Two offers for what sounds like the same product can promise different things. The clearest way to see the difference is to set the exclusion language of each offer side by side and match the wording itself, not the headings above it.
Pull the exclusion section from each offer
Every offer should have a section that lists what is not covered. Pull that section from each document, even when a seller summarizes it in a brochure. The brochure is not the contract. Note the page and the section heading so you can find the wording again.
Build a matching grid
Make a table with a column for each offer and a row for each exclusion topic. Useful topics include wear items, conditions that existed before the contract started, damage from outside causes, lack of maintenance, commercial use, and parts sold as consumables. Fill each cell with the offer's own words, quoted exactly. Leave a cell blank only when the offer is silent, and write that silence into the cell.
Read the definitions that the exclusions rely on
An exclusion often depends on a defined term. Words such as covered component, normal wear, authorized repair, and maintenance may be defined elsewhere in the contract. Identical exclusion sentences can mean different things when the definitions behind them differ. Find each defined term and place it in the grid beside the exclusion it controls.
Watch for exclusion by silence
When a category does not appear in the exclusions, the contract may still leave it out through a general statement. Check whether the document says that anything not listed is covered, or that only the items named are covered. That sentence determines how the whole grid should be read.
Questions the grid cannot answer
Write down the questions the grid leaves open and put them to the seller in writing. Ask how a claim is decided when the cause of a breakdown is disputed, who makes that decision, and whether you may see the basis for it. Ask how the contract treats a part that has been replaced by a different model.
What this method cannot tell you
This method compares words. It does not rank offers, does not say which contract is better, and does not show how claims are paid in practice. The state pages on this site show the rules each state has been read on and the state's own roster where one exists. Where this edition has not read a state, the page says so.