Tips For Saving On Homeowner’s Insurance
Homeowner’s insurance is not only a necessity, it’s required with most mortgages. However, it can be confusing to know how much insurance is too much, and how you can get the most comprehensive coverage at the best possible rate. There are many guides and tips out there on how to save on auto insurance. So, here are a few tips to help you save on your homeowner’s insurance policy.
1. Minimize Your Health and Safety Risks
Homeowners can receive discounts on their insurance by installing certain safety features like deadbolt locks, motion sensing exterior lights, smoke alarms, home fire sprinklers and home security systems. Having a non-smoking home can also lower your premiums and provide savings. Another question I’ve seen asked is are there functioning fire extinguishers on the premises. This is definitely worth a look as you may have several of these features in your home and not be taking your credit for them 🙂
2. Pay Smarter, Not Harder
Options like choosing a larger deductible and paying quarterly or annually are well known ways to knock your insurance bill down. Be cautious with this and ensure you run the numbers. See the post I did on choosing the right deductible here. Now, another thing to keep in mind is that many companies also offer discounts for electronic payments and online statements, as opposed to received a bill in the mail. The same is true for auto insurance as well by the way 🙂 In the current environmentally responsible climate, going paperless saves more than trees and is just the right thing to do!
3. Combine Policies
Most major insurance companies like to offer one-stop shopping to their clients. If you qualify for a break by purchasing multiple policies, it can provide a significant discount, sometimes as high as 20%-30%! It also just makes the entire process that much easier to only have to deal with one company and one set of bills.
4. Lower the Risk to Your Provider
Most insurance companies will charge higher premiums to folks that live in places more likely to experience natural disasters or areas with higher crime rates. If you live in these types of areas, see if there are state-sponsored types of insurance that are designed specifically for these types of higher risk properties.
5. Keep a Good Credit Score
Most large insurance companies also base your premium on your credit rating! Make sure you keep your credit rating in the green to avoid wasting money on increased payments 🙂
Final Thoughts
If you happen to live in Ohio, you can find a Columbus insurance agent who will let you know all of the details about discounts, payments and coverage. For the rest of us, I’d try websites of all of the large insurance companies for free quotes.
The best time to review your insurance is just before renewal. Also, make sure you take the time to shop around for prices as many times you’ll be able to find a better deal with another company. Let your insurance agent know about changes in your life situation and be sure to pick their brain on all the discounts that you may apply for.
We actually just got renters insurance for the first time. We combined policies with our auto insurance carrier, and feel really comfortable with the price we are paying. We didn’t want to shop around at this point, but probably will when renewal is near.
Sher@knsfinancial.com recently posted…Our Best And Worst Purchase Of 2013
Sher,
Good idea on the renter’s insurance. It’s so cheap compared to the risk you’re taking by not having any. Glad you were able to combine policies and save 🙂 Thanks for stopping by!
Lowering the risk to your provider is the fastest way to make your rates go down. When you can prove that you can be trusted, they will be happy to lower your costs. Thanks for sharing!
These are some really great tips for anyone looking to save on home insurance. Your fourth tip could not be more accurate, because lowering risk is the fastest way to reduce any insurance costs. And having a larger deductible is also a very viable way to save, especially if you take the difference in monthly payment and put it into a savings account for when you have to pay that deductible. Thanks so much for writing!
Thanks Paul – I’m glad you found the tips helpful!