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Email this10:04 pm
October 21, 2016
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I thought to start a thread where people could share tips/ideas they came up with in order to pay less on insurance.
Changing insurance companies every 7-10 years has been for me the most efficient way to save money on insurance. I'm using a broker who has access to a dozen insurance companies and what I have observed is that gradually and slowly, the insurance company will keep on increasing my premiums even though I have no claim and a perfect driving record.
I call insurance companies directly and get quotes that are lower than what I am paying. Then I call my broker and say find me something cheaper or I am taking my business elsewhere. And they do find me something much cheaper.
I was with Wawanesa and every year they were increasing my premiums even though I had no claim and a perfect driving record. And the increases were quite substantial. I recently switched to Travelers after I called my broker to complain and Traveler's is doing the same thing. They start you with low premiums and then they gradually and constantly increase your premiums while hoping you won't be smart enough to notice the year-over-year increase. I do agree Travelers premiums saved me about $1.5K compared with Wawanesa, but getting a 10% increase in a year was not welcome. So I sent an email to my broker telling her I was not happy with the 10% increase. And lo and behold, no more 10% increase on my vehicles. Good thing Travelers was listening, or I would have dumped them after using them for 2 years.
Another thing I did is remove the coverage for water damage to my house. I live in an area were sewer backup has never been an issue. I finished my basement (drywall and all) so I can fix damages if ever water were to seep through the walls (highly unlikely as my house is 10 years old). I was paying $500/year just to protect myself from water damage. I figured in 10 years that's $5K and for $5K I could re-do the whole basement in drywall!!! So it made sense for me to remove this coverage.
What have you come up with in order to reduce your premiums?
P.S. A word of advice: When going away on vacation and there will be nobody home, ALWAYS go to the basement and shut off the main water valve. Why? A three year old toilet tank in my house decided to develop a hairline crack and water was seeping. Fortunately I was home and found out a few hours later.
Since a toilet tank is always kept 'full', any leak will always be replaced and you could end up with thousands of litres of water leaking from the first or second floor of your house. Water can almost do as much damages as fire.
6:04 am
May 24, 2016
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Great ideas Justme2016. I applaud your acumen.
9:13 am
February 18, 2016
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Shopping for car/house insurance is a must as you can really save a bundle. And do not believe insurance companies when they tell that being loyal matters. It does not. Period. Try one of those services checking multiple companies and see. Insurance agent confirmed, too.
I had group insurance. Paid about 2K/year (car/house). Then I did shopping around and now I pay 1.5K. Identical coverage. Drawback is I had to pay lump sum instead of monthly (losing 2% tang cash-back).
Water damage coverage; interesting... for me it is just 75/year extra.
For car, unless it is brand spanking new, go with mandatory coverage only. Leasing? You will pay more.
As for the 'P.S. A word of advice: When going away on vacation and there will be nobody home, ALWAYS go to the basement and shut off the main water valve.' that is very sound advise. To add, I suggest adding 'shark byte' valve after main shut off inside the house. It is kind of difficult to shut off water outside the house in modern houses otherwise I would have replaced that rotating junk long time ago.
I did add sharkbyte valve myself. Yes, little bit nerve wracking cutting main water pipe but installation can be done by 10 years old kid and it Really holds with no leaks at all. And added one more into pipe leading to outdoor (garden). Now, just a twist of a lever shuts water. Highly recommend.
9:18 am
April 7, 2017
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Consider upping your deductible to $1000 for more savings.
If you have a monitored alarm weigh out the cost of monitoring vs the insurance savings for monitored vs not monitored. If you can go with non monitored then look at going voip (ie. VoIP.ms) for home phone vs your telco. That can be in my case, another $240 annual savings.
9:19 am
December 17, 2016
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JustMe2016 & SavingIsGood said
As for the 'P.S. A word of advice: When going away on vacation and there will be nobody home, ALWAYS go to the basement and shut off the main water valve.' that is very sound advise.
Every house insurance policy I've had INSISTS you have someone check your home every 48 hours to be sure nothing is wrong . failure to comply can void your policy and your claim. Check the fine print, always.
10:02 am
October 21, 2016
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Cranston said
Consider upping your deductible to $1000 for more savings.
I did one better after being stupid for a few years. I own 3 vehicles but only use 2 all year round (the third unused sits in my garage - I alternate winter/spring to fall between two vehicles). For a few years I was paying premiums for the whole year on both. No more. The one not used is not insured.
P.S. Make sure to use a second method of attachment to secure the motor of your electric garage door opener. You wouldn't want to take the chance it falls on your car while there is no coverage 
10:16 am
October 21, 2016
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Top It Up said
Every house insurance policy I've had INSISTS you have someone check your home every 48 hours to be sure nothing is wrong . failure to comply can void your policy and your claim. Check the fine print, always.
The policies I've seen stipulate once every 4 days in winter (I guess to make sure heating system is ok). In any case, a leaking toilet on the second floor could do more than $10K of damages in less than 24 hours!
Which reminds me: When going away on vacation in winter, I STRONGLY suggest in addition to shutting off the main valve in the basement, DRAIN ALL YOUR PIPES!!!
If you have a tub in the basement (that will make it very easy on you), drain all the pipes so that if ever the furnace shuts down in winter while you are away and the temp inside your house drops below zero, the pipes won't burst because the water inside the pipes froze and expanded. If you don't have a tub, you could A) install a valve with a drain, or B) drain your hot water tank. If you decide on B) I suggest you attach a garden hose to the drain valve of your tank otherwise you will be carrying many buckets of water.
P.S. BEFORE DRAINING YOUR WATER TANK, make sure to unplug the power to your tank!!!!! If it is natural gas, you are supposed to shut off the gas valve to the tank and then unplug it from the electric outlet, but I have never bothered shutting off the gas on the few occasions I drained the tank (I have a tub in my basement to drain the pipes). I go to the electric panel of the house and switch off the breaker for the water tank (the water tank has its own 15 amps breaker).
10:46 am
April 7, 2017
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JustMe2016 said
I did one better after being stupid for a few years. I own 3 vehicles but only use 2 all year round (the third unused sits in my garage - I alternate winter/spring to fall between two vehicles). For a few years I was paying premiums for the whole year on both. No more. The one not used is not insured.
P.S. Make sure to use a second method of attachment to secure the motor of your electric garage door opener. You wouldn't want to take the chance it falls on your car while there is no coverage
Since you mentioned garage door opener.......while not an insurance savings.....but a ounce of break in prevention. A lot of us consider the garage door to be enough security to feel comfortable to "not lock" the garage entry door to your home. So take a look at a real easy security option that could prevent theft in the garage or home https://youtu.be/MnadsRjWb-0
11:00 am
October 21, 2016
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Cranston said
Since you mentioned garage door opener.......while not an insurance savings.....but a ounce of break in prevention. A lot of us consider the garage door to be enough security to feel comfortable to "not lock" the garage entry door to your home. So take a look at a real easy security option that could prevent theft in the garage or home https://youtu.be/MnadsRjWb-0
Good reminder to people. I did that a few years ago (garage doors). My house also has Abloy locks requiring a key on both sides. When dealing with criminals, the goal is to always make their lives as difficult and unpleasant as possible.
If you want to add a level of security to your life, consider getting ALL your mail sent to a mail box, like in a post office. So if some criminals get your mails redirected to another address instead of your home address, they won't be getting any mail at all until, of course, your driver's license or license plate renewal is due. But that's so far apart that they will have moved on to another target.
9:02 pm
January 3, 2013
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Great tips. Thanks for sharing. I don't have more to add except increase your deductible and shop around every year (specially if they increase the premium) which you already mentioned.
1:55 pm
October 21, 2016
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If you look two posts above this one you will see that 10 days ago I wrote;
"If you want to add a level of security to your life, consider getting ALL your mail sent to a mail box, like in a post office. So if some criminals get your mails redirected to another address instead of your home address, they won't be getting any mail at all until, of course, your driver's license or license plate renewal is due. But that's so far apart that they will have moved on to another target."
And here is why.
"There was also $39,000 cash, 37 credit cards and hundreds of pieces of allegedly stolen mail among the items seized "
"Police allege the group stole pieces of mail, including bank statements, and that they were were in possession of the personal information of approximately 5,000 GTA residents."
2:03 pm
December 17, 2016
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I just received a new CC yesterday - delivered direct to my house-attached mailbox and, similarly received the needed PIN today - no problems, no paranoia involved.
4:49 pm
October 21, 2013
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Top It Up said
I just received a new CC yesterday - delivered direct to my house-attached mailbox and, similarly received the needed PIN today - no problems, no paranoia involved.
There never was any "paranoia" involved in any of the above comments.
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