Paying too much to insure your home?

Insuremyhouse.ie has some tips to bring down that cost:

Secure your home: Most insurers will offer discounts for people with alarms and/ or monitored alarm systems. If you have one of these be sure to enquire whether any discounts apply. A monitored alarm could reduce premiums by up to 25%. While these may have been expensive a few years ago, the cost of alarm monitoring has reduced significantly so may be worth looking into.

Check policy ‘add-ons’ – extras like accidental damage are often costly and not always necessary. There’s little point in specifying valuable items such as iPads and bicycles if you opted for a higher excess, say €500.

Increasing the excesses on your policy will invariably reduce the cost of your premium. However, you need to ensure that you don’t end up having to pay out a fortune in the event of a claim – we would advise that you always take expert advice when considering changing policy excesses.

Lock in your rate for two or three years. Some insurers are now offering these policies, which means that if a person chooses to opt in for the next few years, they will be insulated from any market rate increases during this time. This is a cost-effective measure for those who would prefer some sense of certainty when it comes to premiums. There is no charge for this – instead a small administration discount. Therefore, if a customer’s premium is €400 for one year, then two years will cost just €790, while three years will cost €1,180.

Another benefit of locking in your rate is that the premium will not increase during the two or three years. Homeowners who claim on their home insurance would typically be hit with a significant premium increase when they go to renew their policy. However, when you’re locked in there are no hikes – no matter how many claims are made on the policy during this time.