Editorial Policy
Last reviewed: 2026-09-16
Insurance is a decision people make once or twice a decade, usually under time pressure, usually without a way to check whether the number they were quoted is normal. That is the problem this site exists to solve. This page explains exactly how we research, write, check and correct what we publish, so you can judge how much weight to give it.
Who is responsible for this site
InsurTool is published by a small editorial team that writes, checks and maintains every page on the site. We do not currently credit individual articles to a named person, and we have deliberately chosen not to invent one to fill the space: a byline that does not correspond to a real, accountable human is worse than no byline at all. Where you see “the InsurTool Editorial Team”, that is an accurate statement of who produced the page.
We are not an insurance carrier, agent, broker, law firm or financial adviser. We do not sell insurance, we do not issue policies, and we cannot tell you what to buy.
Where our numbers come from
Every rate, average and legal limit on this site is tied to a source that a reader can go and check. Our standing sources are:
- NAIC — the National Association of Insurance Commissioners, whose Auto Insurance Database Report is the most complete public state-by-state expenditure dataset. Used for auto-insurance averages.
- Insurance Information Institute (Triple-I) — used for HO-3 homeowners premium averages by state.
- State insurance departments and statutes — used for minimum liability limits, no-fault status, credit-scoring rules and filing deadlines, because those vary by state and cannot be generalised.
- Federal sources — CMS and KFF for health coverage figures; BLS for cost and wage context.
Where a figure is a model rather than a published number, we say so on the page, show the input we started from, and label it as an estimate. You will see this on our state pages, where a 2021 published homeowners average is escalated to a current-year estimate; the original figure is shown next to it so you can check our arithmetic rather than take it on faith.
What we do not do: we do not present a modelled figure as a filed rate, we do not present a national average as if it were your state’s, and we do not quote a premium without saying which coverage level and which year it refers to.
How a page gets made
- Question first. We start from a question a reader actually has — “why did my premium go up when nothing changed?” — not from a keyword we want to rank for.
- Source gathering. We pull the primary data for that question: the state statute, the regulator’s filing, the NAIC or Triple-I table. Retrieval dates are recorded.
- Drafting. We write the explanation in plain language, with the arithmetic shown rather than asserted. Where a rule has an exception, we state the exception.
- Checking. A second pass verifies each figure against its source, confirms the links resolve, and removes any claim we cannot support. Unsupported claims are cut, not softened.
- Publishing with provenance. The page ships with its sources listed, an “updated” date, and a visible route to report an error.
Review schedule
Rate data ages quickly. Pages built on NAIC or Triple-I tables are re-checked when a new edition of that table is released, and at minimum once a year. Pages tied to a state statute or a regulatory filing are re-checked when that state changes the rule. The date at the top of each page reflects the last substantive review, not a cosmetic edit.
Corrections
If you find an error, email [email protected] or use our contact form. Include the page address and the figure you think is wrong, and the source you are comparing against if you have one. We check every report against the cited source. If we were wrong we fix the page and record what changed and when. If we were right, we explain where the number came from. We do not delete a page to make an error go away.
How this site is funded
InsurTool is currently funded by its operators. It carries no advertising and no affiliate links at the time of writing. If that changes:
- Advertising will be labelled as advertising, on the page, in a position a reader can see — never styled to look like an article or a calculator result.
- Commercial links will be disclosed at the top of the page that contains them, not only in a policy document, and marked as sponsored in the link markup.
- No advertiser or affiliate partner gets to review, approve or influence a page before it is published, and none of them can buy a favourable rating or an edit.
- We will not place ads on pages that do not carry substantive editorial content, and we will not place them where they could be mistaken for navigation or for our own results.
Scope and limits
Everything here is general education for a United States audience. It is not insurance, financial, tax or legal advice, and it is not a substitute for reading your own policy or speaking to a licensed professional who can see your circumstances. Insurance rules, rates and filing requirements change frequently and differ by state and by carrier; always confirm anything you intend to act on with your insurer or your state’s department of insurance before you rely on it.
Questions about our process
Is InsurTool written by AI?
Our drafts are produced with the help of software, including language models, in the same way a newsroom uses spellcheck and research tools. Every published page is assembled, checked and edited by a human against the primary sources listed on that page, and no page goes live with an unverified figure. We say this plainly rather than hiding it, because readers deserve to know how a page was made. What we never do is publish an unedited machine output, and we never attach a fictional human author name to it.
How do you decide which states and topics get a page?
A page is created only when we have something specific to say about it: a distinct set of state rules, a distinct rate pattern, or a distinct question readers keep asking. We do not create pages by swapping a state name into a template. Where a topic does not justify its own page, we cover it inside a broader guide and link to it from there.
How is InsurTool funded?
Right now the site is funded by its operators. When we add advertising or affiliate links we label them clearly, and the labels are visible on the page rather than only in a policy document. Compensation never determines which companies we mention, and we do not accept payment to write a favourable review.
How do I report an error?
Email [email protected] with the page URL and the figure you believe is wrong. We check every report against the cited source. If we got it wrong, we correct the page and note the correction and date on the page itself.