Raising your deductible always lowers your premium. The only question worth answering is how long you have to go without a claim before the saving is bigger than the extra money you would have to find if you did claim. That is a number, and this works it out.
Deductible Break-Even Calculator
Option 1: Lower Deductible
Option 2: Higher Deductible
How to read the answer
The result is a break-even point in months. Below it, the higher deductible has not yet paid for itself; above it, you are ahead. If your break-even is around a year, the higher deductible is usually worth taking, because most drivers go several years between at-fault claims. If it stretches past three or four years, the discount is not buying you much.
Get both numbers from the same insurer on the same day. A quote from one company at a $500 deductible and another at $1,000 tells you nothing about deductibles — it tells you the two companies price differently.
What this cannot tell you
- Whether you will actually claim. Nobody knows that. The calculator assumes no at-fault claim during the period, which is the optimistic case.
- Whether you could pay the higher deductible tomorrow. This is the part people skip. A $1,000 deductible saves nothing if a claim means borrowing to fix the car. If the money is not sitting somewhere you can reach it, take the lower deductible and treat the higher premium as the cost of not having to find the cash.
- Comprehensive and collision are separate. Most policies carry a deductible for each, and they do not have to match. Run them separately.
- What your insurer will do at renewal. Premiums are re-rated annually on factors that have nothing to do with your deductible, so the saving you calculate today is not fixed for the whole break-even period.
Related reading
- Choosing the right deductible for your auto insurance policy — the longer explanation of how deductibles interact with coverage limits.
- Best car insurance companies — what actually moves your premium, and which insurer suits which driver.
- How we rank insurance companies — the criteria behind every recommendation on this site, and how it makes money.
Ryan Hearn is a licensed insurance producer in California, licence #0L14758. This page is educational and is not a recommendation to buy any specific policy. Insightful Coverage is an independent publisher, not an agency, broker or carrier.