A low headline figure tells you less than it seems to. Two limits decide how much a contract can pay, and both usually sit in the claims or limits section rather than on the front page. Find them before you set any two offers side by side.
The two limits to locate
Look first for the limit that applies to a single claim. This caps what the contract will pay for one covered event, however many parts or hours the repair takes. Then look for the limit that applies across the whole term, which caps the total the contract will pay before it stops responding. A contract can have a generous single-claim limit and a small term total, or the reverse. Write both down with the sentence that states each.
What falls back on you
Anything above a limit, anything excluded, and any charge the contract leaves to the owner usually comes back to the owner. Those charges can include a deductible if the contract has one, a visit or diagnostic charge if the contract does not cover it, and the cost of work that is not on the covered list. Read the sentence that says who pays each of these, because the answer is often a different party from the one you expect.
A list to build before comparing
For each offer, record the single-claim limit, the term limit, any deductible, the charges the contract leaves to the owner, and the sentence that states each one. Keep the offers in the same order so the rows line up. Only then does a difference in price mean something. A lower price with a lower limit is not a saving until you know what the lower limit leaves uncovered.
What this piece does not do
This piece does not give any published figure, and it does not describe the limits of any company. Use the tables on this site for the figures the state rosters publish, and read the contract you are offered for its own limits. This edition has not read every contract, and it does not rate any of them.