Are you like me and have insurance in place for everything?
I’m super conservative when it comes to making sure I’m covered. I’m one of those people who worry about not being covered and I’m not one to take risks when it comes to finances and my health and that of my family. So, I have health insurance, car insurance, home and contents insurance, life insurance, income protection insurance, trauma insurance as well as public liability insurance and professional indemnity insurance. Wow, that’s one heck of a list and a mouthful, isn’t it? I don’t want to even think about how much it all costs but I do know that if I didn’t have this cover and something went wrong, it would cost me a whole lot more.
So, what can you do to cut your costs of insurance?
It’s so easy to become complacent about your insurance policies and just pay them year after year. You pay the premiums and you’re covered. If you don’t look around for better deals, you might be paying more than you should. It’s a good idea to do a comparison every 12 months. Invest in yourself and spend a day comparing other insurance companies and see if you can save. There are a couple of things to look out for:
- Have your needs changed? If you’ve owned your home for a while it is likely to be worth more than when you bought it. You might also have done some renovations, added security features that can reduce your premium. As your car ages it reduces in value and so should your insurance cover.
- Have a look at your insurance policies – check to see if you need all that is being offered. For example, if you are an older person you may need to include cataract surgery or hip replacement on your health insurance policy but won’t need pregnancy or orthodontics. Car insurance policies can be reduced with certain insurance companies by nominating kilometres, parking in garages etc.
- Use the comparison websites – the government have sites for private health insurance comparisons which allow you to put in your personal situation and will show you the costs of each insurance fund. This is better than using the commercial comparison sites like Iselect and Compare the Market as these ones only have a selection of funds not all of them.
- Use an insurance broker. After all they are the experts and have access to all the insurance funds and should know what each policy covers. It can take all the angst and legwork out of the exercise.
- If you are happy with the insurance company that you are using, you could approach them and ask for a better deal or ask them to price match if you find a better price elsewhere.
- Consider moving all your insurances to the one fund and ask for a discount for doing it. Customer service is important too and you want to be valued as a customer.
What could you do today to help save on your insurance expenses?
Yours in finance,
Sarah Hudson xxx