6 Advantages of Bundling Home and Auto Insurance
Bundling your home and auto insurance can be a great way to save some money while protecting your costly possessions. But cost savings are only one of many benefits of a home and auto insurance bundle.
Below, we’ll take a look at what bundling insurance means, what the key advantages of bundling are, and explore when bundling your home and auto insurance makes the most sense.
What does it mean to bundle insurance?
Bundling insurance means purchasing multiple policies from the same insurance company. For instance, you can bundle your homeowners and auto insurance. You can also bundle policies for a motorcycle, an RV, a boat, or a rental.
The goal of bundling is to offer you savings and the convenience of managing all your insurance policies under one roof.
Advantage #1: potential cost savings
When you bundle home and auto insurance, you can usually save a significant chunk of change. Insurance companies advertise savings ranging from 10% up to 40% when you bundle home and auto policies.
Considering a report by the Consumer Federation of America (CFA) shows the average yearly cost of homeowner’s insurance exceeds $3,000, it's easy to see how a multi-policy discount can save you hundreds.
In addition to insurance bundle savings, many companies offer insurance policy discounts to new customers. So, bundling your home and auto with a new company might be your best bet for maximizing savings.
Advantage #2: easy & convenient policy management
When you have your homeowners and auto insurance split up, you’ll need to use multiple websites and apps to manage your policies. This means separate logins, payment methods, and processes for managing your insurance products.
By bundling, you’ll have access to all of your policies in one convenient place. This lets you quickly view information about your policies, print/download proofs of insurance, and update your contact or payment information.
Advantage #3: consisitent claims & customer service
No one enjoys filing an insurance claim, but everything from a fender bender to a hail storm can result in a home or auto claim. When you bundle your insurance, the claims process is often more streamlined, especially if an event affects both your car and home.
For example, let’s say a storm knocks a tree onto your garage, damaging both your house and your vehicle. With bundled policies, you can file a claim more quickly compared to having to file individual claims with two different insurance companies.
With a home and auto insurance bundle, you’ll also benefit from one point of contact, which helps speed up the claims process.
Advantage #4: loyalty and protection against being dropped
As you build a long-term relationship with the company you are bundling insurance with, you could gain other loyalty-based benefits like:
- Low or waived deductibles
- Loyalty discounts
- Accident forgiveness
- Exclusive bonuses and rewards
When you have multiple insurance policies with onecompany, they may be less likely to penalize or drop you when you do have a claim. Gaining these protections and perks, however, may take several years.
Advantage #5: simplified billing
Managing both your auto and home insurance in one place can also simplify your billing. You can use a single payment method and set a single due date, rather than managing payments across different websites throughout the month. And, if your debit card expires, you can quickly update your payment information for both policies in one place.
Even if your homeowner's insurance is automatically paid from an escrow account, you still have one central place to view your coverage and the amount due.
Advantage #6: special bundle-only benefits & rewards
Customers who bundle home and auto insurance can also qualify for exclusive perks and enhanced coverage features, like
- Combined/single deductibles, which means you only pay one of your deductibles when filing a claim on both your home and auto at the same time
- Access to higher liability coverage amounts
- Exclusive roadside protection or car rental
- A price that gets locked in for a full year
- Access to special rewards or cashback programs
While different companies offer different benefits, these bonus perks can save you time, money, and stress.
Disadvantages to consider
From discounted pricing to exclusive rewards, there are many benefits to bundling your home and auto insurance. However, there are some potential downsides too. Here are a few disadvantages to bundling, along with insurance savings tips:
Lower prices for individual policies - Sometimes, home insurance might be cheapest with one company and home insurance with another. But saving a few bucks here might hurt your long-term savings.
When a bundle isn’t a bundle - Some home and auto bundles actually pair up two different insurance companies, one to cover your home and one to cover your vehicles. This type of bundle still offers cost savings but lacks the other advantages of bundling.
Increasing costs over time - When an insurance company raises rates, it can hit you especially hard when you have both your home and auto insurance through them. The good news is that you can always shop around for a new home and auto insurance bundle.
One-size-fits-all policies - Sometimes you are limited in the policy add-ons you can select when bundling polices. This is often done to make the process quick and easy. If you need a particular type of coverage or rider, then bundling might not be the best option.
You may have to switch insurance providers. Switching insurance companies can be a hassle, but if your current provider only offers one type of insurance, you may need to switch to take advantage of bundling.
When bundling makes sense
If you currently have your home and auto insurance with two different companies, bundling might save you both time and money. Bundling discounts are often hard to beat, and the convenience of managing your policies and claims in one place is certainly appealing.
Bundling home and auto policies can also be a good move for new homeowners or those already shopping around for better insurance rates.
How to bundle your insurance with Empower FCU
If you're ready to start saving money while protecting the things most important to you, check out insurance bundling through Empower FCU. From home and auto to umbrella and renters insurance coverage, Empower Insurance Services can help you find the coverage you need.