A vehicle service contract reaches your car through a chain of paper, and each link in that chain can disagree with the last. The figure on the quote is not the contract. The contract is not the file the provider holds. Walk the chain yourself before you assume any of it lines up.
Stage one: the quote
A quote is a sales document. It usually shows a term, a plan name, and sometimes a short description of what the plan is said to include. Read it as a summary, not as the terms themselves. Ask which contract form the quote refers to, by plan name and form number, and ask for that exact form. If the quote and the contract name different plans, stop and ask why before you go further.
Stage two: the application or enrollment form
Some sellers use a separate form to collect the vehicle details, the owner details, and the dealer details. Check every field against the car itself. The year, make, model, mileage, and vehicle identification number should match the title, the registration, and the odometer. A mistake at this stage often does not surface until the first call to the provider, which is the worst time to find it.
Stage three: the signed contract
Get a complete copy with every page, every signature, and every initial before you leave the desk. Count the pages against the page count printed on the contract, if one is printed. Look for blank lines that could be filled in after you go. Confirm the seller has signed, and that the provider and any separate administrator appear under the same names everywhere in the document.
Stage four: the separate paperwork
Ask whether anything else was signed that day, such as a payment record, a disclosure form, a card authorization, or a registration request. Each one is another link in the chain. Ask for a copy of each, and write down what each one is for in a single line so you can match it later.
Stage five: submission to the provider or administrator
Ask who sends the contract to the provider or administrator, when that happens, and how you will know it arrived. Ask for the name of the company that holds the file, the phone number and address for it, and what it will send you once it has the file. If the seller says it will handle that step, get the step written down with a name next to it. Do not assume the submission happened because someone told you it would.
Where the chain breaks
The common breaks are a vehicle detail that differs between forms, a copy you never received, a provider name that changed between the quote and the contract, and a submission step that nobody clearly owns. Keep a short log with the day each paper changed hands, who held it, and what they told you. The log costs nothing, and it is the only record that will be useful if the chain fails.
What happens once the provider holds the file is a separate process with its own checks. The published tables on this site list the terms each company prints, which is the right place to compare them once you know what to look for. See the side-by-side comparison of vehicle service contract companies for the printed figures.