Royal home insurance cover without paying a princely sum

With the nation in the grips of the credit crunch, saving money is a hot topic. Confused.com investigates ways of helping home owners to save money through their home insurance; making sure they have the right cover and are doing the right thing to minimise the cost of potential home insurance disasters.

Keep homes as safe as possible: failure to do so may invalidate cover, thus causing more cost and worry when a claim is refused. Small things like getting window and door locks installed, burglar alarms fitted and keeping outbuildings secure can go a long way to preventing uninvited visitors.

Knowing the extent of their cover: homeowners should not make any assumptions on what their policies contain. Any grey areas are best clarified before they become an issue. Reading the small print will minimise the danger of accidentally invalidating cover or expecting payouts that won't come.

Knowing what they want from their cover: home insurance premiums cost from very little but there are ways of keeping the premium as low as possible, without losing out on cover.

Confused.com advises homeowners to consider these things prior to shopping for home insurance.

Re-build cost of house - Many homeowners believe that the re-build value of their home is the same as the market value, but it is usually considerably less. Overvaluing their re-build value could increase homeowners' premium by up to 30%.

Excess - Increasing their voluntary excess can reduce premiums, but Confused.com advises homeowners to only increase the amount to a figure they can comfortably afford to pay.

Boiler cover / warranties - Having the boiler stop working in this cold weather or the TV blowing up can be a nuisance and it is always worth taking out cover to help with the cost, but Confused.com recommends checking the small print on home insurance policies before taking out expensive boiler cover or shop bought warranties. Homeowners may already be covered.

Give the correct details - homeowners shouldn't guess what door locks are fitted in their homes; if they don't know, they should find out. By not giving the correct details, this could invalidate the home insurance. If unfortunate enough to suffer from a burglary and the locks are found to differ from what is described on the policy, the insurer may reduce or refuse any claim payout.

Avoid unnecessary claims: if the claim is low value, homeowners should consider paying the costs themselves to avoid potential ramifications on future premiums. There is often an excess involved and sacrificing the no-claims bonus for an affordable claim is a false economy.

Homeowners should make sure they are getting the best value: homeowners should not automatically renew every year. It is thought that 48% of homeowners don't shop around when renewing their home insurance every year. By using a price comparison website, like Confused.com, homeowners can save on average £183 on their premiums.

Darren Black, head of home insurance, says: "Knowing the sort of cover you are looking for is essential in keeping the cost of your home insurance down, as is doing all you can to make sure your cover stays valid.

"Confused.com‘s price comparison technology has revolutionised shopping around and it no longer needs to be a time consuming process. We search our panel of 60 home insurance providers, meaning you get the best price on the market without sacrificing your level of cover."