So the horrible day is drawing near when you have to buy another home insurance policy. You're not a cheapskate by any stretch of the imagination but who can blame you if you're thinking to yourself that there just has to be some way of saving a bit of money on this! Follow the tips below and you won't go far wrong.

Everybody wants the cheapest. Fair enough the most expensive policy is not always the best buy but the lowest priced one may not give you all the security that you need so you really need to look very carefully at your options. Not a single one of us really appreciates having to pay out for house insurance but the simple fact is that we have to have it so we might just as well accept that fact. However that is no reason to pay through the nose for it and there are many ways you can use to reduce your premiums. Choosing the right policy is not easy, insurance companies themselves make it much more difficult by bombarding us with non-stop ads which glorify their own products so it's not really surprising that most people look upon choosing a home insurance policy to be more trouble than it's worth which is probably why the majority of people simply accept the quotation which is sent to them by their current insurer, but there is a lot of choice out there and by spending a little bit of time searching through the various offers which are available, you could save a very considerable amount of money.

As a general matter of policy, make a point of never claiming for small amounts. Too many superficial claims could inflate your premiums considerably because the insurance company would look upon you as a bad risk and charge accordingly. You would also lose any no claims bonuses that you would otherwise be entitled to and these can very often add up to a very considerable sum. Fair enough you may be perfectly entitled to claim for that tile that fell off the roof or a patch of carpet in the corner that got nibbled by the dog but before making a claim stop and think about it for a moment and work out whether or not you would be better off putting your hand in your pocket on this occasion and keeping your NCB intact.

Quite a lot of companies offer easy payments and if you're a little bit hard up it can be tempting to pay monthly. Ignore the temptation and pay the full sum up front. Just about every insurance company I have looked at charge excessively for monthly payments and it's usually cheaper to take out a small loan if necessary rather than pay the horrific interest charges that some of these sharks charge.

Think carefully about how much excess you are prepared to pay on each claim. Insurers are very pleased when their clients offer to pay a fairly high excess, such as £250 or so, and they show their gratitude by offering quite a decent reduction in the premium. If you are not expecting to be making any claims, and hopefully you are not, choosing a higher excess can save you a great deal of money.

If you own a house it is odds-on that you have a car or two parked on the drive. See if your insurer will give you a discount if you take out your motor insurance policy with them as well as your house policy. Some companies will also give a very special discount if you buy contents as well as buildings insurance at the same time.

Take a careful look at the security of your house. Have you got sufficient smoke detectors, and have you fitted security deadlocks throughout? Insurance companies have more confidence with clients who take positive steps to reduce risks, and very often offer markedly reduced premiums.

Finally, don't be afraid of dumping the company that you have insured with for many, many years. There are quite a lot of good reliable insurers advertising on the Internet, and most of them will give you a further special discount if you move your business to them. Do be careful because one common trick they sometimes try on is to include in the small print an automatic renewal facility which means that they will happily charge your credit card next year for the renewal premium. Make sure that you cancel this just after taking out the insurance, and then you will be free to choose the best policy to suit you, and not your insurer, next year. Good hunting.