Methodology

How We Research Car Insurance Costs

Where every number on Covered Route comes from, why published rates disagree so much, and how we turn them into the ranges you see.

Iker, founder of Covered Route · Last updated September 24, 2026

Two kinds of information, two standards

Every guide mixes two very different kinds of information, and we handle them differently:

Where rate estimates come from

The large rate-comparison publishers don't make their numbers up either: most license premium data built from insurers' own rate filings with state regulators, or use quotes from their own marketplaces, and then average them for a sample driver profile. We read those published results, along with smaller publishers and industry sources, and list every one we used at the bottom of the guide with the month we accessed it.

We don't have access to insurers' rating systems and we don't collect quotes. That's a deliberate trade-off: we can't tell you your exact price, but we can show you what the published data actually says and where it disagrees.

Why published rates disagree

It's common for two reputable sites to publish figures for the "same" driver that differ by 50% or more. That usually isn't an error — they are measuring different things. The biggest reasons:

DifferenceWhy it moves the number
Sample driver profileAge, vehicle, credit tier, and driving history of the "average" driver vary by source.
Coverage levelState-minimum liability can cost a fraction of full coverage with 100/300/100 limits.
Average vs. medianA few very expensive quotes pull an average up; a median ignores them.
Monthly vs. annualSome sources quote per month, some per year, some per six-month term.
Which insurers are includedAdding or dropping one high-priced or low-priced carrier shifts the result.
Data datePremiums have moved sharply year to year; a figure from last year can be well off today.

How we turn sources into a range

  1. Normalize units. Annual and six-month figures are converted to a monthly figure so sources can be compared.
  2. Note the profile. When a source publishes its sample driver and coverage level, we say so next to the figure.
  3. Show the spread. Where sources disagree, we publish the low-to-high range instead of picking one number and presenting it as exact.
  4. Compare publishers directly when we can. Where at least three publishers give figures for the same driver profile, we show them side by side as a Covered Route Consensus Range, with each source's method, instead of blending them into one number.
  5. Round honestly. Figures are shown with a "~" because they are estimates; we don't add false precision.

What the dates on a guide mean

Who writes and reviews the guides

Guides are researched and written by Iker, the founder of Covered Route. Iker is not a licensed insurance agent. Guides are not currently reviewed by a licensed insurance professional; if that changes, the reviewer will be named on each guide they review, with a license number you can look up.

What we don't do

Corrections

If a figure is out of date, a requirement has changed, or a source has been superseded, tell us via the contact page. Corrections to legal requirements are checked against the official state source before we change the page.

Changelog