Comprehensive insurance covers vandalism (among other perils) and slashed tires is definitely vandalism. However, comprehensive insurance is optional, so you must be carrying this type of coverage for your insurer to replace your tires.
It’s important to remember that comprehensive coverage comes with a deductible, which is the amount you must pay before your insurance kicks in to cover the cost of replacement. Unless the cost to replace your slashed tires is several hundred dollars more than your deductible, it usually doesn’t make financial sense to file a claim.
For example, if you have two tires slashed, each costing $175 to replace, the total claim would be $350. If you have a comprehensive deductible of $500, you will wind up paying for the replacement since the deductible amount exceeds the repair cost.
- Slashed tires would be covered by a driver’s comprehensive coverage, which covers incidents of vandalism. Comprehensive comes with a deductible that must be paid before insurance pays the balance.
- Comprehensive is not required coverage, so you must be carrying comprehensive in order to make a claim for slashed tires.
- In most cases, it doesn’t’ make financial sense to make a claim for slashed tires as your deductible may be more than the payout amount.
- Comprehensive covers damage to your car caused by vandalism as well as flooding, fire, hail, and animal strikes.. But drivers must pay the deductible before this type of insurance kicks in.
Does car insurance cover slashed tires and replace them with new tires?
While you may get new tires on your car after they have been slashed, there is a good chance you will have to cover some of the cost out of pocket. Comprehensive insurance typically pays out actual cash value which means the value of the item at the time it was destroyed.
Your insurer will consider the wear and tear on the tires when setting a payout amount. So, the bottom line is you get new tires, but your insurer only pays out the amount it would cost to replace them with tires of equal wear and tear.
The intention of car insurance is to return things to the way they were before a loss or damage occurs. When it comes to slashed tires, there is no practical way to replace your vehicles tires with ones that have the same wear and tear and even if you could, it is doubtful that you would want used tires as replacements.
When settling your claim, the insurance company will consider the mileage and the wear and tear of the tires and may require you to pay the difference between what they were worth and the price of new tires. In the end, you may only get the depreciated value of the tires instead of the cost of new tires when you make this type of claim.
There is a good chance your rates will head up after making a claim on your policy which makes a claim for tires a bad idea in most cases. Insurance should be saved for catastrophic events, making a claim for smaller issues, such as a tire loss will usually result in a higher premium and may not make sense as your deductible will often eat up most of the payout.
In addition to covering slashed tires, comprehensive insurance also pays for damage due to animal collisions, flooding, fire, hail and theft.
Does car insurance cover three slashed tires?
Yes, your comprehensive coverage will cover any number of slashed tires, whether it is one or four. However, if you have liability insurance only, it will not cover your slashed tires. Liability insurance only covers the other guy — aka other parties — not your property.
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