Is Your Insurance Policy Ready for the New Year? Part 1 - Homeowners Insurance

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Do your New Year’s resolutions get you results? Let’s face it: For most people, they don’t. Instead, New Year’s resolutions only kick off yet another year of good intentions mixed with less-than-great execution. Whether it’s getting in shape, being smarter about money, or making progress toward a long-held goal, New Year’s resolutions can be hard to do right. That’s because most people’s resolutions are too giant, nebulous, and fraught with psychological peril.

So we’d like to venture a helpful suggestion: This year, why not start with a New Year’s goal that’s small, manageable, and achievable in mere minutes? Conveniently, it fits in the “being smarter about your money” category. Start the year by reshopping your homeowners and auto insurance policies, seeing if you can save money on insurance and taking stock of where you’re at. (This is part one, focused on homeowners insurance. Part two covers car insurance.)

Okay, so saving on insurance isn’t a terribly sexy, shiny, or readily Insta-braggable New Year’s resolution. But reshopping your insurance IS way easier than you think. And we can silence pretty much all of the usual hesitations we hear — namely “don’t know how,” “don’t wanna,” and “don’t want to do any difficult or time-consuming paperwork” — because our technology platform genuinely makes the process simple, easy to understand, and painless, and because there are loads of compelling reasons why you should shop around for insurance. Let us explain.

4 Reasons Why You Should Reshop Your Homeowners Insurance

1. You Probably Haven’t

Over the past decade, survey after survey has shown that many American homeowners simply don’t bother to reshop their insurance policies. In aggregate, survey results show that up to one-third of us don’t shop around for insurance. That’s a heap of people leaving an even bigger heap of potential homeowners insurance savings on the table. Are you one of these people?

We’re happy to tell you: You’re already better than one of those people. After all, you’re here getting educated, aren’t you?

2. You May Not Understand Your Coverage

Poring over homeowners insurance policy language isn’t everyone’s idea of a good time. (We know we’re a little special over here at Covered.) When you bought your policy, you may not have invested a ton of time in understanding exactly what coverage you bought. This is an especially common malaise for first-time homeowners.

Do you know how your deductible works? Do you know if you have different deductibles for different types of coverage? Do you understand which hazards are excluded? Do you know if you have coverage for the hazards common in your area? Many homeowners assume they’re covered where they’re not.

3. Maybe You Have More or Less Coverage Than You Need

Underinsurance is a woefully common problem. Sadly, so is overinsurance. If you’re underinsured, you could end up on the hook for major financial losses and out-of-pocket expenses. If you’re overinsured, you could be throwing perfectly good money into the wind. You know, money you could be saving or spending elsewhere. (Does that money look pretty flying needlessly in the wind? It does not.)

4. Maybe It’s Time to Rethink Your Deductible

Our financial circumstances change alongside the ups and downs of our lives and careers. Debt, savings, and monthly expenses vary over time. Things like job changes, injuries, extended illnesses, or auto accidents can set you back. Really great stuff, too, can mean depleted savings or increased monthly expenses — like paying for that amazing vacation, wedding, new baby, new business, fancy hairless cat, or fancy hairless car.

Is the homeowners insurance deductible you chose five years ago still the right choice for you today? Your deductible isn’t set in stone. While taking that higher homeowners insurance deductible can be risky, it can also get you a lower rate that increases short-term insurance savings. That’s why it may make sense to increase or decrease your deductible from year to year, so that it better fits your financial circumstances.

3 (BIG!) Potential Benefits of Reshopping Your Insurance

1. Save Money on Insurance

Why should you reshop your homeowners insurance? The most obvious reason: You may be able to save money on insurance…

  • Due to changing rates. Insurers’ financial circumstances change, too. Market conditions fluctuate, and insurers need to stay competitive and profitable. Hoping to find the right balance between attracting new customers and covering their risks, insurance companies change their rates from year to year. Those changing rates could mean insurance savings for you.
  • Due to new discounts. New homeowners insurance discounts may have become available since you signed up. Also, your changing circumstances may qualify you for different discounts.
  • Due to bundling. Speaking of discounts: Many insurers offer discounts for bundling different insurance policies. This may or may not make financial sense for you, but it’s worth checking.

Unless you shop around for new homeowners insurance quotes, you won’t know about any of these possibilities. Remember, insurers need to stay both competitive and profitable — which is why they’re not going to automatically pass any rate savings on to you. They may even increase your rates over time, sliding in the changes during annual policy renewal.

Saving on insurance isn’t difficult. Annually reshopping your insurance is all it takes.

2. Genuinely Understand Your Coverage

Reshopping your insurance can be a great way to fix misunderstandings about your homeowners insurance coverage. For example, Covered’s insurance quoting tool makes it easy to understand your coverage options. Side-by-side comparisons help you quickly see how policies differ, and clickable tooltips provide quick explanations for terms you may not understand.

Best of all, your expert Covered insurance advisor can (via phone or chat) explain the ins and outs of your coverage, help you weigh pros and cons, answer your questions, and help you uncover insurance savings. After all, as our motto goes, “Insurance shouldn’t be complicated.” (Hey, wouldn’t that make a fantastic tattoo? No?) Our only interest — the reason we get out of bed everyday! — is to help you find the right coverage for the best price.

Oh, hold up. Did you not know that Covered is a genuinely independent and objective third party in this equation? As we help you navigate different options from a range of insurers, we’re totally unbiased in our guidance and advice. We’re all about transparency, education, and empowering YOU.

3. Fine-Tune Your Coverage

Reshopping is also a fantastic way to fine-tune your homeowners insurance coverage. The fine-tuning process helps you address any gaps and make sure your coverage genuinely fits your needs TODAY. Remember those changing circumstances we talked about?

In addition, the value and costs surrounding the stuff you’re insuring are also changing. Over time, your home changes in value. So does the cost to repair or rebuild it in the event of damage, given the changing costs and demand for labor and materials where you live. Your personal property — aka the stuff you keep in your home, also covered by homeowners insurance — similarly depreciates over time.

Make This Your Easiest New Year’s Resolution to Keep

The biggest insurance lesson worth remembering in the New Year? There are many potential benefits to be gained from reshopping your insurance. There are exactly zero benefits to be gained from doing nothing. Also, when it comes to figuring out whether you can save money on insurance, we’re seriously talking mere minutes of your time.

So what are you waiting for? If you’ve decided that one of your New Year’s resolutions is to be smarter about your money, reshopping your homeowners insurance policy is an easy, painless way to stick to that resolution. Insurance savings may be closer than you think. Adulting win, kicking the year off right!

Seriously, why wait to feel all smart and self-satisfied? Get new homeowners insurance quotes today. If you’d prefer to start by taking a long, hard long look at your existing policy, we’re happy to do a free policy review. Give us a call at (833) 487-2683 or send us a message.

Cover Photo by Jude Beck on Unsplash