Saturday, May 2, 2009

Low Cost Home Owners Insurance In Richmond Virginia

By Chimezirim Odimba

There are a good number of options open to everyone who wants low cost Richmond Virginia homeowner insurance. But at the same time, a number of methods people adopt in order to cut cost actually make them get less than adequate coverage. But in this article, I'll share several time-tested tips for paying less and at the same time maintain adequate coverage. Here they are...

1.Your credit history will make you spend more or less. You'll attract higher homeowners' insurance rates if you have a low credit rating. A bad credit rating suggests that you've not been paying your bills in a timely fashion. An insurer interprets this to mean that you're not financially very responsible and will possibly default in paying your rates. This makes you a higher risk to them and you, therefore, are made to pay much more than someone else with similar profile that has a very good rating.

So do your utmost to clear all your bills in a timely manner. Apart from the other benefits in doing so, it will help you get lower Richmond homeowner insurance rates.

2.Government home insurance policies could really be costing you more than what you can now get with private insurers. Natural disasters in certain areas made it very hard for folks there to get home insurance coverage. Then it was only the government's policy that was available to them. The story is just different now as private insurers have started to cover such regions.

Depending on your location, though, you might still have no better choice but to buy government homeowner's insurance. Nevertheless, this isn't always true as you may get better coverage at a cheaper price from some private insurers.

3.Smoking increases the risk of a fire in your house. And reports have it that over 23,000 residential fire annually are as a result of smoking. Do all within your power to make sure no one smokes in your home and you'll get cheaper premiums. If you quit smoking successfully for up to 13 months, tell your agent and demand for a well-deserved discount. If your insurer refuses to lower your rate after you've stopped, look for another insurance company.

4.Shatter-proof windows will get you some savings. So replace your regular windows with these especially if you live in areas that are troubled by high winds and hail storms. Always remember to brief your agent whenever you take a step like this. It might benefit you more if you discuss this with your agent first to have an idea of what savings you will get if you do this before you start off in the first place.

5.There are exclusions in your home insurance policy. Do you know them? Note that you won't get compensated for things that are excluded from your policy.

While paying affordable home owner insurance is interesting, it's only when the cheaper rates do not leave you compromised. No matter how cheap a policy is, it is NOT worth much if it doesn't give you with enough coverage. Do NOT wait until you file a claim to discover that you actually did NOT have the coverage you needed.

6. You'll save much if you do shop around and do proper comparison. The range of quotes received per query could be as wide as $1,000 for a particular person. Notwithstanding that this is a good thing, it's important that you don't get too excited yet. It's not usually that easy if you're after the best price to value ratio. The cheapest price may not give you the best price/value. Although each of the quotes returned will certainly give you the same main coverage, there could be a number of differences in the details of each insurer's coverage. This makes it important that you find out if there aren't any exclusions you won't like. Don't forget to treat these no-obligation quotes as their name implies. Don't feel you have to pay unless you've had all your questions answered satisfactorily. You will be spared rude surprises down the road if you do this.

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