By Fausto Bucheli Jr.
President | Owner
CA license number: 0E59876
NPN: 8282775
If you’ve stayed with the same car insurance company for years without checking other rates, you’re probably leaving money on the table. But how much, exactly? To answer that, CheapInsurance.com reviewed the publicly stated savings figures from five of the leading insurance comparison platforms: Insurify, Compare.com, Jerry, The Zebra, and NerdWallet, and calculated the average across all five.
What the Comparison Sites Say
Each of these platforms publishes its own estimate of how much the average customer saves by comparing quotes instead of sticking with a single insurer:
- Insurify advertises that drivers can save up to $1,100 per year by comparing rates across its network of 120+ partner insurers.
- Compare.com states that its customers save up to $867 per year on car insurance.
- Jerry reports that its AI-driven comparison approach saves customers an average of $800 per year.
- The Zebra cites an average savings of $922 per year for customers who compare combined home and auto coverage through its platform.
- NerdWallet found that drivers without tickets or violations may be missing out on $416.52 per year in savings, on average, simply by not comparing rates.
The Average: About $821 a Year
Taking a straight average of those five published figures comes out to approximately $821 per year in potential savings. CheapInsurance.com calculated this number by adding the five site-reported savings figures together and dividing by five, a simple, transparent way to put a single, digestible number on what’s otherwise a handful of different marketing claims.
It’s worth being upfront about what this average is and isn’t. These are figures each company reports about its own customer base, using its own methodology, driver profiles, and time periods, they aren’t independently audited, and they aren’t guarantees of what any individual driver will save. Someone with a clean driving record in a low-cost state might save far less than average; someone who hasn’t shopped around in years, or who’s in a state with wide rate variation between insurers, could save quite a bit more.
CheapInsurance.com by the Numbers
According to Fausto Bucheli Jr, a licensed insurance broker and owner of CheapInsurance.com, the math is clear.
“When drivers compare insurance quotes, they are not just browsing, they are activating competition. Based on current savings data from leading comparison platforms, the average driver could save around $821 dollars per year simply by shopping smarter. That is real money staying in your pocket.”
The reason comparison sites can generate this level of savings is simple. Insurance companies price risk differently. One carrier may heavily penalize a prior claim, while another may be more forgiving. One company may offer strong discounts for safe driving or bundling, while another may focus on credit based pricing or mileage driven.
Why the Range Exists
Car insurance pricing isn’t standardized. Each insurer weighs your age, location, credit history, driving record, and vehicle differently, which is exactly why two companies can quote wildly different prices for the same driver and the same coverage. That’s the entire premise behind comparison shopping, and it’s why nearly every site in this space, independent or not, arrives at the same basic conclusion: shopping around saves money, even if the exact number varies by source.
The Takeaway
Whether your personal savings lands closer to $400 or closer to $1,300, the data is consistent on one point, comparing quotes before you renew is one of the simplest ways to make sure you’re not overpaying. If you haven’t checked your rate against other insurers recently, now’s a good time to see where you stand.
Founded in California in 1974 as an insurance agency, CheapInsurance.com has spent decades helping people find affordable coverage.
Over time, we became one of the first brokerages to go online in 1998, making insurance shopping faster and easier. Our mission has always been simple: insurance is a basic necessity, not a luxury. That’s why our technology quickly scans the marketplace in seconds, compares rates, and uncovers discounts that might otherwise be missed. In addition, we explain coverage in clear, simple terms.
As a result, people get real options and can avoid overpaying for features they do not need, while still maintaining strong, reliable protection.