We’ve all heard the adage that you shouldn’t put all your eggs in one basket. Does that hold true for Insurance as well? You have a home, vehicles, a family to protect and a lot of questions. What can be bundled together in a package? Will it save you money? Or would you be better off shopping for each line of insurance individually?

You may be eligible for a multi-policy discount with significant savings. For most insurance companies, the largest available discount is the multi-policy discount when bundling home and auto insurance. In some cases, bundling your vehicles with your homeowners or adding life insurance can save as much as 20% meaning lower premiums and savings for you.

Commonly, when you own more than one vehicle and a house it pays to shop around. At the very least, call your current insurance agent to quote all your insurance needs. Carefully review how much the combined overall price would cost. Review on either a monthly or annual basis, if you add up the cost of Auto + Home + RV + Life + Bike = combined overall price. Typically, it saves you money to bundle but not always.

When getting quotes and shopping around, knowing the deductible amount provided in the quote is a MUST. It is shocking to know how little your payment increases when lowering your deductible. You may be able to snag a lower deductible by simply asking your agent the price difference between your available deductible options.

When you need to file a claim and use the insurance service you’ve been paying for, your out of pocket cost would be lower. Let’s say your current homeowners insurance deductible is $2,000. Today you call your agent and discover that it would only cost an additional $100 a year to lower your deductible from $2,000 down to $1,000. Let’s say you decide to move forward with the lower deductible and six months down the road a windstorm rips off your roof. If it is agreed that it would cost $5,000 to replace your roof, you would be much happier knowing your out of pocket cost is $1,000 instead of $2,000.

If you get a bundle solely for pricing, you may be sacrificing quality of coverage and protection. Be sure to look through your current policy to see what you have and review with the quote you’d be getting. Double check your deductibles to make sure they’re affordable. If not, it’s advisable to keep shopping. It’s prudent to read through the policy yourself especially when starting over with a new carrier. Although you want to get a great price, you don’t want to risk not having proper coverage in the event of a catastrophe.

Don’t get suckered-in just on price alone. A good agent or insurance company will help you customize your policies to best meet your insurance goals and needs. Remember your special policy features, endorsements and riders.

When getting quotes based on low pricing, keep in mind, each insurance company has different claim pay out minimum and/or maximum limitations for certain items. If you are an avid art collector, ask your insurance agent how much is covered in the event of a fire that results in your art work being destroyed. Certain items such as jewelry, art work, firearms, sports memorabilia and similar collectible items have payout maximum limits. For example, if your house burned down, at the time of the fire you owned more than $20,000 in art work, when the claims adjuster explains that the maximum claim payout on your policy for art work is $5,000 you would be $15,000 short of what you owned and should have been covered for.

None of us want to sit around thinking about our homes being lost to a fire, reality is that house fires occur. The cost to replace your home and personal belongings are more likely to be higher than what you originally purchased the house for.

Our in-house agent Ben Jacoby cares about your protection and saving you money. If you’ve got questions about your homeowners policy or would like to get a quote please give us a call at (614) 891-9000.