A service contract is mostly a set of limits written in small type. Before you compare any two of them, find the limits, because they decide how much a contract can pay even when the covered part fails.
Find the three limits
Look for a per-claim limit, which is the most the contract will pay on one repair visit. Look for a total or lifetime limit, which is the most the contract will pay across its whole term. Some forms also set a yearly limit. If a form names none of these, ask in writing whether it has a cap at all, and get the answer printed on the form itself.
Check what counts toward the limit
Two contracts with the same stated cap can pay very different amounts. Read whether labor counts, whether diagnosis counts, whether taxes and shop supplies count, and whether the cap applies to parts only. A limit that leaves out labor is a different limit on a repair that is mostly labor, and you should weigh it that way.
Compare on the same basis
Put the two forms side by side and compare the same lines: per-claim, total, yearly, what counts, and what resets. A brochure may describe the cap in the most favorable terms. The form is the document that governs the claim, so the comparison should start there.
Watch the reset rules
Ask whether the per-claim limit resets with each new repair or only at renewal. Ask whether unused limit carries forward. These rules decide how a long contract behaves late in its term, which is when many owners find out what the paper actually does.
For published figures on how the providers in our tables state their limits, read how we score and then the main table. Treat any figure there as a starting point, and confirm it against the form the provider gives you.