Hitting a deer: what comprehensive coverage does and does not pay

Attorney Answer

No — comprehensive covers the vehicle, not the people in it.

Comprehensive is the coverage that answers for damage to your own car from something other than a collision with another vehicle, and an animal strike is the classic example. It pays for the vehicle, subject to the deductible, and that is the whole of its job.

Medical expenses come from somewhere else entirely. Georgia has no no-fault or personal injury protection scheme, so there is no automatic medical benefit attached to a car policy here. The coverage that pays medical bills regardless of fault is medical payments coverage, which is optional and has to have been purchased separately. If it was bought, it appears as its own line on the declarations page.

Failing that, medical costs after an animal strike generally fall to health insurance. There is no other driver to claim against, which is what makes the coverage you actually hold the whole of the answer.

What you can do

1. Read your declarations page and look specifically for a medical payments line, separate from comprehensive. 2. Make the comprehensive claim for the vehicle and note the deductible that applies. 3. Report the collision to your health insurer for the treatment, if there is no medical payments cover. 4. Keep the repair estimate and any photographs of the damage. 5. Ask your agent to confirm in writing which coverages you hold, so the next one is not a surprise.

⏱ Time limits apply. O.C.G.A. § 9-3-31 gives four years for damage to personal property, including a vehicle, while an injury claim under § 9-3-33 gets only two. Where both are in play the shorter one governs the part that matters most.

A Georgia attorney can tell you quickly how the facts here line up, and most will look at a matter like this at no cost.