If your New Year’s resolutions include cutting household bills, take a look at your home owners insurance policy and try these Insurance Information Institute tips for home owners insurance shopping and reducing premium costs:

  • Raise your deductible. An increase from $500 to $1,000 could save up to 25% on your annual premium.
  • Check the financial health of any home owners insurance company you’re thinking of buying a policy from. Ask friends and family if they’ve had any experience with the company to find out if it handles claims fairly and efficiently.
  • Don’t drop flood insurance to cut costs. Standard home owners insurance doesn’t cover flood damage and 25% of all flood losses occur in low-risk areas.
  • Look into multi-policy discounts. Buying several policies with the same insurer, such as home owners, auto, and life, usually gets you a discount on all the policies.
  • If local home values have fallen, insuring your home for its real estate value may cost less than insuring it for its replacement value (the cost to rebuild) but will leave you without enough money to rebuild after a disaster. Don’t opt for home value coverage unless you can afford to cover the excess replacement costs.

Source: Insurance Information Institute