Insurance is a fact of life. If you own a car, you need insurance. The law now makes it mandatory for most people to have health insurance. You need insurance if you own a home, and even if you rent, you should still have insurance to protect your stuff. All those insurance costs can really add up, so you should do everything you can to keep them as low as possible. Here are a few tips you can follow to keep your insurance costs down.
Shop around
This may seem like a no-brainer, but not everyone does it. And even people who say they shopped around for their insurance may not be doing it the right way. On life, home and auto policies, you should get at least three quotes, and those quotes should be from different sources. For instance, get at least one quote from a bricks-and-mortar insurance agent and one from an online comparison site.
Bundle your policies
If you get your auto insurance from one company, your home insurance from another and your life insurance from yet another company, you are probably paying too much. Insurance companies usually offer multi-policy discounts that can save you 10 percent or more on the premiums of each policy.
Take advantage of groups
The main reason health insurance is less expensive from your employer compare with what an individual policy would cost is that the employer offers the insurer a large pool of applicants among which to spread the risk. You may be able to take advantages of group discounts on all types of insurance based on your profession, your religion and civic groups you belong to. Insurance companies often market to churches, trade associations, charitable groups and others, offering discounts to members that aren’t available to the general public.
Improve your risk profile
There are some things you can’t change about yourself. If you are a man, you will pay more for car insurance than a woman with a similar profile. But there are many things you can change that will lower your insurance premiums. For example, stopping smoking can get you discounts on health insurance and life insurance. Trading in your sports car for a minivan can get you a break on your car insurance. Installing a home security system may get you a discount on your homeowners insurance.
Take on more of the risk
Insurance pricing is all about the risk the insurer will have to pay out. That means that the more risk you take off of the insurer’s hands, the lower your rates will be. How can you do that? One of the easiest ways is by accepting a larger deductible, which means you will pay more out of pocket in the event of a claim. For certain types of insurance, you can choose to exclude coverage of certain things to save money. For instance, you may carry liability and collision insurance on your car but forgo comprehensive coverage. You may also be able to exclude certain manners of death from coverage under your life insurance policy.
Ultimately, how you go about saving money on your insurance policies depends in large part on your life situation and how much coverage you need. However, there are plenty of ways to save, and you are throwing away money if you don’t take advantage of them.
