Friday, January 30, 2009

Affordable Home Insurance Rates -- Don't Miss These Tips

By Chimezirim Odimba

Affordable Home Insurance Rates: Contrary to what you might have heard, you don't really have to do very exceptional things in order to attract the cheapest home insurance that gives you sufficient coverage. You may be surprised to find out that all that's making it difficult for you to get far cheaper rates are simple things you can quickly deal with. Following are a good number of tips that will help you achieve that goal...

1. Do ensure that each door that leads outside has dead-bolt locks. It's more difficult for thieves to break into homes that have these locks. And as you know, the lower the risk of burglary in a home, the cheaper premiums it will draw.

2. If you can purchase an umbrella policy and then reduce your homeowners' liability coverage you'll save a lot. Why this is highly advised is that it even offers you better coverage at a cheaper rate.

Remember what the liability part of your home insurance policy caters for: To protect you from losses you could incur due to injuries to persons on your property. Moreover, if a lawsuit results from such an injury, it also caters for it. But like all things in insurance, there's a limit to the amount that is covered and your home liability coverage might even be totally inadequate.

On the other hand, an umbrella insurance policy usually offers huge coverage limits that can always take care of the craziest lawsuits for very small premium.

3. While obtaining low rates should be of interest to you, you should be more interested in an insurer's rating. It's one thing to pay your rates diligently and another thing for an insurance company to keep to the deal. It does not take a lot of time to verify from your state's department of insurance's website. Find out from them whether your preferred insurance provider is licenced to provide home insurance and also their claims history.

You can as well obtain helpful information about an insurer from independent organizations like BBB, A.M Best Company, Phelps, Inc., Standard & Poor's Insurance Rating Services, Moody's Investor Services, Inc.

4. Smoking adds to the risk of a fire in your house. And statistics have it that over 23,000 residential fire annually are as a result of smoking. Do your best to make sure nobody smokes in your home and you'll pay cheaper rates. If you stop smoking successfully for around 13 months, tell your agent and demand for a well-earned discount. If your insurer refuses to lower your premiums after you have stopped, go to another insurer.

5. Do NOT leave ladders in places where anybody can easily use them. Keeping it in such a manner would be making a burglar's mission a lot easier. In the same vein, don't forget your tools or machinery on the lawn. Like ladders, tools and such could aid a burglar in breaking into your home. Keeping these things properly will save you a lot of heartaches along with cheaper premiums.

6. You could save some hundreds of dollars by just receiving and comparing quotes from not less than five quotes sites. And, it will take you only a total of 25 minutes.

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