You Could Really Regret Not Buying These 3 Types of Auto Insurance

Buying auto insurance provides crucial protection against losses if something goes wrong with a vehicle. While it may not be fun to see auto insurance premiums withdrawn from a bank account, paying for the right kinds of coverage could prevent a lot of future heartache.

Specifically, it's important for most drivers to buy these three kinds of auto insurance to avoid being left with major regret.

1. Uninsured motorist coverage

Although almost all states require drivers to have liability insurance coverage, many people disobey these rules. In fact, a study by the Insurance Research Council found about 1 in 8 drivers were uninsured.

When these uninsured drivers cause a collision, crash victims who would normally be able to get their damages paid by the at-fault driver's liability insurer will be in a tough spot. They may not be able to get the at-fault driver to pay anything, especially if that driver doesn't have insurance and assets they could try to collect against.

In these situations, uninsured motorist coverage could pay for losses crash victims experienced -- but only if those crash victims had chosen to buy uninsured coverage. Without this policy, it is very likely victims would be left with uncompensated losses and could really regret not having this protection in place.

2. Collision coverage

Unlike liability insurance, collision coverage is rarely required. But that doesn't mean it isn't important. A driver without collision coverage who causes a crash themselves would have zero protection from an insurer. This would mean having to pay out of pocket for repairs or even buy an entire new vehicle if the car was totaled.

No one wants to be out thousands of dollars or more because they accidentally hit a deer or caused some other kind of crash by mistake -- and these kinds of crashes can happen to anyone, even the most careful drivers. Not having collision coverage in these situations could be a huge regret.

3. Comprehensive coverage

Crashes aren't the only thing that can go wrong with the car, which is why motorists without comprehensive coverage could be left wishing they'd made a different choice. Comprehensive coverage is optional, but most people will want to buy it because it pays for many covered issues that could arise beyond a motor vehicle accident.

Comprehensive coverage is the kind of insurance that would pay if a tree fell on a car, if the vehicle was stolen, or if a rock flew up and shattered the windshield. Non-collision losses can still be expensive, so drivers who don't put this protection in place could be out a lot of money and be left with a lot of regret.

Ultimately, most drivers will find they are better off having too much protection against losses rather than too little. Adding additional coverage doesn't cost much more and the losses that can occur without these protections in place could be very substantial.

Drivers without collision, comprehensive, and uninsured motorist coverage should consider contacting their insurer ASAP to find out how much additional coverage would cost. If the cost is reasonable -- which it likely will be -- consider signing up to avoid regret.