Start with your declarations page, not with a website
Your declarations page — the dec page — is the one- or two-page summary the carrier sends when a policy starts or renews. It lists every coverage, every limit, every deductible and every vehicle. It is the only document that says what you actually have.
Quote against it. Type the same limits into the new quote that appear on the old one, line by line. Almost every "we beat your price by a lot" story turns out, on inspection, to be a comparison between a policy and a smaller policy.
If you do not have your dec page, the carrier will email it in minutes, and so will we if the policy is with us.
The four places a cheap quote is usually cheap
When one quote comes in well under another and both are from real carriers, the difference is nearly always in one of four places.
- Liability limits. A quote at the state minimum against a quote at 100/300 is not the same product. The minimum is a floor set by a legislature, not a recommendation.
- Deductibles. Collision and comprehensive each carry their own. Moving from $500 to $1,000 lowers the premium and moves that money to the day you have a claim.
- Uninsured motorist. Cheap to add, expensive to be without, and the first line a bargain quote drops.
- What is missing entirely. Rental reimbursement, roadside, medical payments or PIP, and glass coverage are priced per vehicle and are easy to leave off a quote without mentioning it.
Check the term before you compare the number
Car policies are written for six months or twelve. A six-month premium sitting next to a twelve-month premium looks like a saving of half. It is not a saving of anything.
Divide both by the number of months they buy and compare that. If a quote does not say which term it is, that is the first question.
Down payment is not price
"Nothing down" and "low first payment" are financing terms, not the cost of the policy. A smaller first payment usually means bigger instalments afterwards, sometimes with a service fee on each one.
Ask for two numbers every time: what the policy costs in total, and what is due today. They answer different questions and only the first one compares.
The questions a quote form does not ask
A rating engine prices what you typed. It does not ask how long you were really insured before this, whose policy that was, whether there was a gap and why. It does not ask whether the student on the policy has a B average or lives away at school. It does not ask what your occupation is, whether you own the home you live in, or whether you finished a defensive driving course two years ago.
Every one of those changes the price at some carriers and not at others. It is the single largest reason two people with the same car and the same record get different numbers.
Before you switch
- Never cancel the old policy before the new one is active. A gap of even one day is a lapse, and a lapse raises what you pay at the next carrier — sometimes by more than you just saved.
- Ask what happens at renewal. A price that exists only for the first term is a common way to win a quote.
- Check the carrier is one you can reach. Look at how a claim is reported and whether there is a person on the other end.
- Ask what the new carrier did with your prior-coverage history. If nobody asked about it, it was not credited.
- Quote against the declarations page, line for line.
- Match the term — six months against six months.
- Separate what the policy costs from what is due today.
- Never let the old policy lapse before the new one starts.