All our quotes were based on a 25-year-old woman named Ima Insure. She’s a non-smoker in good health, and she owns her own home. She also owns a 2008 Camry and has a good driving record. Ima’s name may be made up, but her stats are as real as it gets.

Auto Insurance – Now it’s time for Ima to shop for coverage on her Camry. At one big-name auto insurer, she would pay $126 per month. But our independent agent found five policies for less than that, starting at $100 per month. We checked another online insurance company that claims to save its customers an average of about $500. But their insurance would have cost Ima nearly $300 more per year.

Homeowner’s Insurance – Quotes for homeowner’s insurance were closer, with only about $45 difference between the larger firm’s price and the lowest price our broker provided in an apples-to-apples comparison. But our broker also gave Ima quotes for three other policies with higher premiums she could check out.