Consumer Insurance Information: Cutting The Costs Of Coverage

[The following is a guest post on behalf of Virgin Money]

Consumer insurance information is something that we all need to have; it might not be the most scintillating of subjects, but it’s an important one as without it, and the proper policies, you could find yourself in a bit of trouble if you were ever to have an accident.

Let’s take home contents insurance and car insurance as two examples – these are both vital types of consumer insurance and contribute a significant amount to household costs, so it’s worth looking at ways we can reduce the cost of them wherever possible.

Choose Your Policy Wisely

Telling you to ‘choose your policy wisely’ might sound like obvious advice, but you’d be surprised how many people don’t actually give that much thought to the matter. It can be a good idea to sit down and list everything you’re looking for from your home insurance and car insurance, so you know which policies best meet your needs.

For instance, are there any high-value items in your house that you want specific cover for on your contents insurance? Do you want to get cover in case you lose your car keys? Armed with this information, you’ll be able to make a much better choice of policy.

Also, it’s worth looking at what comes as standard and what as extra on various policies. For example, some car insurance companies might offer breakdown cover as standard, while others might have it as an extra.

You shouldn’t automatically go for the most comprehensive standard cover, either; this may well provide you with the best deal in some circumstances, but other times it might be worth your while to choose a more basic standard policy and then build it up with extras that meet your needs. This way, you can often save money and get exactly what you want.

Input Accurate Consumer Insurance Information

Providing insurance companies with accurate information is also important and can save you money. Again, this is one of those things that sound obvious but many people actually give their insurance companies inaccurate quotes that lead to them paying more than they need to for cover.

The Importance Of Precise Consumer Insurance Information

Let’s take home insurance as an example. The buildings insurance component of this is based on how much it would cost to rebuild your house in the event of it being completely destroyed. It’s important to note that this is different from the sale value of your house; however, many people overestimate the value and so end up paying over the odds for buildings cover.

Over-estimating the value of possessions can also bump up home insurance and being too generous with the number of miles you drive can also increase your car insurance.

The important thing, then, is that you provide an accurate quote so you can get insurance cover that meets your needs without costing more than it needs to.

Do Price Comparisons

Finally, don’t be satisfied with the first quote you get. Shop around for the best deals. In the old days, it might have taken quite a while to get seven or eight insurance quotes for you to compare, but now you can do it really quickly online – so you can save time and money if you’re lucky.

photo by Renjith Krisnan