Home Insurance

A person’s home is usually their most valuable investment, but if disaster strikes it can often be too expensive to set right. Similarly if there is a burglary or fire then contents need to be replaced very quickly. Home insurance deals with both these circumstances.

Home insurance companies offer different types of home insurance based on individual need. Home and buildings insurance will only cover the structure of the building. Home contents insurance will cover the furniture and other contents of the home if there is a flood, burglary or fire. Home business insurance is needed for those who conduct their business from home; it tends to be more expensive as there is wider public liability cover.

Home insurance is also offered on second homes and investment properties, and the rise of the property investment market has made holiday home insurance a growing market. Renters insurance is a type of home insurance that only covers contents and a restricted amount of damage that a tenant can be held liable for. Many landlords will insist that tenants take out renters insurance as a condition of letting out their property.

Getting cheap home insurance

Cheap home insurance is more available than it was before the internet became commonly available. Getting an online home insurance quote is now a simple matter of entering information into a website. Online comparison sites make it easy to get more than one home insurance quote in minutes. If users aggressively compare home insurance quotes then they can quickly get savings and shopping around is the most time effective way of cutting home insurance costs.

Deciding whether to cover contents and then what level of cover should be made is a very important part of getting affordable home insurance. Many people are over-insured with an excess that could easily be doubled or trebled without making it impossible to replace the goods from savings. Over time lowering insurance excesses can save thousands of dollars.

Simple security measures can drastically lower the long term cost of home insurance. These include fitting recognized locks to all doors, installing window locks, fitting recognized fire, smoke and burglar alarms and installing fences or walls. These measures will rarely pay for themselves the first time they are installed, but as a long term measure they do repay their investment.

Home Insurance Providers

There are a number of general insurance providers who specialize in offering home insurance and auto insurance. Unlike life insurance providers, home insurance providers are overwhelmingly profit making companies quoted on a stock exchange (usually the Toronto Stock Exchange). Some mutually owned life insurance companies are offering home insurance and are particularly strong in Quebec and in the group insurance sector, where affinity groups such as professional associations and trade unions get preferential rates for financial services. A number of banks have recently made a concerted effort to offer home insurance to their customers through direct sales, and of all the domestic insurance sectors banks have been the most successful in selling home insurance.

Home insurance should not be confused with mortgage insurance. Home insurance will not cover mortgage payments, and this is offered mainly by a crown corporation owned by the Canadian government.