19 Tips to Decrease Your Home Insurance Premiums
Your house is often your largest investment that you need to protect via insurance. We created a list of multiple savings tips related to Home insurance and hope that these will help you to save a lot. On average Canadians pay over $800 per year for home insurance and decreasing this amount by couple hundred dollars is not a bad idea!
GENERAL THOUGHTS:
1. Shop Around: Search, Compare, and switch insurance companies. Use multiple online tools and talk to several brokers since each will cover a limited number of insurance companies.
2. House Repairs and Upgrades: Renovating your house can result in lower home insurance premiums, as home insurance premiums for older, poorly maintained dwellings are usually higher. Additionally, renovating only parts of your dwelling (e.g. the roof) can lead to insurance savings.
3. Bundle: Do you need Home and Auto Insurance? Most companies will offer you a discount if you bundle them together.
4. New Dwelling: Check if insurer has a new home discount, some insurers will have them.
5. Lack of claims: Some companies recognize the fact that you have not submitted any claims and reward it with a claim-free discount.
6. Pay monthly, not annually: In comparison to monthly payments, annual payments save insurers administrative costs (e.g. sending bills) and therefore they reward you lower premiums.
YOUR PROFILE MATTERS:
7. Memberships: Are you a member of a professional organization (e.g. Certified Management Accountants of Canada or The Air Canada Pilots Association)? Then some insurance companies offer you a discount.
discounts to union members ( e.g. IBM Canada or Research in Motion)
8. Senior Customers: Many companies offer special pricing to seniors.
9. Your Credit score: Most companies use your credit score when calculating home insurance premiums. Having a good credit score can help you to get lower insurance rates.
10. Quit smoking: Some insurers increase their premiums for the homes with smokers as there is an increased risk of fire.
11. Maintain a zero-claim history: Keep a clean claim record without placing small claims, sometimes it makes sense to simply repair a small damage rather than claim it: you should consider both aspects: your deductibles and potential raise in premiums.
DWELLING COMPONENTS:
12. Pipes: Insurers prefer copper or plastic plumbing - maybe it is a good idea to upgrade your galvanized / lead pipes during your next renovation cycle.
13. Wires: Some wiring types are more expensive or cheaper than others to insure. Make sure you have approved wiring types, and by all means avoid aluminum wirings which can be really expensive to insure. Not all insurers will cover houses with aluminum wirings, and those that would, will require a full electrical inspection of the house.
14. Swimming pool: Adding a swimming pool to your house will likely lead to an increase in your insurance rates since your liability ( e.g. the risk of someone drowning) and the value of your house have increased.
15. House Heating: Insurers like forced-air gas furnaces or electric heat installations. If you have an oil-heated home, you might be paying more than your peers who have alternative heating sources.
CHOOSE NEIGHBORHOOD WISELY, PROTECT YOURSELF:
16. Dangerous locations: Nature effects some locations more than others: avoid flood-, or earthquake-endangered areas when choosing a house.
17. Uneasy Neighborhood: Moving to a more secure neighborhood with lower criminal rate will often considered in your insurance premiums.
18. Fire-station/ hydrant: Proximity to a water hydrant and/or fire-station can decrease your premiums as well.
19. Alarm: Installing an alarm connected to a central monitoring system will be recognized by some insurers in premiums.
GENERAL THOUGHTS:
1. Shop Around: Search, Compare, and switch insurance companies. Use multiple online tools and talk to several brokers since each will cover a limited number of insurance companies.
2. House Repairs and Upgrades: Renovating your house can result in lower home insurance premiums, as home insurance premiums for older, poorly maintained dwellings are usually higher. Additionally, renovating only parts of your dwelling (e.g. the roof) can lead to insurance savings.
3. Bundle: Do you need Home and Auto Insurance? Most companies will offer you a discount if you bundle them together.
4. New Dwelling: Check if insurer has a new home discount, some insurers will have them.
5. Lack of claims: Some companies recognize the fact that you have not submitted any claims and reward it with a claim-free discount.
6. Pay monthly, not annually: In comparison to monthly payments, annual payments save insurers administrative costs (e.g. sending bills) and therefore they reward you lower premiums.
YOUR PROFILE MATTERS:
7. Memberships: Are you a member of a professional organization (e.g. Certified Management Accountants of Canada or The Air Canada Pilots Association)? Then some insurance companies offer you a discount.
discounts to union members ( e.g. IBM Canada or Research in Motion)
8. Senior Customers: Many companies offer special pricing to seniors.
9. Your Credit score: Most companies use your credit score when calculating home insurance premiums. Having a good credit score can help you to get lower insurance rates.
10. Quit smoking: Some insurers increase their premiums for the homes with smokers as there is an increased risk of fire.
11. Maintain a zero-claim history: Keep a clean claim record without placing small claims, sometimes it makes sense to simply repair a small damage rather than claim it: you should consider both aspects: your deductibles and potential raise in premiums.
DWELLING COMPONENTS:
12. Pipes: Insurers prefer copper or plastic plumbing - maybe it is a good idea to upgrade your galvanized / lead pipes during your next renovation cycle.
13. Wires: Some wiring types are more expensive or cheaper than others to insure. Make sure you have approved wiring types, and by all means avoid aluminum wirings which can be really expensive to insure. Not all insurers will cover houses with aluminum wirings, and those that would, will require a full electrical inspection of the house.
14. Swimming pool: Adding a swimming pool to your house will likely lead to an increase in your insurance rates since your liability ( e.g. the risk of someone drowning) and the value of your house have increased.
15. House Heating: Insurers like forced-air gas furnaces or electric heat installations. If you have an oil-heated home, you might be paying more than your peers who have alternative heating sources.
CHOOSE NEIGHBORHOOD WISELY, PROTECT YOURSELF:
16. Dangerous locations: Nature effects some locations more than others: avoid flood-, or earthquake-endangered areas when choosing a house.
17. Uneasy Neighborhood: Moving to a more secure neighborhood with lower criminal rate will often considered in your insurance premiums.
18. Fire-station/ hydrant: Proximity to a water hydrant and/or fire-station can decrease your premiums as well.
19. Alarm: Installing an alarm connected to a central monitoring system will be recognized by some insurers in premiums.
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