3 Tips That Will Help You Reduce Your Home Insurance Premiums

31 March 2016 by Rick Mcguinness

Finding ways to save money on your monthly expenses can help free up some cash in your budget, and there are many ways you might be able to cut back on your regular expenses. One step you could take is to get quotes for your home insurance. Saving money on insurance is one of the best ways to cut monthly expenses, and here are some tips to help you achieve this without sacrificing the amount of coverage you have on your home.

Compare Apples To Apples

One mistake some people make when purchasing home insurance is choosing a policy based only on the cost. While this may work out beneficial in some cases, it could be a bad mistake if you end up with a policy that does not offer a sufficient amount of coverage.

The first step you should make when looking for a new home insurance policy is knowing the best and right way to compare quotes. To do this, you will need a copy of your current coverage. This will show you exactly what types of coverages you have, and it will show the amounts of each type of coverage. When you request a home insurance quote, you can use this information to make sure you are comparing the insurance policies apples to apples.

Consider Raising The Deductible

The deductible on your policy is the amount you will have to pay if you file a claim. After you pay this amount, the insurance company will pay the rest of the balance of the claim. If you currently have a $500 deductible, you might want to consider raising it to $1,000. If you currently have a $1,000 deductible, you could raise it to $1,500 or $2,000. By doing this, your policy amount will drop. You could even ask for quotes for each of these deductible amounts. This will help you see if it is worth raising the deductible.

If you decide to use this option to save money on your home insurance, it might be worthwhile to create an emergency fund for this purpose. Coming up with $500 might not be horribly difficult for you if you experience a problem with your home, but coming up with more than this might be hard for you. If you have an emergency fund with the deductible amount in it, you will never have to worry about how you will pay the deductible if you ever experience a time when you must file a claim on your policy.

Learn About All The Potential Discounts

When you request home insurance quotes, the agent might talk to you about some of the discounts the company offers; however, you might be eligible for discounts the agent does not bring up. If you can take advantage of every possible discount, you could end up saving a lot of money on your home insurance policy. Here are some discounts you might qualify for that you did not even know about:

Proximity to fire station and hydrants – If you close to a fire station or have a fire hydrant near your property, you might be eligible for a discount. Many insurance companies offer this discount because the risks of total loss caused by fire are lower when there is a fire station located close to a person's home.
Homeowner's association (HOA) – Insurance companies often categorize homes in HOAs in lower-risk categories. This is because HOAs often provide security to the homes. HOAs often require more updates and modernizations on homes too. These factors can result in lower premiums for home insurance.
Yearly payments – You might also be able to lower your premiums if you pay the entire yearly balance all at once. This is a discount offered by many insurance companies, simply because it makes it easier for an insurance company if a customer is willing to pay the full balance at once.

There are dozens of discounts you may be able to get on your policy, and each discount will help decrease the amount you must pay. If you would like to learn more about home insurance quotes, contact an insurance company you trust.

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