Renewal guide
Compare the renewal to last year’s declarations page
A price change and a coverage change look exactly the same on a renewal notice. Fifteen minutes with both documents open tells you which one you are actually dealing with.
Written by the AiM Insurance negotiation deskLast updated
The one rule
Never compare two premiums. Compare two policies, and then compare the premiums attached to them. A cheaper number on a thinner policy is not a saving, and a higher number on a broader policy is not necessarily an increase. Every other piece of advice about renewals depends on getting this one right first.
What you need
- This year's renewal declarations page — the one that came with the renewal notice, not the notice itself.
- Last year's declarations page, from the start of the term that is now ending. Most carriers keep several years in the online account.
- A pen. The method is a diff, and doing it in your head is how differences get missed.
If the prior page is not in your online account, ask the carrier or agent for it. It is a routine request, and it is worth making a habit of saving a copy every year afterwards.
Work down the page in this order
Declarations pages are laid out differently by every carrier, but they carry the same blocks. Take them in this order, because the earlier blocks explain more of the price than the later ones.
Auto policies
| Block | Compare | What a difference tells you |
|---|---|---|
| Policy period | Start and end dates, and the number of months | A six-month term next to a twelve-month term makes every other number incomparable. Check this first. |
| Drivers listed | Names, and whether anyone is excluded | A driver added, removed or newly rated is one of the largest single movers on an auto premium. |
| Vehicles listed | Year, make, model, VIN, and the use code | A vehicle sold but still listed, or a use code that changed from pleasure to commute, both cost real money. |
| Liability limits | Bodily injury per person and per accident, property damage | The biggest line on most auto premiums. A change here explains a large share of any movement. |
| Uninsured / underinsured motorist | Limits, and whether it is present at all | Frequently the coverage quietly dropped to make a quote look competitive. |
| Comprehensive and collision | Deductibles, and whether each is carried per vehicle | Physical damage tracks the value of the car, so it moves on its own as vehicles age. |
| Medical payments / PIP | Limits, and state-specific coverages | Differs by state; a quote from a carrier that defaulted this low is not comparable. |
| Endorsements | The full list, by name | Rental reimbursement, roadside, gap, custom equipment. Added or dropped endorsements move the price without touching a headline limit. |
| Discounts | The full list, by name | A shorter list than last year is the single easiest cause to reverse. |
| Rating details | Annual mileage, garaging address or ZIP | These are facts about you the carrier is pricing. If one is wrong, the premium is wrong. |
Home policies
| Block | Compare | What a difference tells you |
|---|---|---|
| Coverage A — dwelling | The limit, year over year | Many policies increase this automatically each year to track rebuild costs. An increase here is the most common reason a home premium rises without anything else changing. |
| Coverage B, C, D | Other structures, personal property, loss of use | These are commonly set as a percentage of Coverage A, so they move when it does. |
| Coverage E and F | Personal liability and medical payments to others | Usually cheap to raise; check it was not reduced to hold a price flat. |
| Deductibles | The all-other-perils deductible AND any separate wind, hail, hurricane or named-storm deductible | A separate percentage deductible is calculated on the dwelling limit, not the claim. See the dedicated page below. |
| Roof settlement | Whether roof losses settle at replacement cost or actual cash value, and any age schedule | This can change at renewal by endorsement and does not touch the headline premium the way a limit change does. |
| Endorsements | Ordinance or law, water backup, extended or guaranteed replacement cost, scheduled personal property | The list is where coverage is quietly added or removed. |
| Discounts and credits | The full list, by name | Protective device, new roof, claims-free and bundling credits all have conditions that can stop being met. |
The four places a difference usually hides
- The term length. A six-month auto policy compared against a twelve-month one is the most common false alarm there is — and the most common way a quote is made to look cheap.
- The deductible block, especially on property policies, where a separate percentage wind or hail deductible can be printed some distance from the main deductible.
- The endorsement list, because it is usually set in the smallest type on the page and rarely reads like anything important.
- The settlement basis — replacement cost versus actual cash value — which changes what a claim pays without changing any limit on the page.
When you have the diff
One of three things will be true, and each has a different next step.
| Result | What it means | Next step |
|---|---|---|
| Coverage is identical, price rose | This is a price change, not a product change | Work through the nine causes of an increase with no claim, then call with a list. |
| Coverage is broader, price rose | Part of the increase bought you something | Decide whether you want what it bought. An automatic dwelling-limit increase may be right, or may be overshooting. |
| Coverage is thinner, price rose or held | This is the worst case and the easiest to miss | Ask the carrier why, in writing, and whether the prior terms can be reinstated at a quoted price. |
Check it yourselfEverything on this page is read off your own two documents. No averages, benchmarks or rate tables are involved — which is exactly why the method is reliable.
Use the same page to gather quotes
Once you have a clean current declarations page, it is also the best possible brief for a competing quote. Hand it over and ask each carrier to match it line for line rather than describing what you want from memory. It removes the largest source of error in shopping, which is not dishonesty on the carrier’s part — it is that the default limits in a quoting tool are rarely yours.
The printable declarations page checklist is this method as one page you can print and write on. It is free and ungated.
Common questions
What is a declarations page?
It is the summary page your carrier issues with a policy and again at every renewal. It lists the named insured, the policy period, the vehicles or the property covered, every coverage and its limit, every deductible, the drivers rated, the endorsements attached, the discounts applied and the premium. It is the document that says what you actually bought, as opposed to the marketing that described it.
Where do I get last year's declarations page?
Most carriers keep several years of policy documents in the online account under documents, policy or billing history. If it is not there, ask your carrier or agent for the prior term's declarations page — they are obliged to be able to produce what was issued to you, and asking for it is routine. It is worth doing once and then saving a copy every year, because the comparison is impossible without it.
How do I know if my coverage was reduced at renewal?
Compare the limits, deductibles and endorsement list on the two declarations pages field by field. Reductions usually show as a lower limit, a higher deductible, an endorsement present last year and absent this year, or a coverage that moved from replacement cost to actual cash value. A premium that stayed flat while a limit dropped is a price increase in disguise.
What does 'same coverage' actually mean when comparing quotes?
Identical limits on every coverage, identical deductibles, the same drivers and vehicles or the same property, and the same endorsements. Two quotes that differ on any of those are not comparable, and the cheaper one is almost always the one with the thinner terms. When you gather competing quotes, hand each carrier your current declarations page and ask them to match it line for line rather than describing what you want from memory.
Why did my premium go up if all the limits are the same?
Then the change is not on the coverage side. It is either a filed rate change applied to your whole rating class, a rating factor that aged, a discount that expired, or a surcharge or score that moved. The comparison has still done its job: it has ruled out the one cause you could have mistaken for a price rise, which tells you where to look next.
Send both pages and we will do the diff.
Reading two declarations pages against each other is most of what our first pass is. Send this year’s and last year’s; we tell you what changed, benchmark the same coverage across 50+ carriers, and take the result back to your carrier first. Answer either way within 24 hours.
Takes 5 minutes · No card · $0 if no savings