You may have noticed that your vehicle insurer asks about home policy or vice versa. They want to know if they could quote for it and they are not shy about inserting that you could save money. You wonder if it is a good idea to put everything in the same basket. Usually every choice has benefits and shortcomings. This post will look at possible advantages, how it works and companies that could serve you better. Hopefully, it would be easier to decide one way or another at the end.
Bundling home and car insurance is the most common to be put together and compliment each other pretty well. It can work well for people with a property and content to include along with cars. Who wouldn’t want to have a customer who keeps bringing more business, instead of keeping an eye on the door all the time. Usually, most businesses offer better prices for regular customers and bulk-buys and it is no different in this sector, in which multi-line discounts are a commonplace.
Administrative Benefits: Dealing with one source and documentation reduces paperwork for both parties. This can make things easier for you in several ways. On the other hand, you may find it harder to pay the combined premium at once. That means you cannot avoid installment fees and interest. Also, you may pay slightly less for a quick lump sum payment. If you would prefer to pay by installment in any case, it shouldn’t make much difference.
Better Coverage: When both assets are covered together you can deal with the gaps better. For example, you can make sure that your personal gadgets are included at home and car and you may not need to make two separate claims if they smash the auto and take them.
Bundling Discount: Of course, you don’t just do it because it is neater. Usually the savings are between 10 – 20% that could mean $200 – $1000 depending on the value of the property, content and automobiles, driving and claim history, and where you live. This works pretty well for carriers too since they sell more products at once.
There may be some disadvantages to packaged policies as well. First of all, you would be placing all your eggs in the same basket. But if you are not happy with the current company you can always find another that will take over the package. Secondly, they would know too much about you. If you make a claim on the home portion, there is a risk that it may affect car insurance rates too. It would be worse if you end up making claims on both.
In terms of choices, you have already got two to consider. You can move either to bring them together. The best thing is to start from scratch and get a few quotes for bundling home and automobile insurance. Then, you would be able to choose the best value out of a larger pool. Also, it doesn’t matter that you own or rent in terms of offering the multiline coverage. However, levels of benefits may be different as discussed above.
Homeowners and Vehicle Insurance Bundle
This is the most desirable combination and you can save big with this (about 15%) because many companies offer both bundling. Don’t forget the homeowners car insurance discounts (about %10) as well. They like people who live in their properties because they display more responsible behaviors. It is so easy and advantageous to buy these two types of policies together and it helps that the total premium could be as much as 25% less.
Car and Renters Insurance Bundle
Albeit less (about 10%) renters can benefit from similar arrangements too. Renters are known to make more claims than owners and that is why it is a bit tamed in comparison. Also, the total value is less, which explains the lower appetite for it.
There are cases where they may actually insist you buy auto insurance as well from them or vice versa. This was once the case in one of the hurricane zones. A company determined that it would not be worthwhile for them to cover properties if they cannot have cars of the same household as well. So, they wrote to policyholders that they would not renew unless they get both. And the state authorities ruled this approach acceptable since customers had the option of going somewhere else.
Some carriers may offer larger discounts for people who are bundling because they can save more money themselves thanks to economies of handling larger volumes of business. Therefore, they can suddenly become competitive enough for people looking for this option even though they weren’t any good for separate quotes.
Best Insurance Companies to Bundle Auto and Home
Usually, most of them offer both personal lines and quite a few packaged them together. Even the ones that don’t actually do packages still offer discounts for buying both policies from them. Here are some reputable names that are known to do bundle policies; Progressive, GEICO, Nationwide and Allstate. It doesn’t mean that the others don’t do it. We are just trying to get you started. So, check with the ones you might know and like as well.
So, if you are still interested you can get quotes on various online platforms by entering your zip code. Again, there are several ways of arranging it. So, you need to spare some time to figure out the most suitable option for your circumstances. Also, there is more at stake here and potential rate cuts can be large enough to make the time invested worthwhile.