How do you find cheap Illinois homeowners insurance that is still good quality coverage? Homeowners insurance is not something you can do without. Mortgage companies require you to carry it if your home is mortgaged. Even if it is completely paid off, very few people can afford to lose their home and have no financial compensation with which to replace it.
One of the best things to do if you want cheap homeowners insurance in Illinois is to shop around. Using an online tool like ours to get a variety of quotes at once is a step in the right direction.
You can find cheap Illinois homeowners insurance if you know where to look, what to ask for and what to do in order to secure it.
Getting Cheap Illinois Homeowners Insurance through Discounts
Shopping around for a variety of IL home insurance quotes is a great first start to finding the best deal on a policy for your home. However, you need to know that many quotes you are offered initially can be lowered even further with additional discounts. All insurers offer discounts to their customers.
These discounts vary a little from company to company, and often you need to pursue them. Ask a company what types of discounts it offers, if you are not given that information right away. Be prepared to do some work on your home to obtain some of them, or to buy a few safety items or even change your lifestyle a little.
A ton of research has gone into the discounts you are being offered, so the changes required to get them are things that will reduce your risk of fire, theft, serious storm damage and other disasters that could lead to insurance claims. Plus, that small initial investment will often save you a lot of money over the years in your insurance premiums. Some of these discounts may require a home inspection before they can be put in place.
Discounts are available for:
- Having deadbolts on your doors and locks on your windows.
- Having a fire extinguisher in working order in your home.
- Installing smoke detectors.
- Getting a security and fire alarm system that is connected to an outside monitoring system.
- Good upkeep of your home.
- Having a roof that is in good condition.
- Doing renovations to older homes.
- Having only non-smokers living in the house.
- Keeping your personal items marked with an identifying number.
- Purchasing auto and home insurance from the same company.
Policy Changes That Can Give You Cheaper Illinois Homeowners Insurance
If you have gotten all the discounts that you can possibly obtain on your IL homeowners insurance and the cost is still too high, there are some changes you can make to your policy which will lower the ultimate premium. Look seriously at how high you can raise your deductible, because the higher the deductible, the lower the premium.
Most people do not bother to make claims for small amounts of damage or small losses, because they know that too many of these types of claims will eventually cause an increase in their premiums, due to claims frequency. Therefore, think about doubling or tripling your deductible to save more money year after year.
If you really need to bring your insurance costs down to the bare minimum, you can reduce the amount of coverage you have on your house and change your policy from one with replacement cost to one that only gives actual cash value.
If you are willing to downgrade to a smaller home should a total loss occur or replace your possessions with used ones, than you can probably take the risk of making this type of insurance coverage change. However, this is not a recommended way to go.
Long Term Actions For Obtaining The Cheapest Illinois Homeowners Insurance
The above mentioned techniques are things that will bring about an immediate impact on your insurance costs. However there are other things you can do that will bring changes later. In the long run, there are many other things you can do to keep your IL homeowners insurance rates affordable.
- Maintaining good credit will keep your premiums at a lower rate. Most insurers check your credit scores in preparing your rates, as there is a direct correlation between lower credit scores and higher claims frequency.
- When buying a new home, chose one near a fire station.
- Pick brick homes over wooden frame homes because they are typically less expensive to insure.
- Buy homes that are of newer construction.
- Compare insurance prices before choosing a town to move to within a given area. Geography, size of the town, crime rates and other factors vary a great deal from one municipality to another and the risk for insurers does likewise.
Find And Compare Cheap Illinois Homeowners Insurance Quotes!
Now that you are confident in how to find cheap Illinois homeowners insurance, take the first step using our quote tool at the top of this page.
The way to save is to compare rates from multiple companies and our quote tool allows you to do just that.
Get started saving money on Illinois home insurance today!