Tackling the Myth of Cheap Contents Insurance
Financially savvy consumers are always looking for ways to reduce their bottom line, making the prospect of cheap contents insurance an enticing one. If the thought has crossed your mind lately, here is a quick primer on homeowner’s insurance, home content insurance, and how you may be able to (or may not need to) cut your insurance bill where home contents are concerned.
Are You Paying too Much for Home Content Insurance?
To be honest, if the possibility of finding cheap contents insurance has you salivating over potential savings, the answer to the question posed above is probably yes. The vast majority of American homeowners (around 82%, according to the National Association of Insurance Commissioners) carry what’s known as an HO-3 policy. If you fit into this category, your home contents are already covered as part of your larger homeowners insurance coverage at no extra cost, usually to the tune of 45% of your home’s actual value. Feel better? Good. If not, read on.
The Path to Cheap Contents Insurance
That doesn’t mean that there are not ways to cut your costs where home content insurance is concerned, however. Here are few things to consider, research, and talk to your insurance agent about if you feel that you’re paying too much to insure all that’s protected under your roof.
- Get an HO-1 Policy —HO-1 homeowners policies are a stripped down version of the HO-3. These policies cover your home only (none of the contents), and thus are less expensive than the more popular HO-3. The trade-off? Not only do HO-1’s shed contents insurance, but they don’t provide nearly as much protection for your actual home. You’ll spend less money for this basic coverage, but you’re assuming quite a bit more risk, as well.
- Review Your Riders —If the cost of your home content insurance seems out of whack, it might be due to additional riders that you added on to your policy when you first set it up. A rider is an extra form of liability insurance that you can purchase above and beyond your base policy to cover expensive items like jewelry collections, expensive electronic and computer equipment, or grandma’s fur coat. Dropping those extra coverages if they are no longer necessary can be a potential source of substantial savings of cheap contents insurance is your goal.
- Review Your Larger Home Insurance Policy —Truth be told, a cheap home insurance policy is one of the best ways to save on contents insurance, since they’re one and the same for most homeowners. Ask your present provider for a policy review in order to look for areas of savings that may have been missed, and to evaluate whether your overall insurance situation has changed since you originally took out your policy (if your home’s value has depreciated since taking out your policy, for example).
- Ask About Renters Insurance —Perhaps you’re looking for cheap contents insurance without the homeowner’s policy? No problem. Most providers offer what’s known as rental insurance to non-homeowners who want to protect their belongings. All it requires is that you perform a complete inventory of everything under your roof or in your apartment in order to assess proper coverage amounts, after which you’ll be able to obtain a proper estimate for what your annual premiums are going to be.
Last But Not Least: Shop Around for Cheap Contents Insurance
If, after pursuing all the suggestions mentioned above, you’re still on the prowl for home content insurance at a better value, it’s probably time to start shopping around. Online insurance brokers and quote services, like NetQuote.com, are a quick, easy, and free way to get a number of quotes from a wide range of providers so that you can compare potential policies, coverage amounts, and even play one provider’s offer off of the others as you hunt for the best possible home content insurance in the business.
