ValuePenguin Editorial Guidelines

Who we are

ValuePenguin, part of LendingTree, is run by licensed insurance agents and personal finance experts.

We're obsessed with the tiny details of how insurance works, but we know most people don't have time to learn every facet of auto, home and health insurance.

We work every day to provide clear, precise guidance to our readers, so that they can save money on insurance while still knowing that they're protected if they get sick or are in a car crash.

Our writers and editors have full editorial independence, which means our recommendations are based completely on the quality of the insurer, and not at all on which companies pay us.

Here are the guidelines at the root of the work we produce.

How we get our information

We try to find the most authoritative answer to every question we ask, no matter how big or small.

When reviewing an insurance company, we delve through:

along with other sources. We base our price analysis on the same official documents, so you can feel confident that our sample rates are authoritative and up-to-date.

For other topics, we rely on government or official sources whenever possible, such as FEMA flood risk maps, NHTSA traffic fatality statistics and the CMS medical coverage cost database.

How we review insurance companies

When reviewing an insurance company, we evaluate all aspects of its offerings, but saving our readers money is always our top priority.

We consider:

Every review has a detailed methodology describing how we came to our rating and how we designed our sample customer profile when gathering insurance prices.

How we maintain accuracy

Every ValuePenguin article goes through a thorough multistep editing process, including reviews by editors and fact-checkers.

To keep our content accurate, ValuePenguin uses a formal expert review conducted by licensed insurance agents on our staff. These agents use their industry knowledge and experience to review pages, helping ensure our articles reflect current insurance practices and provide readers with reliable information.

Our expert reviewers evaluate coverage descriptions, policy details, pricing and coverage claims, plus state-specific insurance requirements when they're relevant. They also make sure that examples and recommendations accurately reflect how insurance works in the real world and help preserve important nuances that readers should understand when making coverage decisions.

ValuePenguin articles only get the "agent reviewed" label after a licensed agent verifies that the information is accurate, clear and useful to readers. When updates are needed, reviewers provide specific feedback to writers and then review the revised content before it gets an expert-reviewed designation.

How we make money

ValuePenguin, like most personal finance websites, makes money by referring shoppers to insurance companies. If you're looking for insurance and fill out a form on our website like the one below, you'll be connected with insurance companies interested in selling you a policy. Once you go to an insurer's website, we get paid a small commission.

However, we never accept payment from an insurance company in exchange for a better review or more prominent placement on our site. Our recommendations are always solely based on which company we think is the best option for you, our readers, whether that's buying health insurance in Nevada or car insurance after you just turned 18.

How we use AI

AI is changing fast, and we want to make sure we're using all the technology available to provide the best guidance for our readers. We're always looking for new ways to use AI effectively, but we only use it to enhance our work, not do it for us.

Most importantly, we are very wary of AI hallucinations and always double-check any claim made by an LLM or AI tool.

We may use AI to:

We never: