Want to save money on your home insurance? I haven’t talked with anyone who didn’t want to pay less without weakening the policy or going with a company that doesn’t provide good service. Let’s look at a few more home insurance discounts we didn’t get to last week as well as some rating factors worth knowing about.
Affinity discounts: What college or university did you attend? Who do you work for? Are you a member of AARP? Some home insurance companies have affinity programs where they offer a discount based on where you went to school, where you work, or if you’re a member of a particular association.
Gated communities: If your home is located within a gated community you enjoy a greater degree of security than those who don’t. Several companies provide a discount for homes in a gated community just like they do for having a monitored alarm system.
Line of Work: What kind of work you do may be worth a discount on your home insurance policy. This is similar to an affinity discount, but a little broader as some insurance companies provide discounts for teachers, fire fighters, nurses, members of the armed forces, and more.
Rating Factors: Rating factors are different than discounts. For instance, home insurance companies provide a discount if you have a monitored alarm system. Rating factors can impact your home insurance rate either positively by reducing the overall rate or they can have a negative impact and cause you to pay more for your policy. Below are some common rating factors.
Credit: Most insurance companies operating in Texas utilize credit to a greater or lesser degree when rating a home insurance policy. People with good credit pay less for their policies while people with poor credit pay more. If you want to pay less for all of your insurance, I recommend improving your credit score.
Education: Homeowners with a college education tend to pay less for home insurance than owners with a high school or associates degree. Add an advanced degree such as a masters, doctorate, law school, or medical school and you tend to pay even less than someone with a bachelor’s degree.
Marital Status: Married couples pay less than their single friends when it comes to home insurance. Insurance companies for some reason believe they are a better risk than those who aren’t.
Siding: People who live in a home clad in brick, concrete stucco, stone, or hardy board, which is made of cement fiber, pay less for their home insurance than someone who lives in a wood frame house. Wood burns and the others are much more fire resistant.
Zip Code: Where you live impacts your rate. Homes in zip codes that have more crime pay more than those who live in nicer parts of town or in the suburbs with lower crime overall crime rates. In addition, homeowners in Denton, Collin, and Rockwall County pay less for their policies than those of us who live in Dallas or Tarrant counties.
Swimming Pools & Trampolines: Having a swimming pool during the summer is very nice in but it will cause you to pay more for home insurance. If your pool has a diving board or slide, you’ll pay even more. Some home insurance carriers will not write a policy when a pool as a diving board or slide.
Trampolines also cause your home insurance to jump. In both cases, pools and trampolines represent risks that many companies would just want to avoid.
What do you think? Share your thoughts, experiences and questions with me on my Facebook, Google +, and LinkedIn pages. I’d love to hear from you!
