Save on home insurance

By Gail Vaz-Oxlade on March 23, 2011
Estimated reading time: 1 minute

You'd be surprised at how easy it is to save some money on your home insurance premiums.

While you might have grown very comfortable with the insurance company or broker with whom you have been dealing, if you can save a couple of hundred bucks a year by shopping around, that’s nothing to sneeze at. Your premiums will also go down if you choose a higher deductible. The standard deductible is $500. Since you’re unlikely to make an insurance claim for such a piddly amount, raise the deductible on your policy and add a little extra to your emergency fund to cover the difference. Bundling home and vehicle insurance together could save you over $300. Hey, that’s worth the call to consolidate, isn’t it? If you install a home security system, reducing the likelihood of theft or vandalism, you’ll likely get another discount on your premium. It could be as much as 15%, saving you about $200 a year. Of course, if the monitoring costs are more than $15 a month, you won’t save a thing. If you and everyone else who lives in your home are non-smokers, that could save you money. Being claims-free for five years or more can save you money. So can having a mortgage-free home or a home that’s less than 10 years old. And if you’re a retiree, that could mean even more savings. Ask for a discount if you pay your annual premium all at once instead of monthly. With a little planning you can accumulate next year’s premium and grab even more savings. If you have extra coverage on your policy to cover stuff that’s depreciated, make sure you adjust your coverage to reflect the depreciated value of the item(s) you’ve insured.