Every year you must re-evaluate your expenses not with the purpose of cutting down on them but instead with the aim of planning your expenditure for the year ahead. Doing so is highly beneficial as it not only forces you to spend wisely but also prepares you for any upcoming expenditure during the year, which you would otherwise have to finance through your savings.
However, there are some expenses which can be curtailed without having to sacrifice anything, and insurance is one of them.
For example, if you have recently gotten a new roof installed at your home, which has definitely improved the safety and security of the rest of the house as well, then you may be eligible to secure a higher discount on your insurance premium.
This holds true for any other improvement you may have made to your house, including having installed a new home security system (higher for a monitored system, lower for an unmonitored one), a system which automatically detects and reports water leakage at your home, or any other system aimed at reducing the probability of a great damage to your property.
The best way to take advantage of this is to let your insurance agent know of any structural changes you have made to your house in recent times and let him or her calculate any increase in discount which you may qualify. According to reported figures, Americans on average end up spending an approximately $2000 in insurance for their cars and their home, mostly because they are not availing any of the discounts being offered by insurance companies.
However, as will become obvious below, you can significantly reduce your insurance expenditure simply by delivering the right information to your insurance company.
Savings on Car Insurance
There are many incentives given by insurance companies which you can take advantage of simply by being a good driver. For example, insurance companies offer a discount to you if you agree to install a tracker in your car, which monitors your speed among other indicators to assess your driving characteristics. If you are a good driver, then insurance companies offer additional discounts.
However, if you are a reckless driver, then insurance companies may just as well place a surcharge on top of your original premium. But, we assume that you are a good driver, and hence can safely say that you can save up to 20% on your car insurance premium simply by agreeing to install this tracker in your car and being a good driver.
Bundle Offers
Many insurance companies, at least those offering these services, give discounts of up to 40% to those customers who purchase insurance for both their homes as well as their cars from the same company.
Adding life insurance to the mix can save you an extra 5% in total cost. Of course, securing all these packages from the same company at a decent rate depends greatly on your credit history, so if your credit history has faltered in recent years, it is time to improve it if you aim to secure any discounts with your insurance premium charge.
Make The Right Comparison
Many people make the mistake of comparing two different kinds of insurance packages and subscribing to the one with a lower price, not realizing that they are letting go of a much better deal in the package with the slightly higher premium rate.
To avoid making the same mistake, it is highly advisable that you check whether two insurance packages are exactly alike, and then choose the one which is offering the cheaper price.
Also, many people stick to their current plan as they are comfortable with the premium as well as the coverage it provides, ignoring any new and better insurance opportunities which may be available in the market. It is highly advisable that you re-evaluate your insurance plan at the start of every year, carefully going over all the plans available in the market before settling for one that is most suitable for your current needs.
