8 Simple Tips For Lowering Your Homeowners Insurance Costs
Nobody likes having to pay for homeowners insurance but it is a necessary evil for most of us. That does not mean that you have to pay through the nose for it and so here are 8 very easy tips to reduce the cost of your home insurance.
1. Take your time and shop around. If you compare prices from a number of different insurance companies you will almost certainly be able to reduce your premiums by a considerable amount. This may seem to be obvious, but research suggests that a surprisingly large number of people either just renew their existing plan or ask for only one or two quotes. A lot of online insurance sites automatically compare dozens of plans for you thereby making this one of the simplest ways to reduce your home insurance bill.
2. Purchase online. If you purchase your plan online you will frequently get a discount of anything up to 20% on regular prices because there are less administration costs involved in purchasing online and the savings can be passed on to you.
3. Combine both your contents and buildings policies. Most insurance companies will allow you a discount when you take out both types of household insurance with them and this generally works out less expensive than getting the two plans from different insurers.
4. Pay your premiums upfront. Although the majority of insurance companies allow you to pay your premiums monthly many of them will charge interest for this privilege. Thus, if you can afford to pay a full year’s premium in advance, this will work out less expensive in the longer term.
5. Don’t submit claims for small amounts. Submitting many small claims will often raise your insurance costs because your insurer may view you as a higher risk and increase your premiums. You may also lose any no claims discount that your policy has. Naturally, you’re entitled to claim for anything your plan covers but you should ask yourself if submitting a small claim is really worth the trouble and any possible future rise in costs.
6. Consider taking a high voluntary excess on your plan. Insurance policies feature something which is known as an ‘excess’ and this means that the policy will not pay for claims under a certain value. On some policies when you elect to raise your excess your premium payments will be reduced.
7. Increase security for your property. Raising your home security with better door locks, window locks, outdoor lighting, and burglar alarm systems will frequently result in lower premiums.
8. Reduce your cover. A lot of plans feature benefits which you may not need like cover for personal possessions when you are traveling or ‘free’ legal advice. Study your policy and see what parts of it you really need.
Reduce the cost of your homeowner insurance by getting a free, no-obligation home insurance quote right now.
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