Most of us need home insurance of some sort. This can be for just the contents of the home if we are renting or for the buildings and contents if we own the house. These can be quite expensive but there are ways to get cheaper insurance. It is worth examining these things as it could make quite a big difference.

Compare insurers

The easiest thing to do is to compare different insurers and make sure that you are not paying more than necessary. There are different ways that you can do this. Comparison websites is the most obvious way and you will find that there are lots of these that you can choose from. You might even find that some offer you incentives if you use them. However, you need to be careful as some comparison websites will not include every insurer. This is for several reasons. Some insurers never appear on them, because they only deal directly with customers and so if you want quotes form them you will have to approach them directly. Others will not pay commission or not very much commission to comparison websites for leads that they generate. This means that they may not bother featuring these insurers at all. There are some sites, such as Money Saving Expert that do list all insurers regardless of the commission that they get though, so it could be worth looking there. Even if you decide not to trust a comparison website, it can still give you an idea of what insurers are available and you can use it alongside your own research to see whether you are paying more than necessary.

Put in safety measures

It is sometimes possible to reduce your insurance by improving the security in your home. This will depend on the insurer though as some will see a house alarm as a sign that you feel concerned you will be burgled and mark it down as a higher risk rather than something that will reduce your insurance. Therefore, check with your insurer. Things like doors and windows with good locks and possibly a CCTV camera could also help, but do check to see whether the insurance will reduce in cost and if it does whether it will reduce enough to justify the cost of these measures.

Insure expensive items separately

If you have certain items that are of extra value then it might be cheaper to insure them on their own insurance policy rather than using the general home insurance. This may not always be the case but it is worth checking whether you can save money this way. Get some quotes and you will be able to work out which will be the cheapest option for you. If you have items that you use outside of the home, such as electronics then these might be the sort of thing that could be cheaper to insure separately.

Do not make too many claims

Every time we make a claim on our insurance the premium will go up. This is because the insurer will see us as a greater risk to insure as they figure that one claim could lead to another. This means that it is wise to carefully calculate whether it is worth making a claim, especially for smaller items. If you have just a small amount of damage that you need to claim for, then it could be better to not make the claim and pay for it yourself as the increase in premiums over the following months and years could make it really expensive. It could even be worth making the excess really high and that will not only make the premiums lower but mean that you will not be able to make a low value claim.

Pay yearly

With some insurers you will be able to pay a lot less if you pay yearly. They often offer a monthly payment option but they will charge interest on it in the same way that they do a short term loan. This will mean that they make extra money from customers who pay monthly. Not all insurers do this, but many do and it is worth finding out whether you can get a monthly premium which is not dearer or considering paying a lump sum each year instead. You may have to save up money to be able to afford this so it could take some careful planning. You may need to start saving right away and put some money away each month so that you have enough when you need it.

It can be really easy to just stay with the same insurer all of the time and many people do. They might trust the company or just feel that it is not worth changing. However, take a look at what you might be able to save and you could change your mind. It does not take very long to compare prices and you will find that it will be worth it as you could save a significant amount of money either each month or each year.