1. Help Us Shop Your Insurance – A month before your renewal, you will receive a questionnaire from us. It is important you fill it out and return it to us as soon as possible. We call our renewals on a regular basis and review the questionnaire with you so that we can shop your homeowners to get you the best possible rate.
2. Raise Your Deductible – The higher your deductible, the more money you can save on your premiums. We 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%.
3. Don’t Confuse What You Paid For Your House With Rebuilding Costs – The land under your house isn’t at risk from theft, windstorm, fire and the other perils covered in your homeowner’s policy, so we don’t include its value in deciding how much homeowner’s insurance to buy. Notify us if you make upgrades or increase the size of your home so that we can increase your coverage for the improvements.
4. Buy Your Home and Automobile Policies From The Same Insurer – Many of our companies that sell homeowners, auto and liability coverage will take 5% to 15% off your premium if you buy two or more policies from them.
5. Updates On Your Home Can Save You $$$ On Insurance – If you own an older home, consider modernizing your heating, plumbing and electrical systems to reduce the risk of fire and water damage. The age of your roof can also affect your premium.
6. Improve Your Home Security – You can usually get discounts of at least 5% for a smoke detector, burglar alarm or dead bolt locks. Most of our 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. Please notify us if you add one of these systems to get your discount.
Tags: Home Insurance