9 Ideas To Save Money on Florida Home Insurance

RAISE YOUR DEDUCTIBLE

The coverage for the contents of your homeowner’s policy will have a

deductible, which is an amount you will need to pay before the insurance

company is on the hook. Higher deductibles means less claims so

insurers will charge you less. Since homeowner claims are few and far

between and you generally wouldn’t file a small claim, it’s best to keep this

as high as you could afford.

BE CAREFUL: A deductible is meant to be the highest amount out-of-pocket you could reasonably afford. If you set it higher than you can pay, you’ll

have much larger problems!

DON’T GET A STATE-ASSIGNED POLICY

Many states have special insurance programs for homeowners who

cannot find an insurance company willing to insure them.

Some agents can only write insurance for the company they work for or the state assigned plan and may steer you

into the state plan just because you do not qualify for their particular

company’s guidelines.

Work with an independent agency like ours that has access to several

property insurance carriers.

INSTALL DEADBOLT LOCK

Because of the obvious increased difficulty to break into a house

equipped with deadbolt locks on all the entrances, your insurance

company may offer a discount.

BE CAREFUL: Don’t tell your insurer you have deadbolt locks unless you really do, falsifying insurance rating information could result in a claim

being denied.

ASK ABOUT EMPLOYEE DISCOUNTS

Check with your independent insurance agent to see if your

employer has any affiliations with any particular insurance carriers.

BE CAREFUL: Just because a company does offer employees of your

company a discount, doesn’t mean it’s going to be the best deal overall.

IMPROVE YOUR CREDIT

Bad credit can make your premium increase and may even make you ineligible for certain companies.

Along with just about anything else in life, keeping a good credit history will

save you money.

If your credit has improved since the time you originally wrote your

homeowners insurance policy, why not reach out to your carrier and see

if they can re-run it.

BE CAREFUL: If you re-run credit and your score has gotten worse, you

could wind up paying more money!

PAY IN FULL

Insurance companies like to get all their money up front, since much of

their income comes from investments.

Because of this they usually charge more for paying month-to-month

than for paying in full.

Even if the premium cost is the same, some carriers charge installment fees

with each bill, which can raise your out of pocket in the end.

ASK ABOUT OCCUPATIONAL DISCOUNTS

Based on what you do for a living, some insurance companies may be

willing to offer you a discount.

If you changed jobs since the policy was written, you might be surprised

to find out.

Give us a call, we’ll be able to tell you.

MOVE CLOSE TO FIRE HYDRANTS AND FIRE STATIONS

You’ll pay more for insurance if you’re very far from a hydrant and/or very

far from the fire station.

Make sure your insurer has the correct information about how close the nearest hydrant is, and who the

responding fire department is.

You could live next to the fire station but if your insurer incorrectly thinks

the next town over would respond to your home, you’ll overpay for

insurance.

RAISE YOUR HURRICANE DEDUCTIBLE

In hurricane-prone areas, many insurance companies have a special deductible in the event of damage

caused by a hurricane. These deductibles are often a percent of the overall coverage amount. Raising the deductible by a percentage point or

two could save some money.

BE CAREFUL: Raising your hurricane deductible can result in a huge difference in your out-of-pocket expenses. On a $300,000 home, going from 3% to 5% hurricane

deductible could cost you an extra $6,000 out of pocket!

Sherzer & Associates - Orange City, FL

WellCoveredFlorida.comSherzer & Associates Insurance

1810 S Volusia Ave Ste D

Orange City, FL 32763

(386) 218-4951