What is a home insurance premium?
A home insurance premium refers to the amount you pay your insurer to keep your policy active. You can often choose to pay your premium monthly, quarterly or annually.
The premium for your home insurance policy is calculated based on several factors, including but not limited to, frequency of payment, your choice of cover, the sum insured and your location.
1. Consider a higher home insurance excess
The excess is the amount you’ll have to pay when the insurance company agrees to pay your claim; typically the higher the excess, the lower the premium and vice versa.
Speak to your insurer to see how much an increase in excess would lower your premium to help decide if this option suits you. You need to be sure you’re in the financial position to afford a higher excess if you ever need to make a claim.
2. Regularly review the sum insured of your building and contents
The sum insured is an amount you choose, when you first take out a home insurance policy. The amount should reflect the cost of re-building your home and replacing your contents. It is usually shown on your Certificate of Insurance and the amount you choose can be updated at any time.
It’s important to regularly review your sum insured shown on your Certificate of Insurance, as your building or contents may have changed since you first took our your policy. You don’t want to overestimate your sum insured and therefore pay a higher premium, or underestimate the sum and leave yourself underinsured.
Use this handy building insurance calculator and contents insurance calculator to ensure you’re appropriately covered.
3. Combine your insurance policies
Some insurers offer discounts when you combine different types of cover under the one insurance policy.
For example, if you have building and contents cover on the one policy you may be eligible for a combined policy discount. Speak to your insurer to see if they can offer you a deal for combining cover.
4. Buy and arrange home insurance cover online
Some insurers offer a discount when you purchase your policy online. Do your research and compare digital offers or ask your insurer what they can offer if you buy your policy online.
