It is always nice when you can pay less for house insurance and get the same or more cover. Below are 10 handy tips that you can carry out to get cheaper house insurance premiums.
1. Increase your voluntary excess
Your insurance excess is the amount of money you will 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 pounds and the insurer would pay 300 pounds. If you choose to increase your excess, you will be charged a lower premium. You can make huge savings by doing this. When you are comparing policies, play around with changing the excess amount to see how much you can save.
2. Fit smoke alarms
Fire alarms are reasonably cheap, especially when compared to the cost of a home or the loss of a life. A large number of home fires are caused by cooking or smoking. Don't leave matches or lighters laying around, never leave your cooking unattended and don't smoke cigarettes in bed. Be aware if you have young children that they love to play with all things exciting and new. They may turn the cooker on, light paper or cover lamps. All of these things can cause a fire in your home.
3. Install new locks
If you have just moved into a new home, you don't know who might still have a key. The cost of replacing your locks is far less than having all of your worldly possessions stolen from from your house. Ensure you fit quality locks - preferably 5-lever mortise locks.
4. Have security lighting installed
Theives prefer to work under the cover of darkness and don't like to be in the spotlight. Use movement sensors with your lighting to surprise unwanted visitors and keep them at bay. A blast of bright light will also raise attention with neighbours or yourself 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 activated at a certain 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 various rooms make it appear like you are moving about your home.
6. Have an alarm system installed
Ask your insurer if they have a preferred supplier of home alarm systems. By installing a professional alarm system can often reduce premiums by over five %. That is a great 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 1st place a thief will look. If you need 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 close to 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 Outside pipes can freeze easily in the great British weather. By lagging (wrapping insulation around the pipe) your external pipes will help to 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 pipe.
9. Regularly check you house and property for subsidence.
Subsidence is normally covered by your buildings insurance. It is important to detect movement as soon as possible to limit damage to you house. Look for unevenness in walls and floors and cracks in walls.
10. Only claim if you have to
The fewer number of claims you make, the higher your no claims discount will be. If a minor incident occurs, consider carefully prior to claiming the item on your insurance. If you do submit a claim and loose your no claims discount, is this going to cost you more in the long run?
In order to save money on your insurance you need to compare providers. Ideally you should do this once a year to make sure you are always getting the best price.
10 Tips To Get Cheaper Home Insurance
