Kaboutjie SA Mommy Blogs by Lynne Huysamen
There was once a tip on the internet about how you should put less things on your car key ring so that there’s less strain on the ignition mechanics, and in turn, this would help keep your car insurance premiums down in the long-run. The general logic, we think, is that because you’re caring for your car’s general wear and tear, it’ll handle better on the road and therefore potentially help you dodge or come out the other side of an accident in better shape. Owing to the fact that premiums can be increased based on how often you claim and/or the size of your claims, your premium is safeguarded from these kinds of increases.
While we’re not sure if this is exactly how the key ring tip works, what we do know for certain is that it won’t help you reduce your premiums. Thankfully there are decent, credible suggestions online for how you can realistically save on your car and home insurance costs.
We hunted them down, checked them out with a top-quality insurance company in South Africa, and can now proudly share the simple actions you can take to reduce your premiums for car and home insurance.
How to save on your car insurance
We have 3 practical steps below that you can take to reduce your car insurance premiums, but before we do… We’d also like to point out that if you’re paying a lot for comprehensive cover, you may want to consider other cheaper policies out there. For example, you could switch to a comprehensive policy that decreases your premium every single month without fail. Basically, this insurer quite fairly decided that if our cars lose value every month, then our premiums should always reflect this. Every month your premium is recalculated to ensure that your premium is always accurate, which sounds too good to be true, but it’s a real and revolutionary spin on a traditional and necessary product.
Now, on to the tips you can action today:
- Your premium could be discounted if you fit a tracking device.
- Consider other cheaper policies, like the ‘pause your cover’ option (only pay when you’re driving), or this ‘pay per k’ (pay around R299 pm if your car is valued under R500,000 and you drive 100kms or less every month), or even the basic third party insurance only.
- A higher excess = a lower premium, so ask your insurer to increase your excess amount to pay a lower monthly premium.
Regarding this last tip (choosing a higher excess), we can’t stress enough that you must choose an amount you can afford because it’s a non-negotiable fee you’ll pay when you claim. This doesn’t mean that you can’t increase it all, because even going up by a relatively low R500 could bring your monthly cost down by enough to make it more affordable.
How to save on home insurance
Typically, home insurance means home contents cover (the stuff you put in your home)… But some people include buildings insurance under the ‘home’ umbrella. So, we’ve gone and included tips for both policies, just to cover all your bases.
- Increase security on your property with a security system, burglar bars, etc. all of which could result in a decreased premium for both buildings and home contents cover.
- Use this home inventory form to gain an accurate replacement value of all your stuff so you can check if you’re overinsured and paying too much. If you are, you can correct it with your insurer and bring your premium down.
- Ask a professional to evaluate your buildings and check if you’re insuring the correct value of your buildings, because if you’re over-insured, you’re paying too much. If you are, you can correct this and bring your premium down.
- Consider a cheaper home contents product, like this ‘fire and fury‘ option which covers your belongings against everything except theft.
The ultimate trick to paying less
Call your insurer whenever anything changes in your life, like if you’ve moved, bought more furniture, changed jobs, sold some older TVs that you weren’t using… These kinds of factors determine how much you’re charged every month and by simply updating your profile, your premiums could decrease. And every decrease counts!
Hopefully these tips will help you keep your insurance as affordable as possible, and if you’d like to get car and home insurance quotes to check that you’re paying the lowest price possible then just click here to add policies to your insurance quote cart. It’s simple and quick.
