Fifteen Minutes With Your Declarations Page

You do not need to understand insurance to do this. You need your current declarations page, your registration cards, and a quarter of an hour. Work down in order and write down every question that comes up; then make one phone call with all of them.

Step 1: the drivers (3 minutes)

Is every licensed person in the household listed — including the ones who rarely drive? Is anyone listed who has moved out, or who no longer drives at all? Both directions matter. An extra driver who left is costing you; a missing driver who is still there is a coverage problem waiting to happen.

Step 2: the vehicles (4 minutes)

Check each vehicle line against the registration card: year, make, model, trim, VIN. Then check the garaging address is where the car actually sleeps. Then check the use code — commute or pleasure — against how the car is actually used now, not when the policy started.

Step 3: the mileage (2 minutes)

Find the annual mileage figure on the declarations page. Now photograph each odometer. Does the figure on the page resemble reality? Miles driven is one of the primary rating factors California's rules point to, so a figure invented four years ago is worth correcting. Here is how to do that properly.

Step 4: the discount lines (3 minutes)

Read every line item on the declarations page. Anything you expected to see and cannot find is a question. Anything there you do not recognize is also a question — discounts occasionally sit on a policy that no longer qualifies for them, which is its own risk.

Step 5: the coverage itself (3 minutes)

Check the liability limits, the deductibles, and whether comprehensive and collision are on each vehicle. This is not about cutting anything. It is about knowing what you have before anyone tries to change it, because the cheapest change is often the most expensive one.

Then make one call

Read your list. Ask for confirmation in writing of anything that changes. Then check the revised declarations page when it arrives, because that is the only document that proves what actually happened.

Send us the declarations page if you would rather have a licensed agent do the pass with you.