Read the Itemised Premium: Where Two Quotes Really Differ

Two totals tell you which offer is lower. They do not tell you why, and the why is where the useful questions are. Much of the difference between two companies often sits in a few lines, and once you can see those lines you can do something about them.

Lay the lines out side by side

Before filling it in, confirm both quotes use the same coverage, drivers, cars and term. Line-by-line comparison only works once the policies match; otherwise every gap is just a coverage difference.

Why the lines disagree

Each company builds its price under its own approved plan, using the three required factors and whichever optional factors it has chosen from the regulation's list: type and performance of vehicle, damageability and repairability, percentage of use by the rated driver, secondary driver characteristics, multi-vehicle households and others (10 CCR 2632.5). A company that weighs repairability heavily will show it in the collision line of an expensive-to-fix car. One that weighs secondary driver characteristics will show it on the car a young driver is rated on.

What the big gaps tell you to ask

• A large gap on one car's collision line: ask what a higher deductible on that car does at each company, or whether collision is worth carrying on it at all.
• A large gap on a young driver's car: ask how each company decided which driver is rated on which car, and confirm it matches who really drives what.
• A gap in uninsured motorist: check that both quotes use the same uninsured motorist limits before anything else.
• Fees appearing in only one quote: ask the other company whether it charges them too and simply shows them elsewhere.

A typical pattern

Picture a household with a newer SUV and a ten-year-old sedan, and a seventeen-year-old who mostly drives the sedan. Company A is lower overall, but its collision line on the SUV is high. Company B is higher overall, almost entirely because of the liability line on the sedan, where the young driver is rated. Those are two different conversations: a deductible question for A, and a check on driver assignment and the young driver's credits for B.

The line not to fiddle with

Driver assignment must reflect real use. Putting a teenager "on" the cheaper car on paper while they drive the other one every day does not save money; it creates a policy that describes a different household, and that surfaces at the worst possible moment. Use the line-by-line view to ask honest questions, not to engineer a number.

Why the total is not the sum

Multi-vehicle households are one of the optional rating factors, and some companies apply credits across the whole policy rather than to one line. If a company's per-car lines look high but its total is low, look for a credit line or a policy-level adjustment. Ask for the breakdown if a quote shows only a total; how much detail each company provides varies by insurance company.

Want the itemised version of each offer? Ask for it when you request quotes through our quote form, and we will lay the lines side by side.