Good, Better, Best Money-Saving Ideas: Insurance

We're continuing our series from Yahoo on "Good, Better, and Best Money Saving Ideas". Again, the ground rules:

We asked experts to provide a simple tip that will easily save money (good), another tip that might take a little more time or effort but which will save more money (better), and a more extreme tip that will help readers save the most -- but which would require the most thought or effort (best).

Here is what Yahoo names as good, better, and best ideas when it comes to buying insurance:

Good: "Call your insurance agent to find if you qualify for any discounts," says Kay. For example, car insurance companies often offer discounts for nonsmokers, good drivers -- even nondrinkers. If you keep your vehicle in a closed garage instead of a carport or driveway, you might qualify for a discount. For a homeowner's or renter's policy, you might get discounts for having an alarm system, smoke alarms and more.

Better: Get competitive quotes. "Most people don't," says Kay. "Especially homeowners. It's tied up in escrow and paid through their mortgage payments and it automatically renews every year." It's never too late to get competitive bids on any insurance product.

Best: Increase your deductible, says Kay. Although this means you could pay more out of pocket in the event of a car accident or fire in your home, you can save a significant amount of money by not expecting the insurance company to cover every small loss.

We do all of these. We always re-quote our insurance at every rate increase to make sure we're getting the best deal.

Click here to read Good, Better, Best Money-Saving Ideas: Utilities.

Comments

[Tarah]

Sorry, I don't have a good/better/best, but I know that if you have whole life insurance that's over 15 years old, you can transfer it into a Single Premium Whole Life and you can usually get the same amount, if not more, Life insurance without making payments ever. I know that because I'm an insurance agent.