Reading a Quote Line by Line
A quote document is a price attached to a set of assumptions. Most people read the price. The assumptions are where the information is.
Start at the bottom, not the top
Find the coverage schedule before you look at the premium. Until you know what is being bought, the number means nothing. You are looking for:
- Bodily injury liability limits, usually shown as two numbers — per person and per accident.
- Property damage liability.
- Uninsured and underinsured motorist, and whether they are present at all.
- Collision and comprehensive, each with its own deductible.
- Anything else — rental reimbursement, roadside, medical payments.
Then check the assumptions
Every quote states what it was built from, and this is the part that decides whether the price will survive:
- Which drivers are listed, and is anyone marked excluded?
- Which vehicle, by VIN, and which trim?
- What annual mileage was used?
- What garaging address?
- What prior-insurance history was assumed?
If any of those five is wrong, the price is wrong, and it is wrong now rather than later.
Look for what is not there
A quote can be cheap because something was left out. Uninsured motorist coverage missing, physical damage missing on a financed car, a deductible far higher than the one you carry now. Absent lines are harder to notice than present ones, which is exactly why the cheapest quote in a stack deserves the most reading.
The three numbers to write down
Term premium. Day-one payment. Number and size of the remaining instalments. Those three, for each quote you are holding, on one piece of paper. That is a real comparison; two totals from two emails is not.
What a quote will never tell you
How the carrier handles claims. Whether a person answers the phone. Whether your renewal will move. Those are worth asking about out loud, and the answer to the first one at least should be a straight description of the process rather than a slogan.
Send us the quote you were given and we'll read it against ours line for line — including the lines that are missing.
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Get My Free QuoteMore of what callers ask
Why does one quote list more coverages than another?
Because they are quoting different amounts of protection. That is the most common reason one number looks better, and it is settled by lining up the coverage schedules rather than the totals.
What does a two-number liability limit mean?
The first is the most payable for one injured person, the second the most for the accident overall. Property damage is normally a separate third figure.
Should I just pick the cheapest one?
Only once you have confirmed it is the same coverage from a company you're comfortable with. A smaller policy isn't a cheaper policy, it is a smaller one.