48 Home Insurance Savings Tips -- Guaranteed Steps To Very Cheap Homeowners Insurance Rates

Wednesday, March 18, 2009

Home Insurance Rate -- Tips To Get The Cheapest

By Chimezirim Odimba

We all will be happy to get a very affordable rate if it comes with enough coverage. But how can this be achieved? Let's discuss some time-tested steps to achieving just that...

You may be paying much more if your's is a government homeowner's insurance policy. It used to be quite hard to get insurance providers if you live in certain high crime areas or places that were affected by certain natural disasters. The only remedy for such people then was to go to a government agency that offered government homeowner's insurance. Nevertheless, at present there are a number of private insurers who also offer coverage for such areas.

Depending on where you live, though, you might still have no other option but to use government homeowner's insurance. But for people whose areas are presently serviced by private insurers, you can expect to pay more affordable premiums than you would with government agencies.

Folks seem to take more precaution against fire than water damage by not checking their plumbing and upgrading as regularly as they should. Reports show that water damage is the most common claim on a homeowner's policy. This implies that if you can prove to your insurance provider that you've taken steps to lower or remove the risk of water damage, you will bring down your home insurance rate. And do not forget to inform your agent if you improve your plumbing.

Make sure you have fire extinguishers in your house at important points or near all fire sources. If you do NOT have any other place, ensure that your kitchen has one. And make sure it's such that is adequate for the kitchen in question.

And, always remember that you must keep them within easy reach. This may seem insignificant but you'll pay more if you don't have them in your house.

Having a smoker in your household will increase your rates considerably. With over 23,000 residential fires being caused by smoking you'll agree that it's really a serious factor. Do your utmost to ensure nobody smokes in your home and you'll attract cheaper rates. If you stop smoking successfully for over 12 months, tell your agent and demand for a well-deserved discount. Apart from if your insurance provider is one of the few that don't use smoking as a factor in arriving at your premium, leave if your premium is not lowered after this.

Don't forget: The most vital route to considerable savings in home insurance is comparison shopping -- Provided that you do it well. You can get quotes that will have a range in excess of $1,000. You could easily save so much by just choosing the lowest quote. This should be the case if you're just after the lowest price.

Howbeit, if you want the best value to price ratio then you'd have to look at the details of the cheapest offers. Different insurers may have different exclusions for similar policies. It's wise to ask the agent what's included and what's excluded.

Check an insurance company's rating and do NOT be carried away by just cheap premiums. Few things can be more painful than realizing that made payments diligently to the wrong insurance provider only when you make a claim. It does not take much time to verify from your state's department of insurance's website. You can easily check an insurer's rating there (and even if they even licensed to offer insurance in your state).

BBB, A.M Best Company, Phelps, Inc., Standard & Poor's Insurance Rating Services, Moody's Investor Services, Inc. are resources that you will do well to visit before you buy a policy from any company.

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