7 ways to save money on your home insurance

1. Ditch your renewal & shop around

Perhaps the best way to save money on your home insurance is to shop around every year.

Unfortunately, loyalty often doesn’t pay when it comes to your home insurance policy because many insurers offer discounts to entice new customers.

This means that when your renewal comes you may no longer qualify for the discount you got first time around, making your cover more expensive.

Use your renewal as a prompt to get other quotes to check how it stacks up, and see if you can get a cheaper deal elsewhere.

If you do find a cheaper deal speak to your current insurer and see if they’ll match or beat the price, if they won’t you can cancel and switch to the better deal.

2. Pick the right excess

The excess is the amount you have to pay when you make a claim, and it can have a significant impact on the cost of your premium.

• If you increase your excess you can often make your premium cheaper
• If your lower your excess you’ll make your premium more expensive

While changing your excess could save you money if you don’t need to claim, it does make it more expensive if you do. Always choose an excess you can afford.

3. Pay upfront

Forking out a lump sum upfront for your home insurance might not sound very appealing, but it could make it much cheaper.

Many insurers charge interest if you choose to pay monthly by Direct Debit, meaning you’re essentially borrowing the money from them and paying it back over the rest of the year.

If you can afford to, paying upfront could save you anywhere up to 15-20% each year.

4. Only pay for what you need

While it’s better to have more cover than not enough, over-insuring your property usually leaves you paying more for your cover than you need to.

There are a couple of areas which are worth double-checking:

1. Do you have the right rebuild cost for your property? This is the amount you’re asked for when you get a buildings insurance quote. The value of your property and it’s rebuild cost aren’t usually the same, so check you’ve got the right figure using a rebuild cost calculator before you get a quote.
2. Are you paying for extras you don’t need? Insurers offer lots of added extras to increase your cover, but you might not need all of them so always double-check.

Read our guide on how to get the right home insurance cover for more tips on what extras are worth paying extra for.

5. Protect your home

If you can make your home safer and more secure, you might also be able to bag a discount on your home insurance.

Some of the things that could get you money off your cover include:

• Monitored alarms
• Smoke & carbon monoxide detectors
• Security locks e.g. specific types of deadlocks

However, bear in mind that the cost of installing some of these items could be more than you’ll save on your cover.

6. Go online

Getting your home insurance online is usually the cheapest way to get cover.

This is because it’s a much quicker and cheaper way for insurers to sell you a policy than in person or over the phone.

7. Double up

If you have another insurance policy, you could bag a multi policy discount when you buy home insurance from the same insurer.

For example, if you already have car insurance, you could get up to 15% off the second policy. The first policy may not be eligible for a 15% discount until renewal.

Some lenders also offer money off home insurance if you’ve got your mortgage with them, so check for this as well.