Kasko (Comprehensive Insurance) Guide 2026: Coverage, Types, Price and Claims
Every vehicle driven in Turkey must carry Zorunlu Trafik Sigortası (mandatory traffic insurance), but traffic insurance only covers the other party's loss — damage to your own vehicle is the subject of an entirely different policy: Kasko. Kasko is regulated under the Kara Araçları Kasko Sigortası Genel Şartları (General Conditions for Land Vehicles Kasko Insurance) and is classified in insurance legislation not as "Liability Insurance" but as "Property Insurance" — it is an entirely optional contract, with no statutory provision that makes it mandatory. This optionality separates Kasko from mandatory traffic insurance both in its legal basis and in its pricing logic. This guide brings together the whole topic on one page: what Kasko covers and does not cover, its types, how its premium is set, the concepts of insured value and loss of value (value depreciation), when it effectively becomes necessary, and how the claims process works — with a link under each section to a dedicated article that covers that topic in depth.
What does Kasko cover?
Under the General Conditions for Land Vehicles Kasko Insurance, Kasko covers the direct material loss arising when the insured's vehicle named in the policy collides with motorized or non-motorized vehicles usable on the highway; strikes a fixed or moving object, overturns, falls, or rolls while moving or stationary; is subject to malicious or mischievous acts by third parties; burns; or the vehicle or its parts are stolen or subject to attempted theft (TSB). These five risk groups form the core coverage of the Kasko contract; the name of the product sold under the policy (dar kasko/narrow kasko, kasko, genişletilmiş kasko/extended kasko, tam kasko/full kasko) varies according to how many of these groups are included — we cover this distinction in detail in the next section.
The same General Conditions also provide that certain losses outside the five listed risks can be brought into coverage by an additional agreement (ek sözleşme): these include losses occurring outside the borders of Turkey, strikes-lockouts and civil unrest, acts of terrorism, earthquake, landslide, storm, hail, lightning or volcanic eruption, flood and inundation, theft via seizure of the key, and loss of the vehicle key (TSB). In other words, natural-disaster risks like earthquake and flood are not part of standard Kasko coverage — these losses are not paid unless a separate additional agreement has been written into the policy. Products often offered together with a Kasko policy in the market, such as İhtiyari Mali Mesuliyet (İMM — Optional Financial Liability, additional coverage for losses that exceed the limits of mandatory traffic insurance) and personal accident insurance, are not subject to these General Conditions but are the subject of separate insurance contracts; insurance companies typically bundle them together with Kasko.
Kasko coverage is not limited to the vehicle's body alone: the same General Conditions provide that, along with the vehicle named in the policy, any audio, communication, and video device installed at the factory as standard equipment, as well as accessories added afterward provided they are separately specified in the policy, are also within the scope of coverage (TSB). In other words, a sound system or a special accessory installed on the vehicle afterward may fall outside coverage at the time of a claim if it hasn't been entered into the policy — which is why it is practically important to report every addition made to the vehicle to the insurance company.
The General Conditions also separately list the situations excluded from coverage: states of war and civil unrest, nuclear/radioactive losses, use without a driving license, use under the influence of alcohol or drugs, damage intentionally caused by the insured or persons living with them, and losses arising from exceeding the carrying capacity stated on the vehicle's registration document are among these (TSB). In addition, a deductible (muafiyet) can be agreed in the policy — meaning that the insurer will not compensate for loss up to a set amount or a certain percentage of the insured value, and it is mandatory that this be printed in the policy in at least 14-point type (TSB).
Kasko types: narrow or full?
The same General Conditions define the Kasko products sold in the market under four headings according to which coverage groups they include: dar kasko (narrow kasko — a product providing only some of the five coverage groups above), kasko (a product providing all five groups), genişletilmiş kasko (extended kasko — all five groups plus some of the risks that can be added by additional agreement), and tam kasko (full kasko — all five groups plus all risks that can be added by additional agreement) (TSB). The General Conditions also require the policy title to carry, in letters of at least 16 points, whichever of these four names matches the coverage — meaning a policy sold under the name "tam kasko" must also include additional coverages such as earthquake and flood; a mismatch would be contrary to the legislation. We covered, in a comparative table, which coverage is sold under which product name, how additional coverages are identified in the policy, and the practical differences among the four types in our Kasko types article.
How is the price determined?
Unlike mandatory traffic insurance, the Kasko premium is not subject to a tariff — there is no central pricing framework in Kasko such as a maximum premium (ceiling tariff) set by SEDDK (Turkey's Insurance and Private Pension Regulation and Supervision Agency) or the step system operated by SBM (Insurance Information and Monitoring Center). This distinction is also reflected in the sector's own regulatory classification: Kasko falls under the "Property Insurance" category, not "Liability Insurance" (SEDDK) — it sits outside the tariffed/stepped regulation that mandatory traffic insurance is subject to. The premium is determined freely by each insurance company according to its own risk assessment; so there is no single correct figure along the lines of "Kasko costs this much lira."
The main factors affecting the premium are the vehicle's make, model, age and engine displacement, usage type (private/commercial), the province where it is registered, the driver's claims-free history, the chosen coverage scope (narrow/full kasko), and the deductible amount agreed in the policy. This is also why very different quotes can arrive from multiple insurance companies for the same vehicle on the same day — since there is no central ceiling, companies price independently of one another according to their risk appetite. We covered the details of the pricing mechanism, ways to lower the premium, and a comparison with the tariffed structure of mandatory traffic insurance in our Kasko prices 2026 article.
Insured value and loss of value
Under a Kasko policy, the insurance company covers the vehicle up to its market value on the date of the loss; the calculation of compensation is based on the market value of the insured interests at the moment the risk materialized (TSB). A reference or determination method for this market value is shown in the policy; if there is no such reference, the market values within the framework of rules to be determined by the Undersecretariat of Treasury are used as the basis (TSB). If the repair cost exceeds the vehicle's value on the date of the loss and an expert (eksper) report establishes that the vehicle is beyond repair, the vehicle is deemed a total loss (pert); in this case, the registration document showing it has been scrapped must be presented to the insurer for compensation to be paid (TSB). In the case of partial loss, repair costs and necessary towing/transport costs are paid; with the agreement of the parties, a cash payment can also be made instead of repair (TSB). With the rights holder's consent, the insurer may leave the vehicle with the insured in its damaged state and pay only the difference between the market value and the damaged value as compensation — in this method, the insurer is deemed to have guaranteed the salvage (sovtaj — the damaged-vehicle remnant) value it has determined for a period of one month from notification (TSB).
There is a concept commonly confused here: loss-of-value compensation (değer kaybı tazminatı). This refers to the drop in the vehicle's second-hand market value following an accident, and it is generally the subject not of the Kasko policy but of the other party's mandatory traffic insurance — the Zorunlu Mali Sorumluluk Sigortası Genel Şartları (General Conditions for Mandatory Financial Liability Insurance) count loss of value, together with damage to the other party's vehicle, under the "Material Damages Coverage" (mevzuat.gov.tr). In other words, the Kasko insured value (the policy's coverage ceiling, the vehicle's market value) and loss-of-value compensation (the drop in the vehicle's value after the accident, typically claimed from the at-fault party's traffic insurance) should not be confused with one another — one is the coverage under your own policy, the other is a separate right claimed from the insurance of the party at fault in the accident. We covered in detail how the insured value is calculated, the risk of under-/over-insurance, and the steps of the total-loss process in our Kasko insured value and loss of value article.
Is Kasko mandatory?
No. Unlike mandatory traffic insurance, there is no statutory provision that makes Kasko mandatory; Kasko is a contract freely established between the insurance company and the insured, and for this reason it also falls under the "Property Insurance" category rather than "Liability Insurance" in the sector's own classification (SEDDK). There is no administrative fine or traffic-suspension sanction for not carrying it, unlike the one under Article 91 of Law No. 2918 on Highway Traffic (Karayolları Trafik Kanunu) — those sanctions are applied only for lack of mandatory traffic insurance.
However, Kasko can become effectively "necessary" in two situations. First, for vehicles acquired via financial leasing (leasing): Article 24 of Law No. 6361 on Financial Leasing, Factoring and Financing Companies carries the provision that "the leased property must be insured"; it provides that insurance premiums will be paid by the lessee and that responsibility for damage/loss of the property during the term of the contract also belongs to the lessee — in practice, this obligation is met with a Kasko policy for vehicles. Second, for vehicles purchased with a vehicle loan: in this case there is no statutory provision making Kasko mandatory, but banks may request Kasko as a contractual condition because they view the vehicle as collateral for the loan — this is a contractual demand based on the bank's own risk-management decision, not a legal one. For a new vehicle or one with a high market value, since there is a risk of paying your own repair costs out of pocket even if you are not at fault, Kasko is generally a sensible choice even when it isn't a loan/leasing condition. We compared, point by point, where Kasko diverges from mandatory traffic insurance, when you need which one, and how the two policies work complementarily in our Traffic insurance vs. Kasko article; and we covered the Kasko-mandatory question and financing scenarios in depth in our Is Kasko mandatory? article.
The claims process (summary)
When an accident, theft, or other covered risk occurs, the insured must, per the General Conditions, notify the insurer within five business days at the latest; if the vehicle has been stolen, this notification must also be made immediately to the competent authorities (TSB). The loss is determined either by agreement between the insurer and the insured, or through an insurance expert (sigorta eksperi) appointed for the purpose (TSB). If, according to the expert report, the vehicle is repairable, repair costs (partial loss) are covered; if it is beyond repair, the total-loss (pert) process described above is applied. The insurer must complete its review process within 10 business days at the latest from delivery of the expert report; the obligation to pay compensation in any case becomes due 45 days after notification of the loss, and if the reviews cannot be completed within three months, the insurer pays at least fifty percent of the determined loss amount as an advance (TSB). In the case of theft, if the search for the vehicle remains inconclusive within 30 days, the insured applies to the insurer with documentation that they have reported this to the relevant authorities, and the compensation process begins (TSB).
In summary: Kasko's coverage, type, premium, insured value, and mandatoriness are five separate but practically interwoven topics — knowing how much your chosen coverage affects your premium, up to what value your policy protects your vehicle, and when Kasko becomes effectively necessary is the first step to choosing the right policy. Each section on this page links to a separate article that treats that topic in depth; if you're not sure which step you're at, you can go back to the relevant section above and continue from there.