The Zebra Review: What You Need to Know Before Getting a Quote

You might think of insurance comparison sites as just lead generation tools for insurance salespeople. But The Zebra is different.

With its promise that you won’t get any unwanted email spam or phone calls, The Zebra aims to streamline the process of shopping for auto insurance and — to a lesser degree — home insurance.

In this article, we’ll take a look at how The Zebra works, what companies you can get quotes from, how the price quotes stack up and more.

The Zebra Review: Here’s What You Need to Know

The Zebra is an independent insurance agency that writes policies in all 50 U.S. states and Washington, D.C. You can find state licensing information here.

They partner with more than 30 top providers like Esurance, Farmers, MetLife Nationwide, Progressive, State Farm and USAA, among others.

Auto insurance has always been the main focus at The Zebra. They’re just now branching out to home insurance with a small handful of carriers.

In addition to home and auto insurance, The Zebra offers quotes for related types of insurance like renters insurance, condo insurance, RV insurance and more.

For this article, I got quotes for a couple of different types of auto insurance customers on The Zebra. You can see the prices I was quoted here or read about my full shopping experience below!

Table of Contents

1. How Does The Zebra Work?
2. What Can You Expect From the Quote Process?
3. How Are the Prices on The Zebra?

How Does The Zebra Work?

The Zebra allows you to input some basic info about yourself, your vehicle and your driving history to quickly get a variety of quotes.

Entering my information only took me five minutes. After putting in my zip code on the homepage, here’s the rest of the data I needed to get started:

Vehicles

• The year, make, model and trim of your vehicle(s)
• Whether you own or lease your vehicle(s)
• Your car’s primary use: Personal/commuting, pleasure, farm or business/rideshare
• Estimate of how many miles you drive each year

Drivers

• Name
• Birthdate
• Address
• Gender
• Marital status
• Do you rent or own your home?
• Credit score: Excellent, good, average or poor? (Users are prompted to select “good” if they are unsure)
• Highest level of education
• Are you currently insured? For how long?
• Select your current carrier

Once The Zebra system starts crunching numbers, you get your quotes within seconds.

I should note that I did receive a follow-up email almost immediately after getting my quotes. It recapped the top three choices for me by lowest premium.

But, I was pleased that I wasn’t asked for my phone number at any time during the quote process. That means no annoying spam calls.

What Can You Expect From the Quote Process?

After entering your info, the next decision you have to make is what level of coverage you want from four possible choices:

The exact dollar amounts of coverage vary by state, but this is what I was offered in my home state of Georgia:

Minimum

• Bodily Injury: $25,000/$50,000
• Property Damage: $25,000
• Collision: No coverage
• Comprehensive: No coverage
• Uninsured motorist: No coverage
• Personal injury: No coverage
• Towing: No coverage
• Rental: No coverage

Basic

• Bodily Injury: $25,000/$50,000
• Property Damage: $25,000
• Collision: $1,000 deductible
• Comprehensive: $1,000 deductible
• Uninsured motorist: $25,000/$50,000
• Personal injury: No coverage
• Towing: No coverage
• Rental: No coverage

Better

• Bodily Injury: $50,000/$100,000
• Property Damage: $50,000
• Collision: $1,000 deductible
• Comprehensive: $1,000 deductible
• Uninsured motorist: $50,000/$100,000
• Personal injury: No coverage
• Towing: $75
• Rental: $30/$900

Best

• Bodily Injury: $100,000/$300,000
• Property Damage: $50,000
• Collision: $1,000 deductible
• Comprehensive: $1,000 deductible
• Uninsured motorist: $100,000/$300,000
• Personal injury: No coverage
• Towing: $75
• Rental: $50/$1,500

One thing I didn’t love about The Zebra was that — like a lot of other insurance comparison sites — I felt shoehorned into the coverage offerings.

I didn’t have the flexibility to customize my quotes — say, adding personal injury on the “Best” coverage package. In order to do that, I would have to reach out to the individual insurers that The Zebra quoted me with and get a final quote from each one.

This is pretty similar to other insurance comparison sites out there like Compare.com, but the lack of an ability to customize your quotes on these kinds of sites is one of my insurance shopping pet peeves.

That’s why I’ve concluded that — just as with Compare.com — The Zebra is probably best used to get a general sense of the price for generic coverage, not to customize your perfect policy.

Here was the central test of my review of The Zebra: How are the price quotes?

Quote One

I started with a quote for a single 44-year-old male who owns a home, has a master’s degree, excellent credit and one speeding ticket driving a 2020 Toyota Corolla in Atlanta, Georgia.

These quotes are for the “Best” level of coverage that The Zebra offered:

However, a more objective way to look at it may be this: Using my same profile, I also happened within about a two-week period to get quotes on Compare.com for another article I was writing. And it so happened that I was quoted by Compare.com for two of the same companies that I was quoted for by The Zebra.

When you compare those quotes side-by-side, The Zebra is the cheaper of the two insurance comparison sites for monthly premiums:

• Mercury: $226 (The Zebra) vs. $268 (Compare.com)
• Liberty Mutual: $365 (The Zebra) vs. $368 (Compare.com)

Quote Two