Saturday, November 2, 2013

Three Things That Can Affect Your Home Insurance Quote

Whether you're buying a new home or just thinking about switching insurance companies, there are several things you can do which can help in lowering your homeowner insurance costs.While shopping for a home insurance quote, the company you choose to go with is important ... but the discounts offered are where the rubber meets the road. You need to qualify for as many discounts as you can and they may or may not be the same with each insurer. Here are 3 specific discounts that anybody can qualify for.Install Home Safety DevicesIf your home is adequately protected from fire, theft and natural disasters, you are less likely to file a claim. In order to help you better protect your property, insurance companies offer discounts for home security devices such as burglar alarms, smoke detectors, and deadbolt locks. While these may seem like simple, mundane things, they can greatly affect the cost of your insurance premium.Although your insurance company can give you a discount in your home insurance quote for having smoke alarms, YOU will have to be the one to monitor the smoke alarms and make sure they have working batteries. Many local TV stations, in conjunction with the fire department, will remind viewers to change the batteries in their smoke alarms when they set their clocks forward or backward due to Daylight Savings Time. So don't think about it ... just do it!Insure Your Autos With the Same CompanyMost insurance companies will give you reduced rates if you have several policies with them. The most common combination is having your auto and home owner insurance together. Take a few extra minutes and get an auto insurance quote at the same time you get your home insurance quote. The savings can be as much as 15% or more. Some insurers will give discounts if you have your life insurance policy with them too.Avoid Filing Smaller ClaimsMany people think that since they have to pay for insurance, they should be able to use it as much as they want. Unfortunately, insurance companies don't look at things that way. If they feel you have filed too many claims, they may offer you a renewal with an increased deductible, an increase in your rate, or they may not even renew your policy.Since you should only submit claims for the larger unavoidable losses anyway, you might want to go ahead and increase your deductible and save some on your home insurance quote. Just be sure to bank the saved premiums to use towards those small losses or to cover your deductible should you need to file a claim.