Drop Collision Coverage Calculator
Find the most your comprehensive and collision cover could ever pay, and how many years of premium equal it.
Use only the comprehensive-and-collision portion of your premium, not the whole policy — liability cover is a separate decision and is not optional in most places. Nothing here weighs the probability of a claim, because nobody knows it; it establishes the ceiling on what the cover could ever return. Nothing is uploaded.
The most it can ever pay is the value minus the deductible
A total loss pays out what the car is worth less the deductible, and never a penny more. So the ceiling on this cover is not the car's value — it is the value minus the excess, and that gap closes as the car ages while the premium does not. On a $1,200 car with a $1,000 deductible the largest cheque you could ever receive is $200, and at $300 a year that is 8 months of premium for the entire upside.
| Car worth | Most it could ever pay | Years of premium to equal that | |
|---|---|---|---|
| $15,000 | $14,000 | 46.67 | |
| $6,000 | $5,000 | 16.67 | |
| $3,000 | $2,000 | 6.67 | |
| $1,500 | $500 | 1.67 | |
| $1,200 | $200 | 0.67 | |
| $1,000 | $0 | — | cannot ever pay anything |
| $800 | $0 | — | cannot ever pay anything |
Below the deductible it stops being a poor bet and becomes an impossible one. A car worth $1,000 against a $1,000 deductible has a maximum payout of exactly nothing — there is no accident, however total, that produces a cheque — and the premium is still collected every month. That is worth checking before any argument about probability, because it does not depend on one.
The 10% rule cannot see your deductible
The familiar advice is to drop the cover once the premium passes a tenth of the car's value. It uses two numbers, and the deductible is not one of them. On a $2,500 car at $220 a year it returns the same verdict for every deductible below — while the most you could ever collect ranges from $2,250 down to $500, a spread of 4.5 times, on the one variable it ignores.
| Deductible | Most it could ever pay | Years of premium to equal that | The 10% rule says |
|---|---|---|---|
| $250 | $2,250 | 10.23 | keep |
| $500 | $2,000 | 9.09 | keep |
| $1,000 | $1,500 | 6.82 | keep |
| $1,500 | $1,000 | 4.55 | keep |
| $2,000 | $500 | 2.27 | keep |
Which is not an argument that the rule always reaches the wrong conclusion — often it does not. It is that the rule cannot be reaching it for the right reason, since it is blind to a variable that moves the answer several-fold. The years-of-premium figure in the third column is the one worth carrying: it says how long you would pay before the premiums equal the best outcome the policy is capable of, and it needs no estimate of how likely a crash is.
How to use
- Enter what the car is worth and your deductible.
- Add the comprehensive-and-collision part of the premium only.
- Read the most the cover could ever pay.
- Compare that against the years of premium it would take to equal it.
Frequently asked questions
When should I drop comprehensive and collision?
The number to start from is the ceiling: a total loss pays the car value less the deductible and never a penny more. On a $1,200 car with a $1,000 deductible the largest cheque you could ever receive is $200, and at $300 a year that is eight months of premium for the entire upside.
Can this cover ever pay nothing at all?
Yes, and it is worth checking first because it needs no estimate of risk. A car worth $1,000 with a $1,000 deductible has a maximum payout of exactly zero — no accident, however total, produces a cheque — and the premium is still collected every month.
Is the 10% rule good enough?
It reads two numbers, and your deductible is not one of them. On a $2,500 car at $220 a year it gives the same verdict at every deductible, while the most you could ever collect ranges from $2,250 down to $500. That is not proof the rule reaches the wrong conclusion — often it does not — but it cannot be reaching it for the right reason.
Why not just compare the premium to the car value?
Because you never receive the car value. The deductible comes off every payout, so the cover is worth the value minus the excess, which on an older car can be a small fraction of what the car is worth and sometimes nothing.
What does the years-of-premium figure mean?
How long you would pay before the premiums add up to the best outcome the policy is capable of. It is useful because it needs no guess about how likely a crash is — under a year is hard to justify at any probability; over ten years is a reasonable price for the protection.
Does this account for the chance of an accident?
No, deliberately. Nobody knows their own probability, and a tool that asks for one mostly launders a guess into a decision. This establishes the ceiling on what the cover could return, which is a fact rather than an estimate, and leaves the likelihood to you.
Should I drop liability cover too?
No — that is a separate decision and in most places not optional. Liability pays for harm you cause to others and has nothing to do with your car value. Use only the comprehensive-and-collision portion of your premium here.
Does this send anything anywhere?
No. Every figure is computed in your browser, and nothing is uploaded or stored.
🔒 This tool runs entirely in your browser. Nothing you enter is uploaded, logged, or stored.