Yes, there is an easy way to earn over $3000 an hour. It is a simple, tried and tested strategy. But you can only do it once a year.
So in it’s most simplistic form. When your house
and contents insurance renewal comes due, ring your current insurer and tell them you would like to cancel the renewal and change to a different company. They will offer you a heavily discounted premium to stay with them. Accept the discount (or try your luck and cancel anyway to see if they lower it further), and save yourself a few hundred dollars.
This year my insurer took off over $300. The phone call lasted less than 5 minutes. At $300 for 5 minutes "work", this comes to $3600 per hour. In my case the new premium was lower than any other quote I had received so I stayed with my current insurer, but if it wasn’t I could have switched to a company that was still offering a premium about $300 less than my renewal offer.
Of course if you wanted to go one step further you could compare a few different home and contents insurance options from different companies. Look at what sort of excess you would be comfortable with (I generally go with a high excess), what a fair replacement value for your house would be and consider how much your contents are worth, so that you know what you could expect to pay with other insurers.
How much are your contents worth?
I no longer insure my contents at replacement value because in the worst case
scenario, if everything was completely destroyed, I wouldn’t want to replace
half of the stuff I’ve accumulated. Yes, I have accumulated excessive amounts of
“stuff” that I thought I needed or just plain wanted, but now I have this
“stuff” I don’t use it or realise my life would be just as great without it. So by reducing the value of my contents insurance to replace just the things I would want to replace I can save
another few hundred dollars. I hope one day that I will have enough savings that I may be able to get rid of contents insurance completely, but at this stage I still crave a bit of comfort, so we will just have to wait and see.
So next time your insurance is up for renewal, take 5 minutes to make a phone call, it could be the easiest money you will ever make.
UPDATE 5/6/2014
My car insurance renewal came due. I drive a 3 door hatchback to and from work. My wife has a midsize car, which we use for longer trips. I only have third party property on my car as it does less than 5000 km a year and is getting close to 15 years old now. I checked online quotes from a few insurance companies. One was $35.83 less than my current insurer ($130 compared to $165). I rang my current insurer but they were not able to match the price, so I switched. Took about 30 minutes in total so earned me about $70 an hour after tax. I would think that most drivers pay more than this for their insurance so their savings should be much higher.
So in it’s most simplistic form. When your house
and contents insurance renewal comes due, ring your current insurer and tell them you would like to cancel the renewal and change to a different company. They will offer you a heavily discounted premium to stay with them. Accept the discount (or try your luck and cancel anyway to see if they lower it further), and save yourself a few hundred dollars.
This year my insurer took off over $300. The phone call lasted less than 5 minutes. At $300 for 5 minutes "work", this comes to $3600 per hour. In my case the new premium was lower than any other quote I had received so I stayed with my current insurer, but if it wasn’t I could have switched to a company that was still offering a premium about $300 less than my renewal offer.
Of course if you wanted to go one step further you could compare a few different home and contents insurance options from different companies. Look at what sort of excess you would be comfortable with (I generally go with a high excess), what a fair replacement value for your house would be and consider how much your contents are worth, so that you know what you could expect to pay with other insurers.
How much are your contents worth?
I no longer insure my contents at replacement value because in the worst case
scenario, if everything was completely destroyed, I wouldn’t want to replace
half of the stuff I’ve accumulated. Yes, I have accumulated excessive amounts of
“stuff” that I thought I needed or just plain wanted, but now I have this
“stuff” I don’t use it or realise my life would be just as great without it. So by reducing the value of my contents insurance to replace just the things I would want to replace I can save
another few hundred dollars. I hope one day that I will have enough savings that I may be able to get rid of contents insurance completely, but at this stage I still crave a bit of comfort, so we will just have to wait and see.
So next time your insurance is up for renewal, take 5 minutes to make a phone call, it could be the easiest money you will ever make.
UPDATE 5/6/2014
My car insurance renewal came due. I drive a 3 door hatchback to and from work. My wife has a midsize car, which we use for longer trips. I only have third party property on my car as it does less than 5000 km a year and is getting close to 15 years old now. I checked online quotes from a few insurance companies. One was $35.83 less than my current insurer ($130 compared to $165). I rang my current insurer but they were not able to match the price, so I switched. Took about 30 minutes in total so earned me about $70 an hour after tax. I would think that most drivers pay more than this for their insurance so their savings should be much higher.