Methodology
NerdWallet analyzed more than 1 billion auto, homeowners, condo and renters insurance rates from Quadrant Information Services — an insurance rating and analytics platform — to find out how much people can save by raising their policy deductibles.
Auto insurance
Our primary auto insurance rate analysis is based on a 35-year-old single driver of a 2023 Toyota Camry with good credit, no recent at-fault accidents or driving violations, and a full coverage policy across five comprehensive and collision deductible levels: $250, $500, $1,000, $2,000 and $2,500. By holding every other policy variable steady, we measured what a driver can save by changing nothing but their deductible.
To test whether the savings hold up for different drivers, we ran the same comparison across other groups, including by age (20, 35 and 70), credit (good, fair and poor) and driving record (clean record, an at-fault accident, a speeding ticket and a DUI).
For every group and deductible level, we calculated the national median rate and the percentage difference between deductible levels to find the average savings.
Homeowners insurance
Our home insurance rate analysis is based on a single-family home with replacement cost dwelling coverage. We compared median rates across two deductible levels — $1,000 and $2,500 — for newer and older homes, homes with and without a recent claim, and homeowners with good and poor credit.
Condo insurance
Similar to home, our condo insurance rate analysis compared median premiums at a $1,000 and a $2,500 deductible. Our primary analysis is based on a condo policy with $100,000 in personal property coverage and $300,000 in liability coverage — again comparing owners with good and poor credit and with and without a recent claim.
Renters insurance
Because renters deductibles tend to run lower, we compared a $500 and a $1,000 deductible for a renter with $30,000 in personal property and $100,000 in liability coverage.
A few notes on the numbers
Where the article names a specific dollar example — the 35-year-old driver with poor credit and an accident, or the 1980s home with a claims history — that example uses the higher-risk profile described in the text, which is why its premiums run higher than the base averages.
To ensure a handful of extremely low or high premiums wouldn’t distort the results, we removed clear outliers before running this analysis.
These are sample rates intended for comparison only. Your own rate depends on your location, your vehicle or home, your coverage choices, credit score, claims history and more. What you actually pay will differ from the figures cited in this article.