3 simple ways to cut home insurance costs

John Fitzsimons looks at three easy ways to cut the cost of your home insurance premiums.

When it comes to sorting out your home insurance, it should go without saying that you should always shop around, rather than just renewing your existing policy, in order to find a good deal. However, these three tips will also help you cut the cost of your insurance.

Increasing the excess

As always with any form of insurance, one way to cut the cost of your premiums is to increase the excess.

The excess is the amount of any claim that you have to pay for, and typically stands at around £50 with home insurance.

Insure the right amount

One trick some people use to try to cut their home insurance bill is to lower the amount of cover they have. That’s all well and good, but should you need to make a claim and it turns out you’ve underinsured yourself, you’ll be left out of pocket.

A better idea when taking out buildings insurance, is to ensure that you enter the rebuild value of the home when comparing quotes, not the actual market value. The rebuild value covers things like the cost of materials and labour to rebuild the property, and will likely be different to the market value.

Doubling up

It may sound logical that buying your buildings and contents cover together will lead to a cheaper deal.

However, it’s not always the case that a combined policy will work out cheaper, particularly if you live in an area prone to flooding, or burglary. Be sure to compare quotes for single policies, as well as combined policies, in order to find the cheapest deal.

If you are on the hunt for a new home insurance policy, be sure to check out lovemoney.com’s home insurance quote engine. For just a few minutes work, it could save you a fortune!