Welcome to this week’s money makeover which will help you make sure you have the best deal possible for any Insurance you pay for. In case you missed the first few money makeover posts, I’m writing a post every Monday with different ways to save money on everything you pay for and more…. I’m going to leave you each week with some homework or a change to make in your budget so please do join in where you can and hopefully, you’ll be saving money in no time. Also, I’ll make sure that I add the links to the other posts at the bottom of the new post each week so you can go back to the start if you want to start afresh.
So, by now you *should* know what your monthly budget is and we’ve talked about how to deal with any debt that you have so now it’s time to start looking at the other things you spend money on each month and see where you can save. The first thing we’re going to look at is Insurance.
Most of us have insurance for something – building, pet, contents, motor, gadget, boiler, travel, illness, breakdown cover…. I could go on but I know you get the picture.
I’m not a financial advisor so I can’t comment on what you do and don’t need cover for but what I can tell you is how I get the best deal for the different types of insurance that we pay for each month.
First of all, whenever I get a renewal letter through from any of my insurance providers, I NEVER renew automatically. I know that my house insurance is due for renewal next month and as soon as I get the renewal letter with next year’s premium on it, I’ll see if I can get it cheaper by switching insurers.
It’s not difficult to do – I go to a site like Money Supermarket or Go Compare and I enter all of the relevant details and find out what sort of prices other companies are charging for the level of cover that I want. I don’t click through to any of the sites at this point though, I just write the cheapest prices.
Next I go to a cash back website like TopCashBack or Quidco and search for each of the companies on my list to see what, if any, cash back is being offered. I write the cash back amount next to the premium I can see if any of the other companies beat the renewal price with my existing supplier.
If there’s any that make it worth my while changing then I cancel my existing policy and take out a new one with a different company – I always make sure that the level of cover is exactly what I need though as it’s not really saving money if I’m losing cover that I may need in the future.
There are so many different companies providing insurance these days that you’re bound to make a saving!
This week, have a quick play and see if you can get an insurance policy for less. Even if it’s not due for renewal have a five minute play with the above sites to see how much you could save by doing this whenever you have a policy due for renewal.
Previous week’s Money Makeover posts
Week One – Money Makeover Introduction
Week Two – Sort our your spending
Week Three – Dealing with Debt
Discover more from The Diary of a Frugal Family
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
Great post…most of us are guilty of buying insurance and just paying the bills as they come. Not only are we losing potential savings, some may be under insuring ourselves by not re-evaluating our family situation and/or policies periodically. I will be calling my insurance company this coming week. Thanks for the reminder and motivation.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AUQ8x9Hzyec victoria home insurance Really love the content on your site and have picked up a few new things here. Keep it up, I’ll be returning to your site.
Thanks for this reminder. It's on my list for this week to call round all of our insurance and utilities providers. I'm convinced we could save a small fortune if I just put the time in.
Thanks for this, and for running the series. I need to start taking more note of these tips; I try to be frugal, but from what I have read here and the other posts.; I am not doing as much as I could. Thanks for joining in with the Parenting Pin it Party xx
I have to admit my husband deals with all of this so I kind of dont have a clue!! I should probably know just in case of emergencies!
I'm a bit ashamed to say this but Tom deals with all this in our house! I need to point him to this post! x
I always check to see if I can get a cheaper deal, you can normally save a bit of money that way 🙂
I never use the renewal quote, this year a got a great deal with Lloyds through Money Supermarket.Definitely worth checking these sites!
Great advice. I adore cashback sites – they always give me a nice pot of money that I save for Christmas x
In the bank the other day a cashier suggested I got personal insurance now that I am a mum… it terrified me almost as much as discovering I was going to be a mum! It seems like such a grown up thing to do, but good to have these tips for when I finally suck it up and take the insurance plunge.
I love the comparison websites, they make things so much easier 🙂
I really like your money makeover series. It makes so much sense and can help so many people. We shopped around for insurance whenever we needed it, but unfortunately the medical insurance, which is the most expensive one is here to stay as moving now will not cover our son's condition.
But for those without these worries, shopping around is always the answer!
Another great post Cass – they rely on people like us who often don't have or make the time to shop around. Recently we have been though saved a fortune on utilities and phone (our business is at home), the insurance is up for renewal in May. I'll be looking around 🙂
Never auto-renew is our mantra as well. They charge a fortune that way. Helps to go through comparison websites.
Another great tip! We have no insurance what so ever so this is a kick up the butt for me. Something i'm going to be sorting out asap x
I really need to do an overhaul on insurance I have to admit I haven't done one on many things in a while – I did do home insurance last year and I saved so much! x
I always compare prices but never thought to check cash back sites. Thanks for the tip!
We do just what you've suggested, it's amazing how much lower a quote can be if you get a new quote, instead of using the renewal quote!!!
These are great tips. Please do remember however that, when chanign insurers, you may be dnied coverage for certain thigns like pre-existing ocnditions on health insurance etc. I think you covered that when you sid you make sure you get the coverage you need, but this is one big reason I'v enever switched healht insurers.