I swerved to miss a deer and hit a tree, is that other than collision or collision on my auto policy?
If you have a collision with a tree as a result of avoiding a deer, you need to know how it is covered on your auto policy.
When you look at your Auto Insurance, there are two primary forms: collision, and other than collision (sometimes referred to as comprehensive). This means that any incident will fall into one of these two categories. If you swerve to miss a deer and then hit a tree, it is generally listed as collision in your auto policy.
The reason that it is considered a collision is because you were behind the wheel when it happened. It may not have been another car that you hit, but you still collided with something. While your policy will likely have fine print that goes into detail with how collision is defined, you were behind the wheel.
The “other than collision” or comprehensive insurance covers all of the other things that could happen to your car when you’re not behind the wheel. This could include a rock that hits your windshield that is kicked up from another vehicle, hail damage, or even damage that occurs in a parking lot.
All of the other things are because of someone or something’s doing, but had nothing to do with a collision – and you may not have even been in the car when it happened.
With a deer on the road and you swerving and hitting a tree, there was in fact a collision and you were behind the wheel when it happened. This is why most insurance policies will treat it as a collision and therefore the coverage that you have for collision will be used to help with the damage to your car, medical bills that you may suffer through, as well as any damage that may have occurred to signage or anything else that you would be held responsible for.
If you hit a tree after swerving from a deer, one of the first calls you want to make is to your insurance company. They may require some photos of the scene – or you may want to take them anyways to offer some added protection for when you place your claim.
