First time buyers, here's five tips for making your home insurance cheaper

Taking the first step on the property ladder is likely one of the biggest decisions you’ll make and Home insurance comes in two parts; buildings and contents. If you were to turn your home upside down, then everything that didn’t fall out would be covered by buildings insurance. Contents is for everything else or the stuff that ‘fell out’. Purchasing buildings and contents insurance with an insurer will likely bag you a discount but also try sourcing separate cover with two different insurers, it’s always worth a try.

Improve your security

The majority of insurers will look more favorably on customers who make their home as secure as possible. The two items insurers look for in security are:

 Burglar alarm – It can’t be any burglar alarm, make sure it’s one that is NACOSS approved
 Locks– Fiver-lever mortise locks are recommended for external doors and windows should ideally have two bolt locks. Once you’ve moved into your new home, it’s essential you change the locks on your property, you never know you might still have the keys.

Tweak your excess

Home insurance policies come with a compulsory excess. This will likely get you a cheaper premium by volunteering to increase your excess but in the event of a claim, you will need to pay more towards the claim.

Ignore your Mortgage Lender

Just because your mortgage lender or estate agent offers an insurance policy, don’t purchase it without considering other insurance companies – you’re not obliged in taking it. You’ll likely find a better policy out there that is not only cheaper but also has more comprehensive cover.

Make sure you aren’t over insuring

A common mistake is to cover the home’s market value – the amount it might sell for. Instead of the rebuild value – the cost of rebuilding the property if it was knocked down. These two prices will likely have a significant difference in price and may reduce your premium.

To find your home’s rebuild value, commissioning a survey is your best bet and we would recommend carry out a survey when moving into a new home regardless of its age (to identify any hidden problems) but this can be expensive. A less accurate, but quicker option is the Associate of British Insurers calculator. 

Beware of monthly payments

Paying your premium in monthly installments is essentially a high interest loan. Paying your premium in full will keep the costs down even though the upfront cost is greater.

We hope this article was of some help. If you’d like a free no obligation home insurance quote don’t hesitate to give us a call. We have over 20 years’ experience in helping clients with finding the best and most competitive cover for their homes and as we’re an insurance broker we’ll do the hard work for you by searching through a large panel of insurance companies.