Run Four Pretend Claims Through Both Quotes Before Choosing

Quotes are written in limits and deductibles, which are hard to feel. Claims are easy to feel. Translating one into the other takes ten minutes and usually settles a decision that a spreadsheet of numbers could not.

The two quotes in this example

Same driver, same car, same term. Only the coverage differs.

• Quote A: liability at California's minimum of $30,000 per person, $60,000 per accident and $15,000 property damage; uninsured motorist rejected in writing; comprehensive and collision with $1,000 deductibles.
• Quote B: liability of $100,000 per person and $300,000 per accident with $50,000 property damage; uninsured motorist at matching limits; comprehensive and collision with $500 deductibles.

Quote A will cost less. The question is what you give up for the difference.

Four claims, run through both quotes

Claim one: you scrape a pillar in a parking structure

Collision pays the repair minus the deductible. Under Quote A you pay the first $1,000; under Quote B the first $500. This is the claim where the deductible choice shows up most plainly.

Claim two: you cause a crash that seriously injures someone

Suppose the injured driver's claim settles at $50,000. Quote A pays up to its $30,000 per-person limit and the rest is your problem, along with any of the other driver's car damage beyond $15,000. Quote B pays the whole claim within its $100,000 per-person limit. This is the claim with the largest gap, and the one people least like to imagine.

Claim three: an uninsured driver hits you and you are hurt

Under Quote A there is no uninsured motorist coverage to call on, because it was rejected in writing; California includes it on every bodily injury liability policy unless the named insured signs to delete it (Insurance Code 11580.2). Your health plan and your own collision coverage, with its deductible, are what is left. Under Quote B, uninsured motorist coverage responds up to its limits, subject to the policy's terms.

Claim four: the car is stolen and never recovered

Comprehensive pays the car's actual cash value, which in California means fair market value unless the policy defines it differently, minus the deductible. Quote A pays value less $1,000; Quote B pays value less $500.

The result, on one page

Now price the difference

Take the yearly premium gap between the two quotes and set it against the table. If the gap is small next to a single row, Quote B is buying a lot for little. If the gap is large and the rows you can realistically picture are the small ones, Quote A may be the honest choice. Either way you are now deciding on outcomes rather than on a headline.

Choosing your own four claims

• A long daily commute makes the injury claim more relevant, not less.
• An older car you own outright shrinks claims one and four, because the payout is capped at what the car is worth.
• A deductible you could not pay tomorrow is a problem in claim one, whatever it saves.
• Assets or income worth protecting make claim two the row that matters most.

Run the same four claims through every quote you are considering, and keep the table with your comparison. If you would like the quotes built so the test is easy to run, ask through our quote form for one version at minimum limits and one at higher limits.