7 Top Tips for Cheap Home Insurance for Over 50s

A history of not making claims will be rewarded by insurance companies, so make sure you mention your claim free years (NCD) when you apply for home insurance. The saving can be as much as 50%.

If you have a smaller claim to make, work out whether the value of the pay-out is greater than the amount you’d save by keeping your no claims discount. You may be better off not claiming and building up your NCD for future savings.

It isn’t always necessary to buy buildings insurance. If you have a mortgage, your lender will insist on it. Often your lender will recommend their preferred home insurance provider – but you’re under no obligation to go with their supplier, and you may find the cheapest house insurance for over 50s by shopping around instead.

If you live in or move to a leasehold flat, buildings insurance will normally be arranged by the leaseholder.

Buildings insurance need only cover the rebuild cost of your home: it does not need to cover the market value of your home which is normally higher. The rebuild cost may be in your survey documents if they are recent or you can estimate it here.

On the other hand, you should take care not to undervalue your home contents and what cover they’ll need. The Association of British Insurers estimates that the 1 in 5 homes in the UK has too little cover.

Every year we accumulate new contents such as kitchenware, clothes, gadgets, gardening and sports equipment that may require an increase in your home contents insurance. Items such as antiques, jewellery and art can appreciate in value – so it’s worth reviewing how much cover you have every year.

Home Insurance companies often place a limit on what they’ll pay out for single items – so you may have to cover any items that exceed this value separately.

Most insurers will provide a better quote if you buy a combined policy rather than two separate ones. One of the main advantages of combined over 50 house and contents insurance is that it will provide seamless cover if there’s any doubt which section/policy a claim falls under.

Monthly payments may seem like a good way of spreading out the cost but can cost you more over the long term. Often, home insurance companies are just loaning you the cost of the annual policy and charge high interest rates via the monthly instalments you pay.

Make sure you’re aware of the difference in cost between monthly and annual payments before you commit. Some insurers allow you to pay in monthly instalments at no extra cost.

Another alternative is to use a low interest credit card to pay for your policy, which should have a lower APR than the insurance company.

Increasing your excess is a sure way to reduce the premium you’ll pay for an over 50s home insurance policy. The online forms will normally allow you to tweak the excess level to see how much this can reduce your premium. You may want to take a chance on a higher excess if you’re comfortable that you can afford to pay it in the event of a claim.

As we mentioned above, it may be cheaper to pay for smaller repairs yourself, rather than losing your no claims record and making a claim. Doing so will increase your premium levels over the long term by a greater amount than the pay-out from the small claim.

Installation of a fire alarm and industry rated security system such as the NACOSS standard alarm will help reduce your home insurance premiums, sometimes by as much as 7%.

Joining a recognised community or neighbourhood watch program could also further reduce premiums by 5%.

As a minimum you should consider a 5 lever mortice deadlock for external doors and two bolt locks for your windows, which could decrease the likelihood of a break-in.