We’re all used to shopping for the best deals. We know we want to buy something, so we jump online and start searching for it and before long, we have multiple companies vying for our business, undercutting each other’s pricing, offering discounts, and promising things the other company won’t. We find the best deal we can and we buy the product or service at a rate that we like.

Google and Searching for Disability Insurance

In 2001 when we started providing disability insurance quotes to consumers who had come to our website, there was very little competition. There was one other site that provided some limited information on disability insurance and the ability to get a quote. The consumer was seemingly at a disadvantage since there were just not a lot of options online to research and buy a policy.

Fast forward to now and there are about 9,250,000 search results for “disability insurance quotes” on Google. There’s A LOT of information out there and the consumer has plenty of options. Interestingly, enough, I’m not sure they’re better off than they were 20 years ago.

When you searched for this 20 years ago, you most often got to an agent who could advise you on what was the best type of policy to protect your income. You’d tell them your situation and they’d talk with underwriters at different companies and then present you with the best option for coverage. Today, the consumer is presented with a virtual spreadsheet of options and often left to make their own decision or talk with a call center representative who may not have the knowledge to be very helpful. Sometimes, more information isn’t helpful, but more experienced advice could be.

Disability Insurance Is Unique

If you’re buying term life and one company is going to charge you 20% less for the same policy as another carrier, the better deal is almost always to go with the cheaper option. There’s only one way to get a life insurance claim paid, so paying more for this type of policy usually doesn’t make sense. The same can be said for many other types of insurance – there’s typically a standardized way that triggers a claim with insurance, so paying more doesn’t often get you more benefits.

Disability insurance doesn’t work this way. There are different definitions of what it means to be “disabled”. There are different provisions that some carriers offer, and others do not. Each policy is a little different in how, when, and if they pay you. That makes it almost impossible to compare apples to apples. It’s always “apples” to something “sort-of-like-apples-but-a-little-different.” This makes getting a “deal” almost impossible because you’re simply getting a different product. Disability insurance policies that are cheaper are almost always so simply because they are not as comprehensive as those that are more expensive.

This product is also highly regulated. The companies set their pricing, not the agents. It’s not like buying a car where you can get the exact same thing from another dealership for a lower price. If you’re comparing two identical disability insurance policy quotes, they will have to be the exact same price. We all use the same quote software.

How to Get a Deal on Disability Insurance

I said getting a deal was “almost impossible”. The way you get a deal is to stop trying to research everything, stop trying to become an expert on it and spend your time finding an actual disability insurance expert. Find an experienced agent who has been specializing in this type of insurance and then use that person to get you the best policy, at the best rate possible.

I’ve been advising clients on disability insurance for 20 years and I talk with people regularly who will send me a quote they got from another agent – or worse, from an online site that simply spreadsheets several options. I’ve seen the wrong occupation class illustrated (which makes the pricing higher) more times than I can remember. I’ve seen non-smokers quoted as smokers. I’ve seen discounts that should have been applied that weren’t. I’ve seen quotes for policies that are loaded up with features the client doesn’t want and didn’t ask for.

Things that less experienced agents miss, more experienced agents pick up on. And that’s how you get a great deal on disability insurance – you get the best policy for your situation, with all the available discounts, and then you get the best offer possible from underwriting because your agent listened to your needs and did a great job recommending the correct policy.

Some products and services lend themselves to independent research, negotiation, discounts, and deals. Disability insurance isn’t typically one of these products, but that doesn’t mean you can’t find a great value. You just have to spend more time looking for an agent who can help you with this, rather than spending time reading over many quotes and trying to make the decision on your own. You’ll end up with a better policy and maybe even a lower rate.