Buying a home is a huge venture. This is something that should never be taken lightly. You are looking for the place to call home, raise your family, and grow old. With this much invested in a home purchase, you cannot afford to go without insurance. If you have a mortgage, you are not allowed to go without insurance. Home insurance helps protect this place that has become an extension of who you are from damage that can come from any number of issues. However, the average home insurance cost can be quite expensive. Therefore, it is a good idea to find the best discounts for home insurance.
What Discounts Are Typically Offered for Home Insurance?
It is no secret that insurance companies are a business and are going to charge a premium to protect your property. Whether you own a car, a home, a business, or anything else, insurance is needed, and it is going to cost some money. However, insurance companies would rather be the only provider for all your insurance needs, as opposed to having insurance with numerous providers. That is why they will offer discounts for people that are not as high as a risk in their eyes. Almost all insurance providers provide the following types of discounts:
- Bundle: Companies want you to use them for all of your insurance needs. Therefore, if you bundle products together, you will be able to save on insurance overall.
- Multi-Resident: This is similar to a bundle discount. If you own more than one residence and put them on the same policy, you can save up to 10% on insurance.
- Claims free: With a car, you will get a discount off the average cost of insurance for every year you do not have a claim against the policy. The same can be done for your home insurance.
- Mortgage-free: If you do not have a mortgage and make the proper choice to insure your home, you may save on insurance. The savings can be up to 20% depending on the company.
- Alarm: If you have a security alarm system. You are protecting your home from break-ins, fire damage, and other types of issues. Insurance companies see this as worthy of a discount to help you save on insurance.
- Non-smoker: Smokers are dinged for everything with every type of insurance. The reality is many home fires are caused by a smoker falling asleep in bed with a cigarette or not putting the cigarette out properly. Therefore, insurance companies will provide a 5% discount to non-smokers to help them save on insurance.
- Age: The elderly receive discounts for many reasons and on many products. The average cost of home insurance may be a bit out of their price range if they did not qualify for discounts. For this reason, many people over 50 years old may receive up to a 10% discount on their insurance premium.
- Age of home: A newer home has fewer issues. If a home was just built, many insurance companies will provide a 20% discount on the cost of insurance. This number goes down as the home ages.
These discounts are intended to help homeowners lower their average cost of insurance and keep them loyal to the company that insures them.
Are There Other Ways to Save on Insurance?
The above discounts are fairly standard in the industry. Most, if not all, insurance companies will offer these discounts. However, you may have to ask for them. Some discounts are simply applied, like the bundle discount and multi-resident discounts. However, others need to be requested or even added, such as claims-free discounts and age discounts. Nonetheless, there are few, if any, insurance companies that will refuse these discounts.
However, some discounts are specific to certain companies. These discounts allow people to save on insurance because they chose that particular company. The discounts, like auto insurance discounts, are used to entice new clients to use one insurance company over another. Some of the more common company-specific discounts include loyalty discounts (you renew your policy with the same company); membership discounts (members of certain organizations, such as CAA, may receive a discount); water damage protection, such as owning a sump pump, and a discount for not having oil heat.
If you are interested in saving on insurance and finding the discounts for which you qualify, contact our office by phone or email. Our team will be happy to help you navigate the insurance landscape and find the right policy at the right price for you.
