Here are a few ideas that may help to reduce your premiums.
You can save money on homeowner's insurance a number
of ways. Discounts from your insurance company are available
for a wide variety of reasons, ranging from the type
of building material used to build your home to how
close you live to a fire station. These discounts will
vary by state and insurance company.
Here are some ways you can save money on your homeowner's
policy:
1. Shop around.
Have your agent compare different
rate quotes from from a number of different insurance
companies.
2. Raise your deductible.
The deductible is the amount of
money you have to pay toward a loss before your insurance
kicks in. Typically, deductibles start at $250. Consider
increasing your deductible. If
you increase your deductible to:
$500 you may save up to 12% on
your premiums
$1,000 you may save up to 24%
$2,500 you may save up to 30%
$5,000 you may save up to 37%.
Just make sure you can afford
to pay the higher deductible out of pocket if something
should happen.
3. Buy your home and auto policies from the same company.
Many companies will give a multiline
discount if you buy both homeowner's and auto coverage
from them.
4. Consider insurance when buying a home.
If you're looking at buying
a home, think about the cost of insuring the home. A
newer home's electrical, heating
and plumbing systems and overall structure are likely
to be in better condition than
those of an older home. This can lead to a discount
on your premiums.
5. Don't over insure your home.
While your home and its contents
are at risk from fire, theft, windstorms and other perils,
the land your home sits on is not. Don't include the
value of the land in deciding how
much homeowner's insurance you need to buy.
6. Improve security and safety.
Items such as deadbolt locks,
burglar alarms and smoke detectors usually can bring
discounts of 5% each, depending
on the company. Your insurance company may also offer
a significant discount of 15% or 20% if you install
a sophisticated home-security system.
If you're thinking about buying such a system, check
with your insurer to see which
systems they recommend and which will earn you a discount.
7. Stay with an insurer.
If you've kept your coverage
with a company for several years, you may receive special
consideration. Several insurers will reduce their premiums
by 5% after staying with them
for three to five years; and some companies will discount
you as much as 10% after six
years.
8. Check your policy annually.
You want your policy to reflect
the value of your home and belongings. If you review
your policy every year, you
will be able to make the necessary adjustments. If,
for example, you added a sun
room, you'll need to increase your coverage.
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