Changing your insurance cover
Here are a few ideas for changes you can make to your home insurance policy that will help you save money.
Buildings and Contents: If you currently pay for your contents and building cover separately, you can sometimes save money by combining them, or at least by purchasing both from the same provider. This will also make your life easier, as you only have to contact one company. However, as always with insurance, it’s about finding the deal that’s right for you. When balancing cost and cover, you may find that purchasing policies from separate providers is a better option.
Over-Insuring: Make sure you’re only covered for the actual value of your property andpossessions. You should try and accurately estimate the value of your contents and the rebuild value of your home. If you don’t, you may be paying premiums that are too high! On this note, you may also be paying extra for services you don’t need, for example cover for legal expenses, increased garden or bike cover. Some policies cover these as standard, but if you’re paying extra for them, work out whether they’re essential.
No Claims Bonus (Discount): Building up your no claims bonus is as simple as going as many years as possible in a row withoutmaking a claim. Many insurers will offer a sizeable discount as a result.
Compare Policies: As with any insurance policy, you should always shop around and compare the best deals to find the one that suits you. This is always a playoff between cost and cover, you can use our freehome insurance comparison tool to help you get started.
Change how you pay
As well as making changes to your policy itself, you can also save money by changing how you pay for it.
Upping yourVoluntary Excess: This is different from the compulsory excess that your insurer will insist that you pay (you cannot make changes to that). A voluntary excess is an extra payment that you can choose to make on top of your compulsory excess. A higher excess will often get you a discount from your insurance provider, but it’s worth remembering that this will also mean paying more in the event of a claim.
Annual Payments: Whilst it might seem daunting having to pay your whole years’ worth of insurance upfront, it will almost always save you money. Monthly instalments come with added interest as well as an admin fee. Depending on the insurer, the interest on monthly payments can be up to 10% APR, which is completely avoided by paying annually.
Paying for Losses Yourself: In the event of anaccident or other incident that you may claim for, it’s often a good idea to have a think about whether it’s really worth it. If the cost is not too high you may well save money paying for it yourself. It will also preserve your no claims bonus which can save you a lot of money in the long run.
Upping your security
Increasing the security of your home is a sure-fire way to save money on your home insurance, and there are plenty of ways to go about doing this.
Preventing damage to your home
There are plenty of measures you can take to prevent damage to your home and decrease the chance of having to make a claim and lose your no claims bonus.
Smoke alarms: Make sure smoke alarms are fitted and that you check them regularly. Fires can be caused by a wide range of issues, for example faulty electrics or oven malfunctions, and are a common cause of damage and insurance claims.
Insulation: Fitting insulation around your water pipes can stop water damage to your property should they burst. This is another very common home insurance claim.
Trees: Removing any tall trees over your property will reduce the chance of damage in storms from falling branches.
Home Improvements: If you want tomake some changes to your home, you should think carefully about whether you need to pay a professional. Damage caused by people attempting DIY they are not prepared for is a very common source of insurance claims. However, you don’t need shy away from general maintenance, for example gutter clearing. These jobs aren’t sure to stop you needing to make claims, but they will certainly help prevent causing damage to your home.