How to save money on insurance

Go for a higher excess

A higher excess – the amount you pay if you need to claim – will significantly lower your premiums. It could be more painful at claim time, but if it’s the difference between keeping or cancelling a policy, it would be easier to find the cost of the higher excess than paying to replace your uninsured belongings. Just don’t make it so high you wouldn’t be able to pay it, because that would mean you’d wasted money on premiums.

Shop around

Our website lets you compare insurance premiums to get a good idea of what insurers offer the best prices. It’s worth regularly spending some time comparing insurance, as you can often find big savings. For example, there was an annual price difference of more than $300 between the most expensive and cheapest contents insurance policies we looked at.

Consider an alarm

Ask your insurer if they’d give you a cheaper premium if you install an alarm or cameras. If you were considering it anyway, you might find the saving subsidises the cost of installation.

Pay annually

If your budget can stretch to paying your premiums annually, you'll get a discount. It does require some discipline in putting money aside regularly.

Reassess your needs

No one wants to spend their spare time reviewing their insurance needs. But you could save hundreds each year if you do. For example, if you have life insurance, the amount of coverage you need when you have a young family and a sizable mortgage will be different to what you need when the kids have left home and your mortgage is nearly repaid.

Consider third-party

It might be tempting to cancel your car insurance if it’s not worth a lot, but if you cause an accident, you could be responsible for the damage you cause to another car. You could consider the cheaper third-party option that will cover you just for the damage to the other car. You can also get a third-party fire and theft policy, which covers you if your car is stolen or damaged by fire too.

Have policies with the same insurer

This one comes with the disclaimer that you should only stick with the same insurer if the price is right. If you have one insurer, you could get a multi-policy discount – we’ve seen these be up to 20%.