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Tips On How To Save Money On Your Home Insurance in Toronto

Home insurance is a major expense. We all love hearing about ways to save money on home insurance, because while there’s no real way to avoid buying it, it is great to be able to get the benefits at the lowest possible price. In this article, we will go over some common ways for Toronto residents to save some money on their home insurance by taking advantage of some little-known discounts. If you use all of these, you can enjoy a serious discount on your premium.

Home InsuranceBundling

One easy way to get a significant discount is to bundle together your auto insurance with your home insurance, purchasing both of them from the same company. By doing this, you can get a discount on both kinds of insurance. The best deals for bundling can lead to 20 percent off your bill. That is a pretty huge reduction- it is hard to find a deal of that size anywhere else, so you should seriously consider bundling if your home insurance carrier also offers auto insurance.

Alarm Systems

If you have a monitored alarm system, you will usually qualify for another discount. A monitored alarm system is a series of alarms throughout your home that are connected to an outside company that monitors them for break-ins, fires, and other problems. The largest company that offers such systems is ADT. These systems can often cost a significant amount to install, and there is a monthly subscription as well. However, because insurance companies know that with such a system you will have faster access to emergency services in the event of a problem, they will give you a discount on your premium. All you need to do is prove to the company that you own such a system, typically by mailing them a copy of the installation certificate or contract. The alarm must be connected to an outside monitor- it can’t just be an alarm that makes noise inside the home and nothing else.

No Smoking

People who smoke are at an increased risk for accidentally causing fires. No matter how careful they are, it is simply a fact that they are more likely to cause a fire than someone who does not smoke, all else equal. For that reason, if you can prove to the insurance company that nobody in your household smokes, you can typically enjoy a small discount on your premium. If there is nobody living with you to smoke, then this is essentially free money.

The Deductible-Premium Tradeoff

As with other types of insurance, in home insurance, there is a tradeoff between the size of the deductible and the size of the premiums. If you choose to have a larger deductible, your monthly premiums will be smaller. However, that means that if anything goes wrong, you pay a larger proportion of the cost than if your deductible was smaller and you had higher premiums. It’s all about risk. If you think your risk of a fire, flood, or other accident is quite low, go for the larger deductible and smaller premium. Just keep in mind that you will have a larger liability if anything does happen.

If you follow these tips, you can easily save a good 5 to 25 percent off your home insurance and also get an effective discount for installing a robust home alarm system. Most people don’t know about these discounts. Insurance companies are very willing to give out discounts to homeowners who can prove that they are low risk customers, so anytime that there is some way you can secure your home, ask your insurance company and see if they will give you a discount or subsidy. It never hurts to ask, and your insurance carrier is usually glad to do anything that will reduce the chances of you making a claim in the future.