The average cost of home insurance is predicted to soar by around 30% in 2024, putting more pressure on households who are already struggling with rising bills.
According to the latest figures from comparison site Confused.com, the average home insurance premium will rise by £103 next year.
Insurance costs have been on the rise across the board, with car insurance premiums hitting record highs. The cost of home insurance is being pushed up by increased claims and expensive repair costs, according to experts.
Matthew Harwood, insurance expert at Confused.com, said: “A higher frequency of extreme weather conditions saw 170,000 claims in 2022, costing £473m in payouts. Also, inflation has made the cost of labour and materials used to repair your home more expensive.”
However, taking out home insurance is one of the most important things you can do to take care of your home, and it’s usually a necessity if you want to apply for a mortgage.
Here are six tips to help you lower the cost of your home insurance.
Compare home insurance quotes
Home insurance renewal premiums increase every year, even if you haven’t made a claim. Compare deals from over 50 UK providers now and you could pay less than £151* on your home insurance deal.
*51% of consumers could save £151.03 on their Home Building & Contents Insurance. The saving was calculated by comparing the cheapest price found with the average of the next seven cheapest prices quoted by insurance providers on Seopa Ltd’s insurance comparison website. This is based on representative cost savings from June 2023. The savings you could achieve are dependent on your individual circumstances.
1. Increase your home security
Making your home more secure can lower the amount you pay for contents cover, as this reduces the risk of a burglary.
If you don’t already have a burglar alarm installed, check with your home insurance provider if fitting one will reduce your premiums. You can sometimes get an even bigger reduction if the alarm comes with particular security features, such as alerting the police automatically if there’s a break-in. However, a basic burglar alarm system is still likely to deter thieves.
Likewise, fitting secure, key-operated locks on all your doors and windows can reduce the chances of intruders entering your home, and help to cut your insurance bill. Again, it’s worth speaking to your home insurer to check which locks are considered the most secure.
2. Compare premiums
If you’re not in the habit of switching home insurance providers, it’s a good time to start. You could save hundreds of pounds on the cost of your annual premiums by shopping around when your policy is approaching renewal to see if a better deal might be available.
Insurers don’t tend to reward loyalty, so there’s rarely any benefit in sticking with the same provider unless you’ve compared premiums and it’s offering the best deal for you.
If you’re looking for both buildings and contents cover, see whether you could be better off getting a combined policy instead of paying for separate policies.
You can compare home insurance quotes from over 50 UK providers using this tool – it only takes a few minutes.
3. Increase your excess
When you make an insurance claim, you pay a certain amount towards it, known as your excess. In most cases, if you sign up to pay a larger excess in the event of a claim, your insurer will reduce your premiums. This is the case across all types of general insurance.
Increasing your voluntary excess means you won’t receive as much from an insurer if you do end up having to make a claim. However, on the other hand, if years pass without having to make a claim, the savings can be significant, and may cover the cost of an excess should you need to eventually pay one.
4. Don’t pay for more cover than you need
As with most types of insurance, home insurance providers may offer a series of add-ons and extras with your policy for an extra cost.
For example, an insurer might offer:
- Cover on your possessions if they are lost or stolen somewhere away from home
- Cover for accidental damage
- Bicycle cover
- Legal cover
Some of these optional extras can undoubtedly be useful to have. However, if you are paying for an insurance extra that you simply don’t need, then removing it from your policy is a good way to cut down your premiums.
For example, you won’t need bicycle insurance if you already have a policy for your bike, or if you don’t own one to begin with. Or, you may decide you don’t need to cover your possessions away from home if you rarely bring valuables out of the house.
5. Don’t overvalue your home and possessions
You might be paying more than you need to for home insurance if you’ve overvalued some of your possessions. The amount you pay for contents insurance will depend on how much cover you’ve signed up for, based on the cost of replacing your possessions. While it can be tempting to save time by giving a rough estimate for electronics, jewellery or other valuables, checking their actual value could make you some savings if it turns out you’re overvaluing them.
Also make sure that you have given the correct cost of rebuilding your home when you take out buildings insurance. This, importantly, is not the same as the market value of the home – it’s the amount that it would cost to rebuild your home if it suffered damages, say from a fire. This is generally significantly lower than your home’s market value.
If you don’t know the rebuild cost of your home, try using the Building Cost Information Service’s online calculator to find out or get a chartered surveyor to provide a figure.
6. Pay your premiums annually
Finally, a simple way to avoid paying more for insurance per year is to pay for a full year of cover upfront rather than each month.
This will usually cost less than paying for your policy each month, as providers tend to throw in extra fees for each monthly payments that can add up over time.
Compare home insurance quotes
Home insurance renewal premiums increase every year, even if you haven’t made a claim. Compare deals from over 50 UK providers now and you could pay less than £151* on your home insurance deal.
*51% of consumers could save £151.03 on their Home Building & Contents Insurance. The saving was calculated by comparing the cheapest price found with the average of the next seven cheapest prices quoted by insurance providers on Seopa Ltd’s insurance comparison website. This is based on representative cost savings from June 2023. The savings you could achieve are dependent on your individual circumstances.
Rest Less Money is on Instagram! Check out our account and give us a follow @rest_less_uk_money for all the latest Money News, updated daily.
* Links with an * by them are affiliate links which help Rest Less stay free to use as they can result in a payment or benefit to us. You can read more on how we make money here.
Compare home insurance quotes
Home insurance renewal premiums increase every year, even if you haven’t made a claim. Compare deals from over 50 UK providers now and you could pay less than £151* on your home insurance deal.
*51% of consumers could save £151.03 on their Home Building & Contents Insurance. The saving was calculated by comparing the cheapest price found with the average of the next seven cheapest prices quoted by insurance providers on Seopa Ltd’s insurance comparison website. This is based on representative cost savings from June 2023. The savings you could achieve are dependent on your individual circumstances.