INSURANCE
12 Ways to Lower Your Homeowners Insurance Costs
T
Top Insurance Companies
AIG Insurance Company Allstate Insurance Company American Family Mutual Insurance Company
Farmers Insurance Company Fidelity Insurance Company Hartford Insurance Company, The ING North America Insurance Corporation
MassMutual Insurance Company MetLife, Inc.
Prudential Insurance Company State Farm Insurance Company Travelers Insurance Company
he price you pay for your homeowners insurance can vary by hundreds of dol- lars, depending on the insurance company you buy your policy from. Here are some things to consider when buying homeown- ers insurance.
1. Shop around. It’ll take some time, but could save you a good sum of money. Ask your friends, check the Yellow Pages or contact your state insurance department. National Asso- ciation of Insurance Commissioners (www.
naic.org) has information to help you choose an insurer in your state, including complaints. States often make information available on typical rates charged by major insurers and many states provide the fre- quency of consumer complaints by com- pany.
Also check consumer guides, insurance agents, companies and online insurance quote services. This will give you an idea of price ranges and tell you which compa- nies have the lowest prices. But don’t con- sider price alone. The insurer you select should offer a fair price and deliver the quality service you would expect if you needed assistance in filing a claim. So in assessing service quality, use the complaint information cited above and talk to a num- ber of insurers to get a feeling for the type of service they give. Ask them what they would do to lower your costs. Check the financial stability of the com- panies you are considering with rating companies such as A.M. Best (
www.amb-
est.com) and Standard & Poor’s (www.
standardandpoors.com) and consult con- sumer magazines. When you’ve narrowed the field to three insurers, get price quotes.
2. Raise your deductible. Deductibles are the amount of money you have to pay toward a loss before your insurance company starts to pay a claim, according to the terms of your policy. The
58 HISPANIC NETWORK MAGAZINE Celebrating 19 Years of Diversity
higher your deductible, the more money you can save on your premiums. Nowa- days, most insurance companies recom- mend a deductible of at least $500. If you can afford to raise your deductible to $1,000, you may save as much as 25 per- cent. Remember, if you live in a disaster- prone area, your insurance policy may have a separate deductible for certain kinds of damage. If you live near the coast in the East, you may have a separate windstorm deductible; if you live in a state vulnerable to hail storms, you may have a separate de- ductible for hail; and if you live in an earth- quake-prone area, your earthquake policy has a deductible.
3. Don’t confuse what you paid for your house with rebuilding costs. The land under your house isn’t at risk
from theft, windstorm, fire and the other perils covered in your homeowners policy. So don’t include its value in deciding how much homeowners insurance to buy. If you do, you will pay a higher premium than you should.
4. Buy your home and auto policies from the same insurer.
Some companies that sell homeowners, auto and liability coverage will take 5 to 15 percent off your premium if you buy two or more policies from them. But make certain this combined price is lower than buying the different coverages from different com- panies.
5. Make your home more disaster-resistant.
Find out from your insurance agent or
company representative what steps you can take to make your home more resistant to windstorms and other natural disasters. You may be able to save on your premiums by adding storm shutters, reinforcing your
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