Comparing Auto Quotes: The Four Numbers That Matter More Than the Premium
By The NMH Agency Team, Licensed Agent
Most people compare auto insurance the way they compare gas stations:
by the big number on the sign. Quote A is $128 a month, Quote B is $112,
done. B wins.
Our agents review quotes like this every day, and here’s what that
comparison misses: two quotes forty dollars apart per month can be forty
thousand dollars apart after a serious accident. The premium is
the price of the policy. These four numbers are what the policy is
actually worth.
1.
Your liability limits, the number that can follow you for years
Liability coverage pays for the damage you cause to other people:
their injuries, their vehicles, their lost wages. It’s expressed as
three numbers, like 25/50/25. That’s per-person bodily injury,
per-accident bodily injury, and property damage, in thousands.
Here’s the uncomfortable math. State minimum limits were mostly set
decades ago. The average new vehicle now transacts around fifty thousand
dollars, and a single ER visit with imaging and a short admission can
pass six figures. If you total a new SUV and injure its two occupants
while carrying 25/50/25, your insurer pays its limits and walks away.
The remaining balance belongs to you, and courts can garnish wages for
it.
When you compare quotes, check the limits first, because
this is where cheap quotes hide their cheapness. A quote at state
minimums will always beat a quote at 100/300/100, and it should, because
it’s a fundamentally different product. Our general guidance: carry
limits that at least resemble what you’d stand to lose in a lawsuit. For
most working households, 100/300/100 is the sensible floor, and the jump
from minimums to there usually costs far less than people expect.
2. Your
deductibles, the number you chose while optimistic
Comprehensive and collision deductibles are the portion of your own
repair you pay before coverage kicks in. Raising a deductible from $500
to $1,000 might trim a premium by five to ten percent, and
quote-comparison sites lean on this lever hard because it makes their
number look better.
The question isn’t whether $1,000 sounds fine today. It’s whether you
could write that check the same week your car is in the shop and you’re
paying for a rental. If the honest answer is no, the “savings” is just a
loan you’re making to yourself at a bad time. Match deductibles across
quotes before comparing premiums, or you’re comparing different products
again.
3.
Uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage, the number about everyone
else
Roughly one in seven drivers on American roads carries no insurance
at all, and in some states it’s closer to one in four. Plenty more carry
those decades-old minimum limits. Uninsured/underinsured motorist
coverage (UM/UIM) is what pays for your injuries when the
at-fault driver can’t.
This is the coverage most often quietly stripped out or minimized to
win a price comparison. It’s also, in our experience, the coverage
people are most grateful for after the fact, because it’s the one
protecting you against strangers’ decisions rather than your own. When
you line up quotes, confirm UM/UIM is present and at limits matching
your liability coverage. If a quote is suspiciously cheap, this is one
of the first places to look.
4. The gap
between actual cash value and what you owe
If you finance or lease, your insurer settles a total loss at the
vehicle’s market value, not your loan balance. New cars depreciate
fastest in exactly the years your balance is highest, so it’s routine
for a two-year-old financed vehicle to be worth $4,000 to $6,000 less
than what’s owed on it.
Gap coverage exists for precisely this scenario and typically costs
little. Some quotes include it, most don’t, and comparing a quote that
has it against one that doesn’t is, once again, comparing two different
products. If you owe more than your car is worth, this number belongs in
your comparison.
How to run a fair
comparison in ten minutes
Take your current declarations page, the summary sheet listing your
coverages and limits. Get every new quote written to those exact
specifications: same liability limits, same deductibles, same UM/UIM,
same extras like rental and roadside. Now the premiums are finally
speaking the same language, and the cheapest number is a real answer
instead of a trick of the light.
Then, separately, ask what moving each lever would cost. Sometimes
doubling liability limits costs less per month than a streaming
subscription, and that’s a trade worth knowing about.
This normalization work is what an independent agent does by default.
Because we quote across 50+ carriers, we build every comparison to
matching specs. And when a carrier’s quote comes in oddly low, we can
usually tell you exactly which of these four numbers it shaved to get
there.
Want your current policy translated and re-shopped to matching
specs? Call 800.388.6780 or get an auto quote. It costs
nothing and takes about ten minutes.