Does Full Coverage insurance usually cover tires, wheels?

I'm sorry to hear about that. I'm glad everyone's safe.

Of course it's covered. Whether its under comp (not your fault) or collision (your fault) is anybody's guess, and can vary by state. Usually, if you hit a vehicle in front of you, you're liable, even if it panic stopped suddenly in the middle of the road. So if she swerved to avoid something in front of her, she'll be considered at fault, which could affect the amount of deductible that applies. It's also possible that they'll just pay for everything as a courtesy, if you're a good customer and so forth.

Are you sure the damage is only the tires and wheels, and nothing else? You'll probably want a vehicle alignment at least.

Sets of Prius wheels/tires go on sale here almost weekly, sometimes for under $500 for all four wheels/tires. Post a want ad here to see if anyone will sell you some. It may be that a replacement through PriusChat will be less expensive than your deductible.

There's a complete set of 17" wheels and tires on sale here for $1,500. I believe these are the very beautiful ones that come with the top of the line Prius.

 

Sorry to hear about the troubles, but my guess is that it would not be covered by insurance. At least in the part of PA that I live you would have had a hard time even getting a police report - they do not even deal with traffic accidents unless there is an injury or major damage - it is no wonder why Philly has such terrible drivers.

 

This would fall under collision -- companies treat the blame differently ... IE you swerve because you were talking on the phone vs avoiding a deer - but it is covered ... I would get it checked out to see what was damaged ... is this simply cosmetic or is the car not driving correctly. I have high deductibles on my policies so a wheel would be on me ... but I did have a situation years ago ..... I though I had simple bent a wheel and had actually done much more damage --- so I had to put in a claim after I had the car checked out.

 

It will be covered. You don't need a police report. The insurance company will regard it as your wife's fault,
so the collusion deductible will be applied.
If you have a low deductible ($250) it might be worth it to file a claim, Otherwise just try to find a used set.
Remember that depending on your claim record your premiums might go up on renewal.

 

Get an independent quote before filing a claim. Remember that the claim adjuster can specify used wheels in the
estimate (they have an access to used parts dealer's inventory). The tires will be pro-rated.

 

If you didn't have the Prius Five 17" wheels I would have recommended just buying a new set of wheels and not filing a claim but the cost of two new 17" wheels and two new tires can be quite high. Just remember to put the two newest tires on the rear of the vehicle regardless of where the damage occurred and have your alignment checked.

 

Depending on your insurer, and the cost of the loss, it'll either be worth it or not to file the claim financially, but that may not be the only thing that you ought to consider. It's almost certainly going to be a collision claim, and you're going to be at fault.
Depending on your deductable, and the availability of replacement tires/wheels, I'd probably lean towards fixing it on my own nickel. In addition to the possibility of having rate increases, you'll also have a claim on your record. Then.....you'll be one incident (hit and run, hail storm, theft, etc....) from having multiple claims. Then, you might as well be a teen driver as far as your insurance company is concerned.
I have high deductibles ($1,000) and a clean record, and very low premiums. If I file a claim, it's going to be for something big. I had a friend who got dropped by one of the bigs for multiple glass repairs followed by a hailstorm claim. He then had to pay through the nose for coverage, because he got dropped, and was now "high risk" despite the fact that he'd never EVER had an accident or a speeding ticket in a 20+ year driving career.
Yeah....I know. It's not supposed to be like that, but a claim is a claim.
It may not cost you anything, but somebody, somewhere is going to write it down.
YMMV….and it will vary by company and by state.
Ask your agent (if you have one.) You can lay it all out for him/her. If you decide not to file a claim…it never happened. If you don’t have a dedicated agent, then you can call the lizard or the lady with the crazy hairdo, and ask hypothetical questions. Hit *67 before you call if you’re paranoid.
One other thing.
Quite often, people buy cars and decide to bling them up a little. OEM rims are a commonly upgraded item, and thus you may often find that you can get "new" OEM wheel/tire sets (they call them takeoffs) in places like eBay. I had a 4x4 a few years back, and when it was time to replace the tires, I got (nicer) rims and new tires more cheaply that I would have just gotten the tires for. I then sold the old rims, and wound up getting the cheapest set of truck tires in my life. It took very little time, but you may not be up for all of this.
Like I said.
YMMV.

Good Luck!
Bottom line: Nobody got hurt. That's all that really counts.

 

Why don't you sell him the wheels and tires you've got up for sale? That's a way cheap solution for his problem.

 

One option is to buy a purchase protection plan with your new tires. This way, at least you're covered if they need replacing again, without the hit of higher insurance premiums.