6 Reasons to Review Your Insurance Policies Annually
Regardless of when, it’s always a great time to review your insurance policies with an independent agent. Life happens, things change, and you want to make sure you are adequately protected and not overpaying for your coverage.
We’ve put together a list of 6 reasons why it’s a good idea to review your policies annually.
1. It’s FREE.
That’s right, free. Meaning at no cost to you. An independent insurance agent will review your insurance policies with you at no cost to you. That is the number one reason to do business with a qualified independent insurance agent.
Accept no substitute. RSC Insurance Center of North Jersey has been around longer than many online direct to consumer insurance companies have been in business.
2. Manage Your Personal Life Changes
A lot can happen in a year that can have huge effects on your insurance costs, coverage options, limitations, and more. Some of these things include:
- Getting married or divorced
- Change in employment status
- Buying an investment property or a secondary home
- Children leaving home/empty nest/child off to college
- Working remotely
- Starting a business from your home
- Starting a family/birth or adoption of a child
- Bringing aging parents into your home, or a child returning home
- Purchase or receipt of an expensive gift
- Death in your immediate family
- Paying off your mortgage or car loan
Each of these things can trigger substantial changes in your coverage needs and your annual premiums. If it’s a major event that has changed your life, chances are it will alter your insurance coverage needs as well.
A yearly review of your insurance policies gives you the opportunity to explore how these changes affect your coverage needs and consider changes you might want to make to accommodate them and keep your annual premiums in line with your budget
3. Ensure Appropriate Coverage
As your life evolves and changes, so do your needs when it comes to insurance coverage. This means that what was appropriate for your needs, priorities, and comfort zone last year may no longer suffice this year.
An annual review of your policies also helps you stay up to date with your insurance protection and can find those coverage gaps you need to fill.
This is also your opportunity to review your insurance costs and explore available options to reduce them without jeopardizing your coverage. You don’t want to be underinsured and paying for coverage you don’t need, that’s why it’s important to talk with your independent insurance agent about your policies.
4. You Buy or Sell Property or Possessions
If you have a scheduled items floater insurance coverage on expensive possessions, you need to review it annually. You may have sold some items in the past year, or you have purchased new items that aren’t protected by your standard homeowner’s policy.
It makes sense to adjust your coverage accordingly. Also, if you buy or sell a home, a vacation property, an automobile, or an RV, or you’ve moved, it’s smart to understand the role those transactions play in your overall net worth so you can adjust your personal liability protection for you and your family accordingly.
Owning more than one home can make you a higher liability target. The greater your “net worth,” the greater your need for adequate asset protection. Personal Umbrella protection may be the solution.
5. Remodeling Your Home or Adding On
Home additions and remodeling can change the overall value of your home as well as the costs of repairing your home after a covered event. It is also very likely to change the amount of insurance you need to have on your home to ensure it is adequately protected. You don’t want to be underinsured at the time of a coverage loss as there are penalties an insurance company may apply which would reduce your claim pay out.
You’ve made a substantial investment of time, energy, money, and probably a few tears into transforming your home. Insurance allows you to protect that investment. But only if you have the right types of coverage and the right amount of coverage to make it happen.
Many times, when you remodel your home you update the roof, electrical, plumbing and heating systems. These updates may help reduce your home insurance costs.
6. Take Advantage of Discounts and Higher Deductibles
Many insurance providers offer a variety of discounts, there a so many that we can’t begin to list them all here. Higher deductibles will also help reduce your insurance costs without reducing your coverage. Higher deductibles also will stop you from putting in multiple small claims that could cause your insurance company to cancel your coverage.
Updating the wiring, plumbing, or heating systems in your home or adding an alarm system may result in discounts on your home insurance.
Bundling policies can net you big savings all around. Full payment options also provide a substantial discount too.
Now is a great time to explore discounts you may qualify for that you don’t even know about.