Two quotes arrive. Same cover on the face of it, one noticeably cheaper. Most people take the cheaper one, and quite often they are right.
But they are not comparing two prices for the same thing. They are comparing two different products that happen to be summarised the same way, and the difference in price is always paid for somewhere. This is where to look for it.
The gap is never nowhere
An insurer that charges less has made a judgment. Either it thinks the risk is lower, in which case good, or it has removed something. The something is usually one of eight things.
1. The deductible
The first slice of every claim, which you pay. This is the single most common explanation for a price gap, and the one people skip.
A lower premium with a much larger deductible is not cheaper, it is a different bet: you are paying less each year in exchange for paying more the year something happens. That may suit you. It may also mean small claims are never worth making, which quietly turns a policy into cover for catastrophes only.
Work out what each policy would actually pay on a realistic claim, not the worst one imaginable.
2. The sums insured
Two property policies can look identical while insuring the contents for very different amounts. Two medical plans can differ by a factor of several in their annual ceiling.
Underinsurance is worse than most people realise. Declare contents below their replacement cost and many policies reduce the payout proportionally, so a half-declared value produces a half payout even on a small claim. The saving on the premium is dwarfed by that.
3. The exclusions
Read this section before the benefits section. Benefits are written to attract you. Exclusions are what decide whether a claim is paid.
Natural perils, pre-existing conditions, unoccupied buildings, named drivers, specific activities. A cheaper policy is very often a policy with a longer exclusions list, and nothing in the summary will tell you.
4. The network
For medical cover, which hospitals. For motor, which garages.
A cheaper plan with a narrower network is fine right up until the hospital you would actually go to is outside it. Ask for the list, and ask what happens if a hospital leaves it mid-year, because in Lebanon that is not hypothetical.
5. The currency, and who can change it
Three separate questions, and they are frequently confused:
- What currency is the premium charged in
- What currency will a claim be settled in
- Can either be repriced during the term
Two quotes in different currencies are not comparable until you have those three answers.
6. Market value or agreed value
For anything with a value that falls, motor especially, this single clause decides what you receive when it is written off. Market value means what it is worth that day, which is always less than people expect. Agreed value fixes the number in advance.
Two motor quotes differing on this are not the same product, and it will not be obvious from the summary.
7. What happens at claim time
Not a clause, but it is what you are buying.
Does the insurer settle with the hospital or garage directly, or do you pay and claim it back? Is there a human who answers? How long do claims typically take? Direct settlement and reimbursement are wildly different experiences and the quote will not distinguish them.
8. Who is actually behind it
Whether the insurer pays reliably, and whether they argue. This is the hardest thing to find out from a document and the easiest to find out from somebody who files claims with them every week.
A practical way to do it
- Ask for both full policy wordings, not the summaries. If one will not provide it, that is your answer.
- Line up the deductible, sums insured, exclusions and network side by side.
- Model a realistic claim through both. Not the worst case, the likely one.
- Ask each insurer the same three questions: how do you settle, how long does it take, what would refuse this claim.
- Only then compare the premiums.
Done properly, the two quotes usually stop looking identical about a third of the way in.
When the cheap one is right
Often. A higher deductible on a car you rarely drive, a narrower network in a city with one hospital you would ever use, a lower ceiling on a plan that already sits on top of other cover. These are sensible trades, and paying for cover you will never use is its own kind of waste.
The point is not that cheaper is worse. It is that you should know what you traded, rather than discovering it at claim time.
What we do
This is most of the job. We request options across several insurers, put the differences side by side rather than the prices, and tell you which trade we would make and why. Sometimes that is the cheapest quote on the table.
This article is general information about comparing cover in Lebanon, not advice about your particular circumstances. Your policy wording decides what you are actually covered for.
Cover explained
Request a quoteCover is subject to each insurer's full policy terms, conditions and exclusions. We compare on price and on cover, and the choice is yours.