Similar to most types of insurance, there is not much transparency that goes into what affects your homeowners insurance rates. It is compiled from numerous variables and equations, and is often hard to pinpoint exactly what directly causes the cost fluctuation. This makes it hard to gather if you are getting a good deal on your home insurance or not.
Fear not! There are many ways to receive home insurance discounts that QuoteWizard.com has compiled to help you get the best homeowners insurance deal possible for your situation. We highly recommend looking into these discounts to save you hundreds of dollars per year.
1. Make Sure Your Insuring Company is Up to It
You may find that you are insured with a company who is failing or engaging in shady practices. It is possible that you are not receiving the service that was promised to you when you signed on to its policy. For example, when insurance companies want to make more money, it will raise everyone’s rates across the board to cover its own costs. Remember insurance companies are a business and have a bottom line and shareholders to please.
Insurance companies are obviously not angels. You may need to look into the Better Business Bureau (BBB) and see if it has been engaged in shady practices. Double check and look up your company through a government licensing board to see if your home insurance company is up to snuff with best practices.
2. Hire a Broker
Brokers are middlemen who will do insurance comparison shopping for you. These experts know the industry well, and can direct you to a company that may be better suited for you. They have connections and may know a few subtle insurance discounts that could add up for your individual situation.
3. Raise Your Deductible
If damage does occur to your home, the amount you have to pay before your home insurance kicks in to pay for the damage is the deductible amount. Raising it by a couple thousand dollars will lower your monthly premium costs. A good deductible amount to have is around two percent of the value of your home. Insurance companies have started to punish homeowners who take out smaller claims so raising your deductible is a smart practice at this time anyway.
4. Keep Renew Options Open
While some insurance companies will offer a customer loyalty program for sticking with it, most still raise your rates year to year anyway. Your insurance company is testing you to see how much it can raise your costs until you take notice. Don’t let this happen and do not assume you are already receiving the cheapest rate out there. Get a home insurance quote from other insurers, which will send signals that you will not be manipulated by its rate increases.
5. Improve the Safety of Your Home
Adding safety features like fire retardant shingles can help prevent a small fire into burning down your whole house. Your insurance company needs to know the precautions you have taken to protect your investment and will often appreciate you in the form of discounts. There are many home improvements that can be done to lower your monthly costs.
6. Protect from Home Theft
While natural disasters are impossible to prevent, you do have power when it comes to home theft. Reduce the possibility of your home being broke into by installing anti-theft tools such as dead bolts, smart home technology such as cameras, motion detector lights, and other monitoring systems. These installations can help you earn a discount if you can prove that it works.
7. Raise Your Credit Score
Insurance companies take weight on your credit score to see how reliable you are making insurance payments. Lowering your score will logically send signals that you are a trustworthy customer and will get the payments in on time. If possible, pay off old balances, avoid taking too much line of credit at once and resolve disputed delinquencies like bills you paid on time but that were marked as late. With steps like these, your credit score could improve in a few months, and you could be eligible for lower premiums.
8. Bundle Your Insurance Packages
This is often called a multi-line policy, where you can bundle their insurance needs together and receive a better rate overall for all policies that you own. If you have an auto insurance policy with one company, and home insurance from another, ask about bundling them together. Your insurance company will be more than glad to receive your added business and check on the savings you can receive by bundling your insurance together.
9. Ask for Miscellaneous Discounts
Insurance companies offer various discounts, it all depends who you are insured by. You can always ask if there are available discounts, and doing so will send your insurance company a sign that you wish to pay lower. Your rates could be lowered for having a non-smoking household, setting up electronic funds transfer (EFT) payments, or being a member of certain clubs or organizations.
10. Compare Home Insurance Rates
Finally, comparing home insurance companies can be the best way to save money. Every company will quote you differently for the same coverage depending on too many variables readily available to list here.
It may be wise to fully understand home insurance basics and be somewhat knowledgeable before reaching out for discounts and other ways to save money. Come from a position of power and do be tricked into paying more than you should. In all, use this list to as a guideline when reaching out and understand all your options to hopefully reduce your home insurance costs.
Disclaimer: This post was sponsored by QuoteWizard.com.