How to find cheap home insurance - Which? (2024)

How can I save money on my home insurance?

Home insurance premiums in the UK have been getting more and more expensive - meaning finding cheap cover for your contents and building is getting harder than ever.

With the average quoted price for home insurance surging by 40.6% over the twelve months leading up to January, according to the latest findings from the Consumer Intelligence Home Insurance Price Index, it's important to explore ways you can save on your premiums.

We've rounded up our top tips for saving money on your home insurance policy.

Starting with comparing prices on comparison sites and insurers that aren't on them, to using a haggling script and the best time to pay, our cheap home insurance guide has got everything you need to get the best price on your policy.

We also go through the options for renters, those in house shares, landlords and those with unusual and heritage-listed homes.

Read on to bring down the cost of your home insurance.

• Find out more: best home insurance providers. We review the biggest home insurers on the market for the quality of their policies and customer service.

Compare home insurance deals

Check Which? insurance ratings and compare deals using the service provided by Confused.com

Get a quote

How much does home insurance cost?

In the last quarter of 2023, the average cost of a combined home insurance policy stood at £364, marking a 4% increase from the previous quarter, according to the Association of British Insurers (ABI).

Meanwhile, standalone buildings insurance saw an average premium of £284, up by 4%, and contents policies averaged £131, also reflecting a 4% increase. These figures indicate the impact of recent storms and other factors contributing to rising insurance costs.

However, what you'll pay depends on on a large range of factors:

• the type of cover you want
• the property's type, size and construction
• your location
• how much it would cost to rebuild your property or replace your belongings
• history of damage (for example, flooding or subsidence) to the property and claims made in the past
• how the property is used and security measures in place.

While you can't (easily) change some of these things, there are simple tips you can follow to minimise the amount you need to pay without compromising on cover.

Why should I compare home insurance?

Even if your home insurer was the cheapest option last year, that doesn't mean your renewal quote will be any good.

Since January 2022, insurers have been banned from charging renewing customers more than new customers.

But insurers still have plenty of legitimate reasons for increasing your premium, even if you haven't claimed. They may view you, your property or your neighbourhood as more risky than before.

Comparing home insurance quotes takes minutes and lets you check if your renewal offer really is the best available.

Price comparison websites such as Confused.com, Compare the Market, GoCompare and MoneySuperMarket, are good places to start looking for cheap insurance, and they allow you to get a large number of home insurance quotes very quickly.

Not every provider appears on every comparison site, so get quotes from several sites. Some insurers such as Direct Line and NFU Mutual aren't on comparison sites, so get a quote from them directly.

• Find out more:holiday home insurance

When should I start looking for a new home insurance policy?

Getting quotes from other providers one month before your current policy ends gives you enough time to shop around and haggle.

Your current insurer will also provide you with a notice of renewal around this time, outlining the full details of your new policy and premium.

Some home insurance providers automatically take a deposit from you ahead of renewal in an attempt to secure your business for another year.

The payment, usually one month's premium, only applies to pay-monthly customers and is taken from your account a month before renewal. The amount is deducted from next year's premium if you decide to stay on.

If you know your home insurance policy is coming up for renewal, check if your provider levies pre-renewal deposits to avoid being caught off guard.

What do I need to get a home insurance quote?

As well as your personal details, you'll need to get some information on your property including:

• the rebuild value of the property, for buildings insurance
• the value of contents, for contents insurance
• number of rooms, bathrooms, age of property, type of roof and proximity to trees and water
• any burglar alarms and the type of locks
• the inhabitants.

See below for more information about valuation calculators that can save you time and avoid expensive mistakes.

Can I trust comparison site prices?

Comparison sites aren't always 100% reliable, so make sure you double-check the policy you're interested in has everything you need when you click through to the website of the provider.

Check that the insurer's 'assumptions' - essentially information about you that you haven't provided via the comparison site - are correct.

Also make sure you're not paying for add-ons you don't need, or you could be effectively overpaying for the cover you do want.

Cashback sites

Sites such as Quidco and TopCashback will pay you a cash reward if you click through them to buy home insurance.

However, they won't necessarily offer you the best value deals, even with cashback included.

Compare the price of the policy after cashback with the cheapest equivalent policy available from a comparison site.

How can I get cheaper home insurance quotes?

Only get the insurance you need

While everyone should seriously consider contents insurance, buildings insurance is only a necessity if you're responsible for the condition of the property itself.

Combined buildings and contents insurance is usually cheaper than buying both policies individually, but make sure your provider doesn't have separate building and contents excesses.

A claim affecting both parts of your policy, such as a fire or flood, might see you having your excess deducted twice.

Use a valuation calculator

A lot of policyholders overpay for their home insurance by incorrectly calculating the value of their building and contents.

When setting the value of the building itself, you need to give the rebuild value (the cost of rebuilding the property from scratch) and not the, often higher, market value (what it would cost to buy the property if it was for sale).

To get an idea of the rebuild value of your building, use the Association of British Insurers' calculator or a commissioned survey's valuation.

Meanwhile, be careful not to underinsure your contents in an attempt to get cheap insurance. Consider all the items that you have and what it might cost to replace them with new equivalent goods.

• Find out more:contents insurance calculator

Set the correct excess

Adjusting your level of excess - the amount you have to pay in the event of a claim - could help you get cheaper home insurance.

If you're willing to pay a higher excess, your insurer will offer a cheaper premium. However, make sure to select your excess carefully.

Setting the bar too high, especially if it starts getting too close to your claims limit, might make claiming on your insurance either pointless or too expensive.

Pay annually for your home insurance (if you can afford it)

Paying monthly is essentially taking a loan, usually at high interest, from your provider. APR varies but it can be as more than 30%.

Always check pay-monthly fees and compare the cost against annual cover. You can see which insurers offer monthly payments at no extra cost in our guide to insurers' fees and charges.

You could spread the cost over several months by using a 0% purchase credit card.

Haggle for cheap cover

If you're determined to stay with your current provider, you can use cheap home insurance deals elsewhere as leverage when haggling.

When we surveyed Which? members who'd renewed their car and home cover in 2022, half of those who'd haggled made savings on their premium. Home insurance policyholders saved £54, on average, through haggling.

You can boost your chances of being offered a cheap home insurance deal by following our tried-and-tested haggling script.

• I would like to find out why my renewal price has increased. Wait for the call handler's response. It's likely to justify the price increase.
• I have shopped around on the internet and found much better deals from your competitors than you are currently offering. The call handler may ask for examples of cheaper quotes you have found. If they don't offer to beat this quote, you should try pushing harder.
• What's the lowest rate you can quote me to keep me as a customer? If it's not much better than this [cheaper quote], I'll go elsewhere.At this point, you should be offered some sort of incentive to stay. It's up to you to decide whether to accept or switch to another provider.

Improve your home security for cheap home insurance

You're more likely to get cheap home insurance if your provider considers you a low-risk customer, so before you even start looking, consider improving your home's security.

Most insurers have a minimum level of security before they accept you as a customer, such as deadlocks on external doors and locks on accessible windows. But going beyond that can get you cheaper quotes:

Cheap home insurance for listed and unusual properties

If your property is heritage listed, has a thatched roof or other unusual feature, you may find you get fewer home insurance quotes, or that the quotes are prohibitively expensive.

An insurance broker may be able to find specialist insurers and save you money.

Use the 'find insurance' service offered by British Insurance Brokers' Association, or call 0370 950 1790.

Which? Money members can also contact the Which? Money Helpline for advice on finding cover.

If you rent, you'll only need contents insurance - your landlord should handle the buildings insurance.

While there are specialist short-term insurance policies available, and policies covering a single room, we advise being skeptical.

Always compare the premiums and cover levels from renters policies with what you could get from more 'traditional' contents cover.

If you're in a house share, all inhabitants will need to be named on the contents policy. It's important to keep the details accurate and up to date, or you risk the insurer turning down any claims you make.

• Find out more: tenant rights advice

Cheap home insurance for landlords

The three main types of landlord insurance are buildings, contents and liability insurance, the latter covering you if your tenant or visitor suffers an injury in your property.

There are also add-ons, such as rent guarantee insurance if your tenant falls into arrears (and in some cases if the property is empty), and home emergency cover.

As with insurance for your own home, it's important to compare policies and only pay for what you actually need.

Landlords with four or more properties should consider portfolio policies, which insure all properties at the same time.

• Find out more:how landlord insurance works

Find the right policy for your home using the service provided by Confused.com