Total losses
If the damage which caused you to file car insurance claims comprehensive coverage is excessive, you may fnd yourself in a position of having your car declared a total loss. Your car will be deemed totaled by your insurance company if, in their estimation, the cost of repairing your car to an acceptable pre-event condition is greater than the current cash or market value of the car. In these instances, the insurance company will take ownership of the car in exchange for issuing you a check for the value of the car.
If you haven't upgraded your comprehensive coverage to include something like vehicle replacement, you will only get what the current market or Blue Book value of your car is, minus whatever your deductible is. If you have a car loan thet was used to purchase the totaled car, you may still owe more on the loan. Without additional coverage such as GAP or loan/lease payoff coverage, you may still be facing out-of-pocket expeses to retire your loan before you can set about shopping for a replacement car.
The proof of any good car insurance policy comes when you have to file a claim. The proof of any good car insurace agent comes when you need help in completing the claims propcess. If you don't have an agent or if you feel you should be getting better service from an agent, we may be able to help. Reply! can put you in touch with car insurance agents near you who will be able to help you through all aspects of the insurance process, including those rare moments when you have to file car insurance claims on comprehensive coverage.