Six ways to reduce your home insurance premiums

Your excess is the amount you contribute when you want to make a claim. Once your claim is accepted, your insurer covers the rest. For example, you’re paying $100 a month for home insurance when there’s an insured event, such as a fire. Your home is damaged in the fire, and it’s estimated to cost $100,000 to make the necessary repairs. According to your policy, you might need to pay $800 towards this claim – that’s an excess.

If you want to reduce your monthly $100 premium, you might be able to increase your basic excess within a given range, which could reduce your premium.¹ However, increasing your excess could also mean that you're less likely to make claims for small amounts. There's little point making a claim to replace a $500 window if the excess is $1,500 – you'll need to pay $1,500 to get $500 back. Before making a decision, consider the benefits and costs of increasing your excess to reduce your premium.

Try to make an accurate estimate of the replacement cost of your home building and your household contents. You may want to use Home Insurance Calculators as a guide to help you decide your sum insured.

If you overestimate the replacement costs, you’ll pay a higher premium but you’ll only receive the reasonable costs for repairs or replacements. If you underestimate your replacement costs you may not be able to replace the item for the amount it was insured under.

Home security is essential for many reasons, such as preventing an unwanted visitor from making off with your belongings. It can also mean reduced insurance premiums. That’s because your insurer may consider your home as being less at risk of a break in, so you’re less likely to make a claim. Installing security measures such as back to base alarms, may help to reduce your insurance premium as well as keep your home secure and your family safe.

When you’re researching where to buy a home, some of the considerations you need to think about are:

• Is there a risk of flood or bushfires?
• What are the crime rates in the area?
• Is there a risk of earthquakes (however remote)?

These are some of the factors that insurers use to calculate your insurance premium. So, investigating what risks your potential new home or neighbourhood might be subject to can be helpful.

Weigh up whether certain covers are essential for your circumstances. Review any optional covers on your Policy Schedule and decide whether they suit your current needs.

If you have separate Building and Contents covers, consider combining them. Did you know that you can save up to 10% when you buy both Building and Contents cover and combine them on the one Allianz Home Insurance policy?^2,3

There are many ways to reduce your insurance premiums. It pays to delve into the options available, and to find out how your insurer can help you.