These tips can help you save on car and home insurance when switching insurance carriers!
I recently did a post on my Quest to Save on Car and Home Insurance where I was able to save $475 a year by switching from StateFarm to Progressive.
Here are some quick money saving tips for car and home insurance that I learned along the way that may help you save some time and money!
Quick Money Saving Tips for Car and Home Insurance
Here are some quick tips I learned on my quest to save on car and home insurance that you may find helpful:
- Shop Around for different insurance companies every year: We hadn’t shopped around in ~15 years. As a result, we’ve thrown away thousands of dollars by not looking for the best deals on car and home insurance. The same things applies to a lot of services such as cable, phone, and internet.
- Don’t go with high deductible options: You will almost always come out behind in the LONG run unless you are incredibly lucky. Why risk it?
- Make sure your home is insured for the right amount: Our home was under-insured by ~$175,000! If something major had ever happened, we would be completely screwed. The coverage cost should be based on the cost to rebuild NEW – NOT the mortgage price or market value of the house! This was confusing to me at first because we had it insured for close to the market amount. After reading about this for 2-3 hours, the proper way to insure a house is ALWAYS for the amount to rebuild it from scratch (including debris removal) – NOT the market value of a similar house.
- Try to get at least 4 different quotes: Progressive was the last company I tried, and they were hundreds less than the others. Others to check out include: Geico, StateFarm, and Nationwide. Don’t stop at just 2 or 3 quotes!
- Bundle Car and Home insurance to get the cheapest rates: this one is pretty self explanatory, you’ll save ~$50 – $150 by bundling car and home insurance with the same company.
- Pay the 6 months at a time for car insurance vs. monthly: I am saving $52 a year by paying every 6-months vs. monthly ($27.06 every 6-months to be exact). You’d have to earn nearly 12% interest with zero risk on your money to outperform this tip (assuming you have the cash to cover the expense).
- Try the new Snapshot device: Progressive insurance (I think some of the other insurance companies have similar devices) has this new type of device that you can plug into your car’s diagnostic port in the steering wheel. It measures the miles you drive, the time of day, and the number of times you slam on the brakes. If you drive less than 50 miles a day, stay off the road between midnight and 4am, and don’t slam on your brakes, they can reduce your premium by up to 30%. I decided to give it a try, so we’ll see how it goes!
- Let your home insurance company of major repairs: Have you recently replaced your roof, home wiring, added a security system, etc. ? If so, let your insurance company know – you could get a nice premium deduction! (idea from Daisy @ www.prairieecothrifter.com)
Final Thoughts
Those are my best quick money saving tips for car and home insurance savings. I developed these on my quest to save on car and home insurance that netted me a savings of $475 a year (read about it here). Does anyone else have other car/home insurance money saving tips that I’ve missed?!?
We saved some money on our home insurance by going ahead and re-doing our roof. It needed to be done, but we saved around $50/month by reporting it. Anytime you do a repair to your house, let the insurance company know.
Daisy @ Prairie Eco Thrifter recently posted…Four Weekend Activities that will Rock Your Financial World
Wow, great tip! I’ll add that to the list. Thanks for sharing!
Great tips! yea my home insurance is outrageously expensive. i’ll have to look into that.
Troy recently posted…Why You Should Not Invest in Canada
I like the tips. We actually get new quotes on all of our insurance policies Jan 1 of each year. It is pretty impressive how frequently they go up and down and how much coverage prices differ between companies. I’ve never tried the snapshot but it sounds interesting.
Stephen at SE recently posted…Jumping Off The Hedonic Treadmill
Stephen,
That’s probably a good practice to get into (getting a quote refresh Jan 1 of each year). I’m going to steal that idea 🙂
Thanks for the tip! Consumers need to know what the insurance companies are up to in order to get good deals on insurance, I will definitely try to get new quotes at the beginning of the year from now on.
Thanks for the tips! I really appreciate it. I just moved out and this will be really helpful in saving money.
Victoria, Good luck with the move. Glad I could help!