Editorial team and standards
This page explains who produces InsurTool content, what each role is accountable for, and the standards every page is held to. It also names the person accountable for accuracy — and states plainly what that accountability does and does not consist of.
The responsible editor
Alice Zhang is the named responsible editor for InsurTool. Every byline on this site now reads their name, and structured data attributes authorship to a person rather than to an organisation.
What that means in practice: pages are reviewed against their cited sources before publication, corrections are triaged and recorded, and the accountability for a figure that turns out to be wrong rests with a named individual rather than with a faceless team.
What we are not claiming: no credential, designation, licence number or professional biography is stated here, because we have not published a source for one. A name is a claim about who reviewed the page. It is not a claim of expertise, and we will not manufacture the second to strengthen the first.
Who does what
| Role | Status | Accountable for | What the role requires |
|---|---|---|---|
| Responsible editor | Alice Zhang | Owns the accuracy of published content. Reviews every substantive page against its cited sources before publication, approves the correction process, and is the named person accountable when something is wrong. | A real person with verifiable insurance or personal-finance credentials and an external professional footprint a reader can check. The name, credential and any relevant licence or designation must be confirmable outside this website. |
| Researcher / writer | Editorial team | Drafts each page from primary sources — state insurance statutes and regulations, NAIC publications, state Department of Insurance guidance, and the datasets documented on our data methodology page. Builds the worked examples and the arithmetic. | Ability to read a policy form and a regulation, and to distinguish a filing from a marketing figure. |
| Data maintainer | Editorial team | Maintains the open datasets: retrieval, cross-checking, coverage definitions, quality flags and the version log. Re-runs the generation scripts so published files are reproducible from their sources. | Documented sources for every figure, and the discipline to mark a figure unverified rather than publish it as fact. |
| Corrections | Editorial team | Triages reader corrections, verifies them against sources, and records the outcome in the version log or on the affected page. Corrections are logged even when the original figure turns out to be right. | A public contact route and a written record. See the corrections section below. |
How a page gets made
- Source gathering. Primary sources only where they exist: state insurance statutes and regulations, NAIC model acts and publications, state Department of Insurance guidance, federal regulations, and the datasets documented on our data methodology page. Aggregator figures are used only where a primary source does not publish the number, and they are labelled as such.
- Drafting against the sources. Every factual claim is written next to the source that supports it. Worked examples are constructed so the arithmetic is visible and checkable by the reader.
- Removing what cannot be supported. This is the step that does the most work. Precision that the evidence does not support is deleted rather than softened. Surcharge tables, vehicle-category premium ranges and similar content were removed from our auto insurance article for exactly this reason.
- Accuracy review. Figures are re-checked against the cited source, and the retrieved date is recorded. Alice Zhang is accountable for the outcome of this review.
- Publication with sources on the page. The source list and the retrieval date appear on the page itself, not only in an internal record.
- Review cycle. Pages carrying rate figures are reviewed annually, and additionally whenever the underlying series refreshes or a reader reports an error.
Editorial standards
Every number has a source, or it does not ship
Where a page states a figure, it names the regulation, statute, dataset or published series it came from, and the date it was retrieved. Where a figure is a modelled estimate derived from a sourced base, the derivation is shown — for example, the 2026 homeowners premium on our state pages is the Insurance Information Institute 2021 average escalated by a stated factor, with the original figure displayed alongside.
Arithmetic is shown so it can be checked
Worked examples — a depreciation calculation, a present-value figure, a deductible applied to a claim — are reproduced in full so a reader can verify them independently. This is deliberate: checkable arithmetic is the difference between an explanation and an assertion.
We do not invent names, credentials or quotations
No fabricated author, no invented reviewer, no quotation attributed to a person who did not say it, and no "study" without a citable study. This rule exists because the alternative is a misrepresentation to readers, and because a fabricated identity is discoverable — the web has a long memory, and the consequence of being caught is worse than the cost of simply not having a named author yet.
Uncertainty is stated rather than smoothed over
Where the evidence is mixed or a figure is unverified, the page says so. Our auto insurance dataset currently ships a minimum-coverage column that fails a plausibility check; it is marked unverified in the data file, excluded from our own analysis, and disclosed on the data methodology page. Publishing the gap is the point.
Corrections are public
Substantive corrections are recorded on the affected page, not quietly edited away. Two are already logged: the withdrawal of a national full-coverage auto figure that could not be traced to a citable source, and the removal of premium-surcharge tables stated with more precision than the underlying evidence supported.
We disclose how we are funded
Our funding model and any affiliate relationships are described in full on the affiliate disclosure page, including a plain statement of which partnerships are active and which are not. Advertising is labelled, and no advertiser reviews or approves editorial content.
What we are not
- We are not an insurer, agent or broker. We do not sell policies, and we cannot bind coverage or advise on what to buy.
- We are not a licensed adviser. Nothing on this site is insurance, legal, tax or investment advice. Where a question requires a licensed professional, the page says so.
- We do not accept payment for editorial placement. Advertising is labelled, and no advertiser sees content before publication or has any input into it.
- We do not publish figures we cannot source. Where a figure is an estimate or is unverified, the page and the dataset both say so.
Corrections and contact
If something on this site is wrong, we want to know. Write to team@insurtool.com or use the contact form, and include the page, the figure or statement you believe is wrong, and a source for the correct version if you have one.
Substantive corrections are recorded on the affected page. Corrections are logged even when the original figure turns out to be correct, so that a reader who saw the earlier version can see what changed and why. The full process is described in the editorial policy.
Disclaimer
InsurTool publishes educational information about insurance. It is not a licensed insurance provider, agent or broker, and nothing here is insurance, legal, tax or investment advice. Confirm the details of any policy with the insurer and consult a licensed professional about your own circumstances.