The number on the offer is the start of the bill, not the end of it. Before you compare two contracts, find out which taxes and fees are added on top of the contract price, which ones are folded into it, and which ones never come back if you cancel. Those lines decide what you actually pay, and they are easy to skip when the conversation is about coverage.
Ask whether the price is tax-included or tax-added
Some quotes show a contract price with sales tax already in it. Others show the contract price and then add tax at the bottom of the worksheet. Whether a service contract is taxed at all depends on where you live and how the contract is sold, and those rules change, so do not assume either way. Ask the seller to point to the tax line and say what it is calculated on: the contract price, the vehicle, or neither. If the seller cannot explain the basis in a sentence, get the answer in writing before you go further.
Make every fee name its purpose
Administrative, document, processing, and filing charges can all appear on service contract paperwork under different labels. Some may be real costs the seller passes along. Others may be income the seller keeps. Read each fee line and ask what it pays for. A fee described only as a cost of doing business is a question, not an answer. Ask whether the fee goes to the seller, to the contract company, or to a third party, because that tells you who keeps the money.
Check what happens to the fees when you cancel
This is where the cost picture shifts most. A cancellation refund is usually calculated from the price you paid, and the way it is figured varies from contract to contract. Ask whether the refund is based on the full amount including tax and fees, or only on the contract price. Ask whether any fees are kept on cancellation. Ask whether the refund is calculated on a straight time basis, a mileage basis, or a formula that gives the provider a larger share early on. You can compare how providers handle the money-back period in the money-back period table, but that table shows only the published period, so the fee questions still belong to you.
Ask for the total you will finance or pay
If the contract is rolled into a loan, the tax and fees may be added to the amount financed. That changes the base you pay on, and it can change what a cancellation refund is based on. Ask for the total of all lines, the amount that goes to the contract company, the amount the seller keeps, and the amount that is taxed. A quote that shows only a monthly payment hides these splits. Ask for the total cash price in writing.
Compare like with like
Two quotes are comparable only when the tax, fee, and refund lines are set up the same way. A lower contract price with heavier fees can cost more in total than a higher contract price with a clean worksheet. Put each quote on one page: contract price, tax, each fee, total, and what a cancellation would return. Then compare the bottoms. The methodology page explains how this site scores the terms it publishes, and the list of providers that post a sample contract shows where you can check these lines on paper before anyone asks for a signature.
Before you sign
Ask for a written breakdown with every tax and fee labeled. Ask which lines are taxed and which are not. Ask which fees come back on cancellation and which do not. If a line has no explanation you can repeat back to someone else, keep it off the page until someone can explain it. Signing before you understand the total is the cost you cannot recover later.