The Short Answer
Comprehensive coverage — listed on Texas policies as "other than collision" and known in Spanish as cobertura amplia — pays to repair or replace your own vehicle when it's damaged by something besides a crash: theft, hail, fire, vandalism, flood, falling objects, broken glass, or hitting an animal. You pay your chosen deductible first, and the insurer pays the rest up to your car's actual cash value. Texas law does not require comprehensive — only 30/60/25 liability is mandatory — but if your car is financed or leased, your lender will almost certainly require it until the loan is paid off.
What It Covers
What It Does Not Cover
Real-World Texas Scenarios
An April supercell drops golf-ball hail on your Camry parked in an Oak Cliff driveway, denting the hood and cracking the windshield. With comprehensive, you pay your deductible (say $500) and the insurer pays the rest of the repair, up to the car's actual cash value. With liability-only, every dollar is out of pocket.
This is NOT a comprehensive claim. Your liability coverage pays for the other driver's car and injuries; damage to your own car is paid only if you also carry collision coverage. This is exactly why lenders require both comprehensive and collision on financed cars.
You hit a deer at night. On a standard Texas policy that's a comprehensive claim — but if you swerve and hit a fence instead, the damage usually falls under collision. Carrying one without the other leaves a gap.
A summer downpour floods a low-water crossing and water reaches the engine and cabin. Comprehensive covers flood damage to the vehicle, minus your deductible. A liability-only policy pays nothing here.
Cost in Dallas–Fort Worth (2026)
| Situation | Monthly | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Liability-only (30/60/25 state minimum) | $28–$74+/mo | From $28/mo for qualifying DFW drivers; the median DFW liability-only policy is about $74/mo (A-LA 2026 bound-quote data). Liability has no deductible — but pays nothing for hail or theft to your own car. |
| Liability + comprehensive (no collision) | ≈ $90–$140/mo | A popular middle ground for paid-off cars in hail-prone North Texas: comprehensive alone often adds roughly $15–$45/mo depending on vehicle value and deductible. |
| Full coverage (liability + comprehensive + collision) | ≈ $150–$260/mo | Typical for financed or leased vehicles in DFW's non-standard market — the lender requires both physical-damage coverages until the car is paid off. Raising the deductible from $250 to $1,000 lowers the monthly cost. |
Ranges are illustrative A-LA 2026 bound-quote data across 15 DFW offices; actual rates vary by ZIP, vehicle, deductible, record, and credit-free underwriting through A-LA's 35+ carrier network.