While it's important to protect your home and personal property, you don't have to break the bank for peace of mind. Homeowners insurance can help cover your home in the event of a burglary, fire or natural disaster and it doesn't have to cost a fortune. If you're looking to save on your homeowners insurance policy, the following tips can help.
How to save on home insurance
Here's how you can find the cheapest home insurance policies.
Compare Quotes: Comparing rates from multiple companies can help you score the best rates possible. By shopping around for home insurance, you could potentially save yourself a good bit of cash by taking advantage of these cheaper premiums. Use our tool, in partnership with Bankrate, to compare home insurance rates today.
Raise Your Deductible: Your deductible is the amount you're responsible for paying towards a covered claim. Say the deductible is $500 and your claim is for $2,000, then the insurer covers $1,500 of the claim and you pay $500. If you raise your deductible, you can save more on your premium. According to the Insurance Information Institute (I.I.I.), “most insurance companies recommend a deductible of at least $500. If you can afford to raise your deductible to $1,000, you may save as much as 25 percent.”
Bundle Your Insurance: Another way to get cheap homeowner's insurance is to bundle your home insurance with your auto policy. However, there are no guarantees this will make your quote cheaper, so check first. With Allstate, you can save up to 25% by bundling your Allstate home and auto insurance policies online. Progressive also offers a multi-policy discount for combining a boat insurance, motorcycle insurance, or RV insurance policy with home insurance.
Improve Your Home: It's possible to save on your home insurance premium by improving your home's safety and making it more resistant to natural disasters. You could receive discounts from your insurance provider by improving your home’s security systems and adding smoke detectors, burglar alarms and other safeguards.
According to the I.I.I: “You can usually get discounts of at least 5% for a smoke detector, burglar alarm or dead-bolt locks. Some companies offer to cut your premium by as much as 15 or 20% if you install a sophisticated sprinkler system and a fire and burglar alarm that rings at the police, fire or other monitoring stations.” However, since these systems can be pricey, make sure you check with your insurance company to see just how much you’ll save on your premium.
Updating your home to be able to withstand harsh weather conditions can also lower your home insurance premiums. This can include, but isn’t limited to, adding storm shutters, reinforcing your roof or buying stronger roofing materials, installing fire-resistant landscaping and retrofitting homes to withstand earthquakes. Plus, you could get a discount by Modernizing heating, plumbing, and electrical systems to prevent water or electrical damage in your home.
Take Advantage of Additional Discounts, such as paperless documents: Insurance providers sometimes offer discounts that can help you save on home insurance. For example, Progressive offers discounts for individuals who opt to pay their policy upfront, get quotes in advance, and opt to receive documents by email.
Maintain Good Credit: Since having a better credit score shows lenders you’re less risky of a borrower, it usually results in lower premiums. So, if you’re looking to get the best rates around, try raising your credit score.
