Finding discount landlord insurance is an amazing feeling – securing your real estate investment and making a saving on one of its big ongoing costs.
We’ve created a detailed guide to some of the best tips to finding discount landlord insurance. But our best tip is to go direct to the insurer and simply ask about any discounts that are available.
That means you can save time and money while also getting the cover that’s right for you, which might not be so clear when trawling through comparison sites. Call us now to see if we can save you money.
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Discount Landlord Insurance Misconceptions
There are a number of powerful ways of finding discount landlord insurance, but make sure throughout that you get the level of cover that’s right for you.
For instance, you might think an easy way to save money on landlord insurance is to change details on the policy. A classic misconception is you can save money by underestimating your rebuild cost.
But that just means you are insuring the property for less than it would cost to rebuild in case of disaster and in the event of a claim the insurer would only pay up to the amount shown in your schedule.
So if you underinsured by £50,000 and you had a fire that destroyed the property you might have saved a little bit of money on the annual premium but you would be £50,000 on your overall investment in the property.
With landlord insurance especially, comprehensive cover and peace of mind are hugely important. A portfolio of properties can be a comfortable and lucrative way of generating an income and capital growth, but it can quickly become uncomfortable if things go wrong. When you’re not living in the property you’ve spent so much on, knowing you’re protected can be a huge relief.
So while landlord insurance isn’t essential, many landlords would not want to be without it. How then can you get discount landlord insurance so you can save money on this important protection?
Discount Landlord Insurance Tips
Ask the Insurer
Insurance is a very competitive market which means insurers are in a constant battle to offer the best deal while also managing costs.
If you go direct to the insurer they may have special discounts for customers who go direct. That’s because they haven’t had to pay the significant fees of other forms of advertising and so may be able to pass on some of that saving to you.
Multiple Properties
Many providers will offer a discount landlord insurance for multiple properties. If you have a portfolio then this can be a great way to save money and time. By having all your properties on a single property you only have to deal with the renewal once a year.
If this is you then feel free to call or email us and we’ll try to provide you with a competitive quote.
Switch Regularly
As part of that process, many insurers offer their best deals to new customers. For that reason it can be worth shopping around regularly to check if other insures offer discount landlord insurance on the same cover for new customers.
Many insurers even have had a specific approach of hiking up premiums for their most loyal customers who have been with them longest in order to offer lower premiums for new customers. This is just the kind of unethical practice we disagree with at Emerald Life as a part of our mission to be a more caring insurer.
These processes were the subject of a “super complaint” by the Citizen’s Advice to the Competition and Markets Authority in 2018. The investigation in response found that around 6 million home insurance consumers would have saved £1.2 billion if they had paid the average for their risk instead of an inflated price for staying with the same insurer.
Comparison Sites
If you’re looking for a discount landlord insurance comparison, comparison sites can be helpful. However you should remember they are only a tool rather than a complete solution.
Many brokers will have discounts only for customers who come direct. On the other hand, some insurers on comparison sites change pricing regularly to undercut the competition on those sites.
Therefore, you should probably start with a comparison site to get an idea of the market but then go to your shortlisted insurers directly to find out if you have been given their best price.
Then there’s the issue that not all brands are on comparison sites so you may miss out on opportunities – especially if they aren’t on the comparison sites to save money on the advertising fee. This is our attitude at Emerald Life as we prefer to keep our premiums low.
Cashback Sites
Cashback sites can be a good way to save money on purchases you already intended to make. You make a purchase through one of these sites and get some of your money back – usually as a percentage. How does that work?
Cashback sites use a system called affiliate marketing where brands reward publishers for referring customers to them. This is how a lot of big online publications make most of their money. But cashback sites go a step further and take that referral fee and give most of it back to the customer.
Brands benefit from the exposure on these high-traffic platforms. The cashback sites benefit from a small fee on each sale. And you benefit by getting discount landlord insurance through making your purchase on one of these sites.
Keep in mind though that only participating brands are on cashback sites and so simply looking at the discount landlord insurance category on a cashback site is not the best way to find the right cover for you.
They will often rank brands in order of popularity or level of cashback and not necessarily by product features or rating.
If you do find the right landlord insurance policy for you is on a comparison site and cashback site then you can use an especially powerful trick to find discount landlord insurance.
Find the best deal for you on the comparison site, check that the price is the same if you go through the insurer’s website and not the comparison site and then buy through the cashback site. That means you find the cheapest deal but then get cashback on it as well.
Pay Upfront
Like some home insurance policies, some landlord insurance policies let you pay in monthly installments. However, this may end up costing you more in the long run so it is worth checking to see if you can save money and get discount landlord insurance by paying a lump sum upfront. At Emerald Life we don’t offer monthly payment plans because we want to pass on the maximum savings to you.
