It is always nice when you are able to pay less for homeowner insurance and get the same cover or more. Listed below are 10 handy tips that you can do to get cheaper homeowner insurance premiums.
1. Increase your voluntary excess
Your insurance excess is the amount of money you agree to pay on a claim before the insurer pays the remainder. For example, if you had a 200 pound excess and a £500 claim you would pay £200 and the insurance company would pay 300 pounds. If you choose to increase your excess, you will pay a lower premium. You can make substantial savings by doing this. When you are comparing policies, play around with changing the excess amount and see how much you can save.
2. Fit smoke alarms
Fire alarms are pretty cheap, especially when compared to the cost of a home or the loss of a life. Most home fires are caused by smoking or cooking. Never leave your cooking unattended, don't leave matches or lighters laying around and don't smoke in bed. Be aware if you have young children that they love to play with all things exciting and new. They may turn on the cooker, light paper or cover lamps. All of these things may cause a fire in your home.
3. Install new locks
If you have just moved into a new home, you do not know who may still have a key. The cost of changing your locks is far less than having all of your worldly possessions stolen from from your house. Make sure you install quality locks - preferably five-lever mortise locks.
4. Have security lighting installed
Theives prefer to work in the cover of darkness and don’t like to be in the spotlight. Use movement sensors with your lighting to surprise uninvited visitors and keep them at bay. A blast of light will also raise attention with yourself or neighbours in the middle of the night.
5. Install time switches on internal lights
Your home is most at risk to burgulary when you are not there. Lights that are switched on at a particular time will give outsiders the impression that you are at home when you are not. You can stagger the intervals the lights are switched on and off in different rooms make it look like you are moving about the house.
6. Have an alarm system installed
Ask your insurer if they have a preferred provider of home alarm systems. By having a professionally installed alarm system can often reduce premiums by over 5 percent. That is a good saving, and it will give you peace of mind that your home is safe.
7. Don't leave your keys under the mat
This will be the first place a thief will look. If you want to hide your house keys, put a little thought into somewhere a burglar would never think of looking. Also don't leave your keys on a hook near the front door where a thief may be able to hook the keys with a wire through the front letter box.
8. Insulate your external pipes
Pipes can easily freeze in the great British weather. By lagging (wrapping insulation around the pipe) your external pipes will reduce the chance of them freezing. If pipes do freeze you can easily get leaks in cracked pipes or burn out pump motors as the water will not pass through the frozen pipe.
9. Regularly check you house and property for subsidence.
Subsidence is usually covered by your home buildings insurance. It is important to identify movement as soon as possible to limit damage to you home. Look for cracks in walls and unevenness in walls and floors.
10. Only claim if you have to
The less number of claims you make, the higher your no claims discount will be. If a minor incident occurs, consider carefully before claiming the item on your insurance. If you do make a claim and loose your no claims discount, is this going to cost you more in the long run?
If you want to save money on your insurance you need to compare insurance providers. Ideally you should be checking insurance deals at least once a year to make sure you are always getting the best price.
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