Selection Alternatives With Price Deltas

While creating, updating, or getting a quote, the alternatives for each coverage selection, along with the expected price delta for choosing that alternative, can optionally be included in the response by using the query parameter:
?include_coverage_selection_alternatives=true.

Associated Endpoints

There is no effect unless the query param ?include_coverage_selection_alternatives=true is sent in the request. There is also no effect unless your integration is compatible with this coverage change. You may speak with your Account Manager on whether you are compatible and how to upgrade if desired.

Example

When ?include_coverage_selection_alternatives=true is included as a query parameter, the selectionAlternatives portion of the quote response will be populated.

If there are alternative selections for the particular coverage (which can also been checked in the Get available coverages endpoint) then each of them, including the currently selected value, will be listed.

If each alternative selection can have a "price delta" determined (the estimated price difference if that alternative was selected rather than the current selection) then priceDeltaInCents (numeric) and priceDeltaDescription (displayable string) will be populated. If priceDeltaInCents or priceDeltaDescription are null, that means a "price delta" could not be determined for that alternative selection for some reason.

Note: Price deltas should be taken as estimates. There are reasons that the price delta will not calculate the exact new price when that alternative selection is actually selected. For example, often changing one coverage selection necessitates changing another due to coverage rules, and the sum of the price delta estimates of those two changes may not be the same as the true rate produced (which considers coverage selection as a whole). Price deltas are provided for convenience and should not be taken as a promised rate.

{
  "attributes": [
    {
      "kind": {
        "value": "limits",
        "inferredValue": null,
        "valid": true,
        "message": null,
        "requirements": []
      },
      "selection": {
        "value": {
          "description": "$50,000.00 per person / $100,000.00 per accident",
          "perDay": null,
          "perOccurrence": 100000,
          "perPerson": 50000
        },
        "inferredValue": null,
        "valid": true,
        "message": null,
        "requirements": []
      },
      "description": "This coverage has limits on the amounts that might be paid out in case of a claim",
      "name": "Limits",
      "selectionAlternatives": [
        {
          "value": {
            "description": "$100,000.00 per person / $300,000.00 per accident",
            "perDay": null,
            "perOccurrence": 300000,
            "perPerson": 100000
          },
          "priceDeltaInCents": 900,
          "priceDeltaDescription": "$9.00"
        },
        {
          "value": {
            "description": "$250,000.00 per person / $500,000.00 per accident",
            "perDay": null,
            "perOccurrence": 500000,
            "perPerson": 250000
          },
          "priceDeltaInCents": 1750,
          "priceDeltaDescription": "$17.50"
        },
        {
          "value": {
            "description": "$25,000.00 per person / $50,000.00 per accident",
            "perDay": null,
            "perOccurrence": 50000,
            "perPerson": 25000
          },
          "priceDeltaInCents": -1000,
          "priceDeltaDescription": "-$10.00"
        },
        {
          "value": {
            "description": "$50,000.00 per person / $100,000.00 per accident",
            "perDay": null,
            "perOccurrence": 100000,
            "perPerson": 50000
          },
          "priceDeltaInCents": 0,
          "priceDeltaDescription": "$0.00"
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "symbol": {
    "value": "umuim",
    "inferredValue": null,
    "valid": true,
    "message": null,
    "requirements": []
  },
  "description": "Uninsured Motorist Bodily Injury coverage covers your medical expenses when you are hit by a driver who does not have insurance. Underinsured Motorist Bodily Injury coverage covers your medical expenses when you are hit by a driver who does not have high enough coverage limits to cover the cost of your injuries.",
  "name": "Uninsured and Underinsured Motorist Bodily Injury"
}

Performance Impact

The include_coverage_selection_alternatives=true query parameter also prompts the create/update to attempt pricing synchronously rather than asynchronously (so that the price deltas can be computed against the fresh price). There are cases we cannot synchronously price (for example, if third party reports must be fetched); therefore, be prepared to poll Get quote if the response has "status": "quoting".

The synchronous pricing and computing for all of the price deltas does have a performance impact on the response time of the endpoints. We recommend only using include_coverage_selection_alternatives=true when that portion of the response will be used, such as during coverage customization experiences.