Top 10 Ways To Save On Your Texas Home Insurance!

Now that you know the basics of a Texas home insurance policy, here are 10 ways to lower your rate. In many cases, you can get the same level of coverage for a lower rate.

One Insurer, Multiple Insurance Policies!

Is your Houston auto insurance insured with the same company that provides your Texas homeowners insurance?
If your answer is no, you are paying too much for both policies. Almost every Texas insurance company that sells home insurance wants its policyholder to purchase Texas car insurance from them as well.
These Texas insurance companies offer multiple policy discounts.
These discounts can be as much as 27%. Some insurance carriers offer discounts for packaging two or more Texas vehicles, homeowner, renter, flood or Houston business insurance policies.

Think about lowering your deductible to lower your rate!

The deductible is the amount you pay before insurance kicks in if you file a claim.
For example, if you have a $500 deductible and you file a claim for $1,500 in damage to your home, you pay the first $500 and your insurer pays the balance, $1,000.
The lower the deductible you choose, the higher your rate will be.
However, the higher your deductible, the lower your policy rate will be.
Depending on the Texas insurance company, you can save between 12% and 37% if you have a deductible of $1,000 to $5,000.

Insurance companies offer better rates for newer homes!

Insurance carriers prefer newer homes.
The reason why is because new homes are less likely to have problems with the electrical, heating and plumbing systems.
In addition, the structure of the home itself is also in better shape.
Insurance companies offer discounts as high as 8% to 15% for new home purchases.

Location is a major factor in determining your insurance rate!

Where do you live and what is the construction type of your house?
If you live along the costal areas of Texas, it is better from a Independent Houston insurance agents perspective to have a brick veneer or masonry residence because such structure have a greater resistance to wind damage.
The right structure in the right region can save you 5% to 15% on your annual rate.
Further, if your home is near a fire station, you will pay less for your Texas home insurance policy.
If you live in an area that is prone to flooding, you may be required to buy a Texas flood insurance policy.
If you are not required to buy Houston flood insurance and still live in a flood prone area, you may want to buy a low cost flood policy for your protection.
Remember your Texas home insurance policy will not provide coverage for losses arising from flooding.

Only insure the cost of your house itself not the land!

Nobody is going to steal your land.
Fire and high winds will not destroy your land.
So, when deciding how much homeowners coverage to buy, do not include the value of the land.
You should only insure the value of the house and any other buildings on the property.
If you have included the value of the land on your policy, you are paying too much.

There is no reason to insure more than you own!

Each year, you should review your policy with your agent to see what coverage you have for your possessions.
If you have made any major purchases, you will probably want to increase your limits of coverage.
On the other hand if you sell some of your possessions you may not need as much coverage.
Pay particular attention to items that may need to be covered by endorsements or floaters.
You may need to request special endorsements on your policy, for items such as jewelry, expensive art or fancy computer equipment.

It is always better to be safe than sorry!

Smoke detectors, burglar alarms and deadbolt locks are usually worth discounts of at least 5%.
You can receive discounts as high as 20%, if you install a indoor sprinkler system or an alarm system that reports directly to a police station or a security company.
Before you install a sophisticated protection system, check with your insurer to find out what type of systems qualify for the greatest discounts.

Where there is smoke there is fire!

Smoking produces more than 23,000 residential fires in this country each year.
That is why some insurance companies offer discounts if all the residents in a home are non-smokers.

Learn about the different group discounts available!

Some insurers offer discounts to certain businesses or alumni associations.
If you are a member of such an association or associations, ask the directors of the associations if there are any insurance companies providing discounts to members.

The longer you stick with one insurance company the more you are rewarded!

If you have been with an insurance company for a while and you like that company, stay put.
Some insurance companies automatically have discounts for a policyholder who has been with a company for a certain number of years.
Depending on the company you may see discounts such as, 5% after 3 years, 10% after five years and so on.