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Homeowners insurance rates can vary by hundreds of dollars from company to company.
It's easy to compare several homeowners quotes.
You can save money on homeowners insurance if you know how. Discounts from your insurance company are available
for a variety of reasons, ranging from the type of building material used to build your home to how close you live to a fire station.
Here are some tips to consider when getting quotes so you can get the best deal possible.
- Shop Around. Check with several different insurance companies to get rate quotes.
Check with friends or family members about the company they use and how happy they are.
Also check consumer guides, insurance agents, companies and online insurance quote services.
This will give you an idea of price ranges and tell you which companies have the lowest prices.
But don't consider price alone. The insurer you select should offer a fair price and deliver the quality service
you would expect if you needed assistance in filing a claim.
- Raise your deductibles and save up to 25%. Just make sure you can afford to pay the higher deductible if something should happen.
- Eliminate Coverage You Don't Need. You want your policy to cover any major purchases or additions
to your home, but don't spend money for coverage that you don't need. You may have jewelry, appliances,
electronics, and other valuable possessions that depreciate over time; so it's in your best interest to compare the limits
of your homeowners policy to the actual value of your possessions at least once every year.
- Insure your home, not the land. Although your home and its contents are at risk from fire, theft,
windstorms and other perils, the land your house sits on is not. Don't include the value of the land
in deciding how much homeowners insurance you need to buy.
- Combination Discounts. You can often knock off 10% to 20% from your premiums if you insure both your
home and your car with the same company.
- Dead Bolt Locks. Dead bolt locks are very inexpensive compared to the possible insurance savings,
but make sure all of your doors have them because usually the discount only applies if there are dead bolt locks on every door.
- Smoke Alarms. Preventing a fire loss is important to you and especially to you insurance company.
Claims due to fire are very expensive and insurance companies often will give an additional discount for even one fire alarm permanently fixed in the home.
- Stay with the same insurer. If you've kept your coverage with a company for several years, you may receive a special discount
for being a long-term policyholder. Some insurers will reduce their premiums by 5 percent if you stay with them for three
to five years and by 10 percent if you remain a policyholder for six years or more. But make certain to periodically compare
this price with that of other policies.
- Keep an eye on your credit report. A lot of companies are checking your credit and basing your policy on what is found.
Make sure you check to see if your credit is in good shape, and if it is not, you may want to seek out companies who do not do credit checks.
- Make payments electronically. Many companies now charge up to $5 for mailed payments, so have your payments
automatically deducted to shave that cost.
- Stop smoking. Smoking accidents account for more than 23,000 residential fires every year.
Some insurers offer to reduce premiums if no one in the home smokes.
- Try senior discounts.. Since retired people stay at home more than working people they are less
likely to be burglarized and may spot fires sooner, too. Retired people also have more time for maintaining their homes.
If you're at least 55 years old and retired, you may qualify for a discount of up to 10 percent at some companies.
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