If you’re a new or first-time homeowner, you are probably still parsing through all the various responsibilities and options available to you – there’s so many different things to look into, from warranties and extra protections, as well as the various different types of insurance and more. It can be hard to know what to choose, when everyone seems to have a different opinion and so many different companies are all vying for your business.
The truth is, there’s no need to go above and beyond and pay for a bunch of extra bells and whistles when it comes to fancy home warranties and pricey, customized insurance plans from third parties. Many of those fancy offers you get in the mail everyday are just elaborate advertisements for things you don’t need. The warranty that you bought when you purchased the home is just fine, and when it comes to your insurance, well, that can be just as simple.
One option for many homeowners is to bundle their home and auto insurance. Why would you do this? For starters, it streamlines your insurance policies into one bill, making it easier to keep up with and pay your bills on time. Rather than worrying about two separate bills that are likely due at two separate times, making it harder to keep up with and clogging up your mailbox, you’ll have just one policy, incorporating both home and auto. If you’re like most homeowners, you’re eager to free up time and money everywhere you can. Bundling your insurance plan can do just that, and what’s more: it can save you a lot of money. As with most bundling options, you’ll get deep discounts on your policy and end up paying a lot less than you would with two different policies.
Some homeowners have different companies for both their auto insurance and home insurance. That’s an inconvenience that just doesn’t make any sense. Bundling is beneficial in so many different ways, there’s simply no reason not to do it.
Below are a few of the many benefits to bundling your home and auto insurance:
Saving Money
As we mentioned above, bundling your auto and home insurance policies can save you some serious cash. Most bundled policies can save homeowners up to 30%, sometimes more, when they bundle these services. You can also take advantage of deeper discounts and incentives that will give you better plans that you’d otherwise pay for, for cheaper rates. These incentives can see you get a boost in coverage for less money than you’d otherwise pay for a basic plan. Plus, having these two insurance policies covered under one monthly payment will help you budget, too, making the entire process of paying your insurance bill easier.
Many insurance companies will also up your insurance policy to include a higher dollar amount of coverage when you agree to bundle your plans, giving you added protection that is well worth it.
Extra Liability
Most insurance companies offer customers extra liability coverage when they agree to bundle their insurance policies. It’s just a nice little incentive that will greatly benefit you. Get the benefits of a full coverage policy while paying what you’d normally pay for liability.
Extra Coverage
With a bundled policy, you can often add extra coverage options that would otherwise not be available to you, or that would cost quite a bit extra. With a bundled policy, these are easily added on for no additional cost, in many cases.
One Deductible
In the event of some unforeseen circumstance or accident that damages both your home and your vehicle, your insurance policy will not charge you a deductible for both; instead, you’ll only be charged the one deductible for your insurance policy.
Loss of Use Protection
Many auto insurance plans do not include loss of use protection, or if they do, it’s generally quite an expensive add-on. With a bundle policy, loss of use protection will be available to you, affordably. Loss of use protection is important because it provides you with a rental car or alternate means of travel if you’re in an accident or if your car is damaged in some way and undriveable. Many insurance policies do not guarantee this, even if you’re not at fault. Having loss of use protection makes sure that you’re always covered with an alternate means of travel, no matter who is at fault.
Accident Forgiveness Protection
Accident forgiveness protection is nothing new; many policies offer this for drivers who were at fault in a recent accident, but generally have a good driving record. However, adding these protections to your policy can be pretty expensive. With a bundled home insurance plan, accident forgiveness protection is much more affordable, often less than $10 extra per month. And as always, most insurance policies offer discounts and cheaper rates for drivers who have a very good driving record (i.e. no accidents, tickets etc).
Water Damage Protection
40% of home damages are caused by water issues, such as flooding, weather, or pipe damage/failure. And yet, so many home insurance policies do not have adequate water damage coverage. Either the policies don’t go as far as they should towards covering certain types of water damage, or they only pay out to a certain amount. How does that help the homeowner?
Bundled home insurance plans can help you get adequate – as in full – water damage coverage so that you can rest assured that your home is protected no matter what happens.
Identity Theft Protection
When you think of home and auto, you may not automatically think of identity theft, but the truth is, having your identity breached and/or stolen is very much an issue that affects your status as a homeowner and vehicle operator. When someone steals your identity, they can drive up debts in your name, ruin your credit and commit fraud in your name. With a bundled policy, you can add on identity theft protection to help safeguard you and your family from identity theft and help repair any problems or debts you accumulate if this has happened to you. Best of all, identity theft protection covers everyone in your home, not just yourself.
These are just a few of the many protections and additions you can add to a bundled home and auto insurance policy for cheaper than you would otherwise get them – a lot cheaper. You’ll be able to safeguard yourself, your home and your vehicle from all sorts of prospects while still saving money on your policy every month.
If you’ve decided that a bundled home and auto insurance policy is right for you, the next step is choosing the best company to purchase a policy through. With so many home and auto insurance companies out there vying for your business both locally and nationally, it can be hard to choose. Luckily there are companies out there that will happily compare many auto and home insurance quotes for you at once, finding the best bulk deals and laying them all out for you, so you can make the best decision. Often these companies will point out the cheapest plans, even if they’re not the ones offering them!
You can do a quick search for a quote right online, too – just have some information readily available, such as your car’s make, model and VIN, your driving history, details about your home, and more. Once you’ve entered in this information, you can compare quotes to your heart’s content until you’ve found the very best bundled auto and car insurance policy for you.
Any good insurance company will be honest with you and tell you if your current insurance policies are offering good rates and if bundling won’t save you any additional money. If you’re happy with your current insurance coverage, are getting good premiums and great coverage, then bundling might not be necessary for you. But for many homeowners, they find that bundling saves them a lot of cash while also offering better policies with affordable additions and protections for a fraction of the cost they were paying before.
For those who don’t own a home, but would still like additional protections for things like identity theft and property damage, some insurance companies do offer bundling packages for renter’s insurance and auto insurance. For these, the process of getting a quote and applying for coverage are much the same, and offer similar deep discounts and incentives.
Things like multi-driver discounts, incentives for accident-free drivers/good driving records, and things like senior or military discounts can often still be applied to bundle insurance policies. Ask your insurance agent about these as well.
Juggling various insurance policies can be a pain in the neck for the homeowner who already has more responsibilities than they can handle. Bundling your home and auto insurance policy is just one simple way to make bill-paying more efficient and less complicated, and the added bonus is that it can save you a ton of money every month. To say nothing of the great incentives and additions you can get on both your auto and home insurance plans. Those alone make it well worth looking into. You value your home and your vehicle, and you want the very best in protection for the very best price – why not get all of that and more with a bundled insurance plan today?
