If you are currently buying a home or already own a home, your property is one of, if not the largest investment that you are ever going to make. It makes sense, to make sure that you buy home insurance so that home is protected against disasters and any type of damage with a good insurance policy. And in many cases, when you use a mortgage to buy your property, the mortgage lender will require that you take out home insurance as part of their lending criteria.
The good news is that there are several ways to keep the cost of your home insurance down while making sure that you are still adequately covered.
These tips will also apply to budding landlords that need house insurance occupied by tenants. Landlord insurance is a higher risk form of home insurance, because you have handing most of the responsibility to your lodgers or tenants. Still, if you shop around as we advise below, affordable NI landlord insurance is still available for a single or for multiple properties.
7 Easy Tips to Reduce the Cost of Home Insurance
Shop Around
One of the easiest things to do while looking for home insurance for your property is to shop around as much as possible to find the cheapest policy for you. The insurance company that you go with will have an impact on the price that you pay, since home insurance is very competitive, and the insurers are always looking to offer the best prices and get more customers. You can easily get home insurance quotes from Compare NI. All you need to do is enter your details into the form on the website and get home insurance quotes that are suitable for you and your property.
Look for Discounts
Several discounts might be offered by various insurance companies that you can take advantage of and reduce your insurance cost.
Even if there are no obvious discounts available when you are comparing policies, it’s worth getting in touch with the insurance companies that you are interested in to find out if there are any promotions that you will be eligible for. For example, you might get a discount if you are getting home and car insurance with the same company, or if you are buying a brand new property. You’ll want to read the HOAIC review on your insurance company too, as sometimes cheapest is not always best!
Set Your Excess Higher
Like any other type of insurance, home insurance policies come with an excess. The excess is the sum that you will need to pay out of pocket in the event that you put in a claim on your home. In general, the higher your excess, the lower your monthly or annual premium for your home insurance. Increasing your excess to the maximum that you can afford will help you save on the amount you pay for insurance.
Improve Your Credit Rating
While this might not be necessary if you have recently been accepted for a mortgage since chances are that you have a good credit rating if this is the case, if you have owned your home for a while and your credit score has changed since you purchased it, this could impact your insurance costs. People with a high credit rating tend to be less likely to file claims and are more likely to make insurance payments on time, so your credit score could impact the amount that you pay.
Make Your Home Safer
The lower the risk to your home, the less you will usually have to pay for home insurance. It can seriously pay off to make your home a safer place to be with a range of improvements. Anything that poses a risk of damage to your property should be repaired or replaced as soon as possible. Along with this, your home insurance premiums may be cheaper if you have a strong security system in place, since the policy will also cover thefts. The harder it is for your home to be burgled, the easier it will be for you to find cheaper insurance quotes.
Keep Claims Down
Once you have found the right home insurance for your property, it’s important to only claim when is absolutely necessary. Making an insurance claim can increase the cost of your home insurance over time. It is always worth weighing up the pros and cons of making a claim on your home insurance versus paying for the damage yourself, as in many cases, a claim could end up costing you much more in the long run.
Change Regularly
Home insurance might not be something that you think about a lot – once you are covered, you just pay it and get on with your life. However, bear in mind that prices change all the time and just because your current home insurance policy was the best deal available at the time you took it out, doesn’t mean you’re always going to be paying the best price. Shop around regularly and change your home insurance whenever you can find a better deal that makes more sense to switch to.
If you own a property, getting it insured is an essential expense. The good news is that with the right strategies, there are several things that you can do to reduce the amount you pay without reducing your coverage.
