If you only bought your home a year or two ago, an increase in your claim-free years will definitely help, but it is almost expected that the cost of home insurance is likely to increase a little every year.

This can be due to the insurer having to pay out a lot of money in claims, meaning that they have to raise their prices, but chiefly the increase comes about because most policies index-link your sums insured in line with inflation, increasing the amount you are being covered for, and therefore increasing your premium too.

As a result, if your premium has only increased by around 5%, you might be pretty happy with your new rate, especially if you’ve had good service over the year.

If you’re less sure however, here are a few reasons to consider shopping around.

A changing market

As technology improves, insurance is a more fluid industry than ever, allowing insurers to change their rates daily, or sometimes even hourly depending on the data they receive. Equally, the data itself is more detailed than ever, and can be accessed and reacted to quickly.

That means that the market you were shopping in a year ago could have completely transformed. New pricing, new levels of cover, even schemes and products being discontinued and replaced with newer versions that may suit your situation better than it did before.

While it may seem like insurance companies just want to take more money from you, they are usually having to charge more because of their claims experience. If a company has had a profitable year, they may be able to offer better prices.

Better cover

We have written a whole host of information on household insurance, and one of the main things we emphasise throughout is making sure that your cover is the best it can be.

While policy wordings aren’t the most interesting of reads, they give you the full picture of what you’re covered for, and up to what limits.

You may have accepted a policy that didn’t cover you for enough contents in your garage for example, because the cost of getting the right cover wasn’t cost-effective at the time. You may now be able to get full cover at a similar premium elsewhere.

If you have specific requirements, it is worth keeping a checklist around. That way, you can make sure that any potential policies meet your main needs quickly.

New customer offers

You may find that some companies, especially those that appear on price comparison websites, will offer a cheaper rate if they think you are a new customer than if you were renewing with them.

Generally the cost of attracting new customers into a business can be very expensive, so they will want to do everything they can to pick up your business at the end of it.

While this may be a little disappointing at first, it is something you can use to your advantage. Your current insurers will have competitors who will have to offer similar discounts to avoid being left behind. You may be able to save money, and even get an optional add-on such as legal expenses included for free.

Second policy discounts

In contrast to the above, some companies may look to reward customers that buy more than one policy with them. For example if you are a customer with us at GSI Insurance Services (Southern) Ltd. we will always work hard to get the very best discount negotiated for you. If your car insurer also offers home insurance, it doesn’t hurt to give them a call. They will already have some of your details on file, and are likely to pull out all of the stops to save you money again.

If you’re a new or existing client to us, we are on hand to try and save you money. Give us a call on 0800 612 9376 or click “Get a Quote” to complete our online quote form.

Need some more information?

Why not read one of our other buildings and contents insurance guides?

• Buildings and Contents Insurance
• How can I buy home insurance?
• Do I need specialist home insurance?
• What does home insurance come with as standard?
• Home emergency and legal protection
• Will I need to let my insurance company know about renovations?
• Will working from home affect my insurance?
• Are all home insurance policies the same?
• How important is buildings and contents insurance?
• Home Insurance Guide
• Home Insurance FAQs