What with natural disasters, freak weather conditions and industrial strike
action, insurance – whether it be for your home, your car or your holiday – has
never been so importance. According to ABTA, one in five Britons travels abroad
without insurance; moneysupermarket claims that one in six Brits drives without
car insurance and a recent survey by homeless charity Shelter found that over a fifth of homeowners don’t have home insurance.
So what happens when things go wrong? Last year the number of insurance claims
sky rocketed. At the start of the 2010 the Icelandic volcanic eruption and the
British Airways air strike caused complete travel chaos and travel insurance
claims were being made left, right and centre.
Then as winter reared is ugly head more travel mayhem ensued; this time however,
it wasn’t just confined to air traffic. Snow and ice meant AA and RAC roadside
assistance vehicles were more numerous than the Ford Transit van.
Freezing temperatures caused pipes to burst too and rain and snow melt caused
localized flooding further compounding the problem for insurers.
But what about all the people without insurance? Millions of holidays would have
been ruined, cars would have been taken to the scrap heap and homeowners would
have to fork out scary amounts of money on making repairs themselves.
According to the Shelter Insurance survey, most people – at
least as far as home insurance goes – are choosing not to renew their policies
because they claim they cannot afford to. In fact, 42% of respondents cited this
reasons for becoming uninsured.
But insurance doesn’t have to be expensive. There are ways to lower your
premiums for all kinds of insurance to keep your bills at a reasonable level.
For example, buy an annual family travel insurance policy. If you just buy
per-person single trip cover you will end up paying more.
When it comes to car insurance. Pay your premium annually, not monthly. Monthly
premiums incur interest charges so over the course of a year you will pay a lot
more.
The best way to lower your home insurance premium is to increase the amount of
excess you pay. As long as you never make small claims this is a great way to
save cash.
Finally, to save on all types of insurance, buy combined cover. All
Insurance companies for instance, gives you the option to include travel cover with house insurance policies, giving you peace of mind at home and away.
