6 Ways to Lower Your Home Insurance Rates

Many clients ask me what they can do to accumulate discounts on their home insurance to lower their rates.  There are a variety of ways to do this while making your home a safer place for you and your family.  We have highlighted some big ticket savings below:

1.  Install Central Alarms – the higher your home’s security level, the better off you are in terms of suffering from a theft claim.  This has an impact on your insurance rates!  The better the alarm type, the greater the discount.

2.  If you aren’t using your woodstove, take it out of the house.  Most companies will charge you for a woodstove JUST for having it inside the home.  If you take it out, they have confirmation you won’t be using it and the charge will come off.  This could save you anywhere from $50 – $150 per year.

3. Work on your credit.  Sorry to say, but credit plays a big role in determining insurance rates.  They call it an insurance score (but it uses credit as one determining factor.)

4. COMBINE, COMBINE, COMBINE!  Multi Policy discounts are where it’s at.  I can’t stress this one enough, if you haven’t already done so, combine your home and auto policies together.  To take it a step further, some companies give you extra credit for umbrella and life insurance policies.  If you aren’t already taking advantage of this, you’re missing out.

5.  Pump up that deductible – $500 is the new standard for homeowners insurance deductibles.  If you have something lower than that, ask your agent what the savings would be to increase it.  It might not be worth the extra risk, but sometimes the savings is substantial.

6.  Invest in utilities updates – what is considered a utilities update?  Anything done to improve or update your heating, plumbing, electrical or roofing is worth mentioning.  (Not to play favorites, but the roof will probably help you the most.)

For more information, contact Heather Mosher – VAST 906.315.7235  |  heatherm@vastsolution.com