Several years ago we had a car accident where we were not at fault, but we discovered the hard way how our insurance company was going to repair our car! The car was towed to the repair shop recommended by the insurance company and were were very surprised to discover by pure luck that the Insurance Company was insisting on using CHEAP After-
It took us more than week resolve the situation through our Insurance company to get this matter resolved, but I can’t anyone would have such a luxury if their home was damaged during a floor, fire or an earth quake.
So here are some recommendation to reduce your Home Owners insruacne costs without risking coverage:
1) Raise your deductible: Raise your insurance deductible to maximum possible specially
since majority of home repairs would cost you much less to accomplish than engage yuor insurance company.
2) Avoid Risky choices: Most Home Owner policies have pet riders and getting an aggressive Dog, Snake, …etc would increase your coverage costs and expose you to additional risk if your Dog or Snake hurts a neighbor.
3) Only buy the insurance : Most home owner policies have replacement costs and there are dollar amounts associated with such replacements. For instance if you have a 1,000 sqft living space and you are confident that you can re-build by spending $100 per sqft, then you don’t need to buy more than $100,000 of coverage. Anything above that amount is a complete waste of money.
4) Combine Auto, Home, Life… and other policies from one carrier. Most companies will offer you incentives to bundle Auto, Life and Home polices to get you to buy everything from one company. But research your options before choosing ONE company since not all insurance companies are created equal. Also, make sure you ask the insurance company if they are underwriting the policy themselves or are they reselling someone else’s policy. For instance Geico which aggressively promotes Auto Insurance policy in California does NOT offer home owners polices above $1M dollars and thy typically sell Travler’s Home Owner policy. In these kind of cases make sure you ca NOT buy cheaper policy directly from Traveler’s.
5) Avoid duplicate coverage: Most Home Owners policies now have medical coverage which is duplicate if you already have good medical coverage.
6) Install Safety Equipment: Most insurance companies now offer discounts on any anti-theft investments you make. In addition, States like California now need Smoke and CO2 detectors which would cut your cost of insurance coverage.
Finally, shop around and make sure you read your policy and understand how in case of a fire, flood how quickly your insurance company can help you get back on your feet.
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