Bundle Home & Auto Insurance to Save: Companies With Best Rate Quotes

Anyone who has ever shopped for an insurance policy has certainly come across the option to bundle and save. But what does it mean to do this, and can it really save you money?

Introduction

In many cases, you can indeed save money by getting two or more policies from a single provider. Depending on the insurer, you might get as much as 25 percent off your home or auto insurance policy. Not only that, but it’s more convenient to have all your billing information in one place.

Of course, convenience is a great way to forget about your payments, which means you could end up paying too much. That’s why it’s important to always shop around each year.

What is Bundling?

As previously mentioned, most insurance companies offer some kind of discount for bundling. Bundling refers to getting two or more policies from the same provider. You may also see it referred to as a multi-policy discount. Regardless, you’ll find them on the declarations page for your policy.

Aside from saving money, there are several advantages to bundling your home and auto insurance:

•  Only one company to deal with
•  Only one online portal to pay bills or manage policies
•  Easier to identify gaps in your coverage
•  Adjust renewal and effective dates on both policies in one place, depending on the provider

Again, depending on the provider, there are other possible perks for bundling your auto and home insurance policies. For example, you might gain a single-loss deductible. This means only dealing with one deductible if your home and car become damaged from the same event.

Should You Bundle Insurance Policies?

Although they’re the most commonly bundled policies, home and auto insurance aren’t the only ones you can combine with a provider. Discounts vary too, with steeper discounts available for larger policies. Because your house is probably worth more than your car, you’ll likely get the biggest discount on your homeowners insurance cost.

What does that mean? If your current auto insurance policy is inexpensive but your home insurance is expensive, you’ll gain the most by bundling.

On the other hand, your auto insurance policy could be the pricier of the two if you live in certain states, have poor credit, or have been in an accident. If this is the case, you may benefit more from finding a cheaper auto insurance policy instead of bundling.

If you think bundling is the right choice for you, be sure to compare quotes across the board. You want to know how much it would cost to bundle with different companies and how much it costs to buy separately. If the separate policies is cheaper and doesn’t sacrifice important coverage, then there’s no reason to bundle.

Home- and car owners who choose to bundle are more likely to remain with that insurance provider for a long time. When renewing a policy, insurers regularly and gradually increase rates. It’s slow enough that you won’t want to change providers after a year or two, but it’s significant enough that you want to shop around every so often.

Pros of Bundling Insurance

A good bundle should save you more money than if you were to get your home and auto insurance policies separately. Cost-effectiveness is not the only benefit to combining policies, though.

You’ll save money

That said, you do stand to save quite a bit by staying with one company. The multi-policy discount could save you as much as 30 percent on your premiums. Of course, the exact amount that you will save depends on where you live. For example, drivers in Georgia saved 22 percent by bundling their policies, while 11 other states also boasted discounts over 20 percent.

Allows for strategic saving

If you’re a strategic saver, then bundling serves as a great platform. It’s not immediately obvious, but it pays off during an emergency, such as totaling your car or a tree breaking through your roof. With separate policies, you would need to pay two separate claims to two companies, even though this was one event. With a single provider and a multi-policy deductible, you could file a single claim and thus pay one deductible.

Bundling is more convenient

When you have multiple policies under a single provider, it cuts down on paperwork, on how long you’ll spend having to manage your policies, and reduces the number of passwords to juggle and keep safe. It also means you will spend less time on the phone talking to agents about trying to renew or make changes to your home or auto insurance. Plus, if the agent is familiar with more of your overall situation, it will be painless to apply discounts, add new coverage, or bring someone else on to your auto insurance policy.

Exclusive product tiers

In some cases, you’ll also gain access to more complex bundles only accessible by combining your insurance policies. For instance, you could get a single policy that covers your home, your car, a rental property, your boat, and an RV, as long as you’re with a provider that specializes in all of these. Not only does a single-policy situation cut out lots of paperwork, but there’s only one bill to pay, likely one deductible, and one place to manage your policies.

Benefits for high-risk homes

If you have more than one policy with an insurance company, they are less likely to decide they don’t want to work with you anymore. That means if you live in a home considered to be “high-risk,” meaning you’re on a fault line, in a crime-heavy area, or live near potentially extreme weather, you’ll have better success finding long-term coverage with bundling. Because you’re a loyal customer whose policies are all with this one provider, they’re not going to refuse you coverage despite the risks.

Cons to Bundling Insurance Policies

It’s impossible to deny all the benefits to bundling your home and auto insurance policies, but we would be remiss to skip over the downsides. There are just as many instances where you would not want to bundle your policies. Not only that, but staying with a single company and not shopping around can lead to tunnel vision. Tunnel vision leads to missing out on the major discounts and offers that other providers can give you for the same coverage.

Your vehicle is high-end

If you own a performance or high-end vehicle, then you’re not going to find value in a traditional policy with an auto insurance company, whether it’s bundled or not. Repairing a high-end vehicle is a high-end venture in itself, so most auto providers will charge an insane premium if they agree to cover it at all. If you’re going to pay that much on a monthly basis, you may as well seek out an insurer who specifically works with expensive cars.

You could end up with less coverage

Although you will likely save money in the short-term, it is possible that your bundled policies aren’t as good as what you could afford separately for the same cost. That means having to pay much more money down the road in the event of an incident. If you’re happy with the rates you’re paying for your current insurance policies, and if you are not worried about looking for the absolute minimum monthly cost, then don’t worry too much about bundling right now.

If you can’t compare policies

As mentioned before, tunnel vision can occur when you stick with a single carrier to bundle your home and auto insurance policies. Brand loyalty and its benefits are great, but that can cause you to be too complacent with the provider, and you won’t shop around, then you miss out on the benefits of other policies. Not only this, but you’ll start making comfortable decisions in favor of logical decisions.

Yes, You Can Save Money by Bundling

Insurance companies that bundle policies for home- and car owners typically provide discounts of 5 to 25 percent per policy. Because homeowners insurance tends to cost the most, because the value of your home tends to be the greatest of your properties, you’ll generally save the most on this policy.

Shopping around to save money isn’t difficult, because most insurance companies aren’t interested in restricting themselves to one type.

The amount you can save on your auto insurance policy varies from state to state and depending on your provider. It is usually a smaller percentage than the house insurance, but you can expect somewhere around 10 percent in many cases. If you bundle auto insurance with a renter’s policy instead of home insurance, then that discount might be as little as 5 percent.

Tips for Bundling Home and Auto Insurance

•  Before committing to a policy or bundle, compare quotes from several companies with an agent or online. An independent agent can help you seek quotes from many companies at once. A company’s agent, on the other hand, will only know of discounts for his own company.
•  When comparing quotes, ask if the company uses third-party insurance at any point. You’ll still save money, but then you lose the convenience factor. With a third-party company in the mix, you’re now dealing with more than one company.
•  Shop around on a regular basis for both separate and bundled policies. Don’t let the tunnel vision affect your wallet.
• In addition to bundling you can qualify for other discounts such as having the best home security system which would reduce your rates by 10% or more.

Conclusion

Bundling insurance policies does not automatically mean you will save money or even have the same amount of coverage, so be sure to shop around and compare your policies carefully. Your home and car insurance rates will largely depend on your unique circumstances.

At the end of the day, remember to trust your instincts. Does bundling your policies seem like the right move after doing all your homework? Understand your limits, know your options, and work with your research to find the best bundle for you. You may also need to look at supplemental insurance to make sure all your bases are covered. 

FAQ

General Home and Auto Bundle Questions

This section will give you the basic information you need to understand about home and auto insurance.

Understanding how Insurance Bundles Work

We’ll explain some specifics about how insurance bundles work in this section.

Questions About Bundling with Specific Companies

This section answers your questions about bundling with specific insurance companies.

Getting A Home and Auto Insurance Bundle

This section will cover some of the most popular questions about getting a home and auto insurance bundle.

Other Questions About Bundling Home and Auto

We’ll cover home and auto insurance bundling questions that don’t fit into our other categories in this section.