What Does Bundling My Home and Auto Insurance Together Do For Me?

For ages insurance companies have been offering incentives for having as many insurance products as you can under one roof, their roof. And for the most part, that totally makes sense for you the client. Typically these incentives are monetary based but there are far more benefits than just the discounts. As a broker it is our job to find what makes the most sense for you. It is not always possible or doesn’t always make sense to bundle your insurance. In some situations it may actually be cheaper to not bundle or the company that you have one risk with will not actually underwrite your other risk. Nevertheless we want to explore some of the areas you may or may not have thought of when it comes to having your home insurance and auto insurance together in Ontario.

Bundled Insurance Discounts

Let’s start with the most obvious and most talked about benefit of having your home and auto insurance bundled with the same company; the discount. Just about every company on the planet will award what they call a multi-line discount to client who have their home and auto insurance together. The discount differs from company to company but you can typically expect to save around 10-15% on your home and 15-20% on your auto.

But what about the other things you have insured?

Ahh, we are glad you asked! You see not everyone has a home and a car but rather they will have some other variation of insurance products. For instance they may have a tenants or renters package and a car. You’re in luck! With the markets we deal with you can certainly get the two bundled for a discount. Not to mention most of the time the discount pretty much outweighs the premium (or the amount you pay) for the tenants package based on the savings you receive on your auto insurance so it is basically like receiving a free tenants package. Fantastic!

I drive a motorcycle can I bundle that with my home and auto?  

Absolutely! In fact with some of our companies bundling your motorcycle with your home and auto can mean savings of up to 40% on your motorcycle premium. You aren’t going to beat that anywhere else. The only potential concern here is that not all of our insurance companies underwrite motorcycles or if they do they have to meet certain qualifications but if they do it is well worth the discount to bundle.

What about my boats, ATVs, cottage, etc?

You guessed it all of them can be bundled! In fact most of our companies will require having at least one other piece of business from you in order to insure one of these toys. Bundling your property policies also extends the liability to your other property which brings me to my next point!

Add a Personal Umbrella Policy to the Mix

A personal what now? It is not even raining out, why would I need an umbrella? Ok smarty pants we get it! A personal umbrella gets its name as it is a liability policy that covers all your other policies. If you want to read up on what an umbrella policy is you should do that by clicking here. But we don’t have time to go into detail. All you need to know is this:

Let’s imagine you are involved in an auto insurance accident in which you are at fault. The damages or costs of the other person’s injuries are $2,400,000. That is a lot of money. Your auto policy only has a limit of $2,000,000. With an umbrella policy of say $1,000,000 it would pick up the excess from your auto policy which in this case is the $400,000. The same situation could apply on the home insurance side.

An Umbrella policy isn’t right for everyone but if you are a person who qualifies under any of these categories it may be worth looking into:

• If you own multiple properties or residences
• If you have a lot of recreational vehicles
• If you have a lot of personal assets
• If you own or operate your own business or practice
• If you are exposed to potential lawsuits more than average

Become a Valued Customer

Aren’t you already a valued customer? Of course you are! But the more policies you have with a certain company the more likely they are to accommodate you. For instance lets say you have your home and auto insurance together with the same company. You go out and buy a brand new Argo. Typically, that company will not insure an Argo as it doesn’t meet their underwriting guidelines. However, they see that you, a valued customer, have your home and auto with them; they may be more willing to look into writing the insurance for the Argo. Whereas, if you only had your car insurance with them they would likely decline you right away. Having that relationship and being viewed as important to the insurance company can go a long way. Now as a broker you don’t have to worry you are always important to us!

Simplify Your Life

To be honest this may be the best and most underrated aspect of bundling your insurance. Coming from an insurance broker we understand the frustration that can arise from dealing with multiple companies. You receive different paperwork, if you make a change on one thing you have to make a change on the other with a different company, your payments come out on different days and there are different rules, and the list goes on… The point being there is a lot to be said about making insurance as easy as possible for yourself, after all does anyone really like insurance? Bundling your insurance together can mean the convenience of paying one bill for all your policies, having one renewal date (only one time in the year you have to worry about insurance rather than several), and ultimately lowering your stress and living a better life. Ok that last one might be a bit aggressive but you get the point!

At the end of the day we want what is best for our clients. And if that means having your insurance with multiple companies so be it, we are happy to do so! But whenever we can bundle and it makes sense we are more than happy to do so. Ok we know all you care about is the discount so if you want to see a list of the companies we deal with who give a bundling discount you better check out or other page called: Our Company Discounts. You can thank us later!

Did you know?

Some of the companies we deal with will even give you a discount for bundling your home and auto insurance with your commercial insurance. That is even extra awesomeness!