How to save on home insurance: a renewal checklist that cuts the price

Since 1 January 2022, FCA rules have banned "price walking": your renewal quote cannot be higher than the price the same insurer would charge a new customer for the same cover through the same channel. Insurers must also make it easy to cancel automatic renewal.

What the rules do not do is make every insurer charge the same. Different insurers price risk differently, so a competitor may still be much cheaper than your renewal. They also do not stop your price rising if the insurer's costs go up, or stop you being on a policy with more or less cover than you need. That is why the checks below still matter.

Buildings insurance should cover the cost of rebuilding your home from scratch, including demolition, site clearance and professional fees. That is usually very different from what the house would sell for, because it excludes the land. Your mortgage valuation may show a reinstatement figure, and the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors offers a free online rebuild cost calculator for many standard homes.

Getting this right matters both ways. Over-insuring wastes money, while under-insuring can mean the insurer reduces a claim in proportion to the shortfall. If you rent, you only need contents cover; see our contents insurance guide for renters.

Walk round each room and estimate what it would cost to replace everything new, including clothes, furniture, kitchen items and electronics. Many people underestimate this. Then list any single item worth more than the policy's single-item limit (often jewellery, watches, bikes or musical instruments) and name it on the policy, otherwise it may only be partly covered.

Check whether you really need "personal possessions" cover for items taken outside the home. It can be useful for phones and bikes, but it adds to the premium and you may already have cover elsewhere.

Your insurer must send your renewal notice before the policy ends, usually around three weeks ahead. Start comparing as soon as it arrives rather than the day before, as quotes taken at the last minute can be dearer. Use at least two comparison sites, because no single site covers the whole market, and check a couple of insurers that only sell direct. Then call your current insurer with the best quote and ask whether it can match it.

Buying buildings and contents together from one insurer is often cheaper and avoids disputes about which policy pays for damage such as a leak that affects both. But it is not always the best deal, so get a combined quote and separate quotes for each and add them up.

Raising your voluntary excess usually lowers the premium, but only choose an amount you could pay tomorrow without borrowing. An emergency fund of even a few hundred pounds makes a higher excess safer. Then look at each optional extra in turn:

Paying monthly is often set up as a credit agreement, so you pay interest on top of the premium. The renewal documents should show both the annual and the monthly total; compare them to see the real cost of spreading payments. If you cannot pay in one go, put aside a twelfth of the premium every month so that next year you can. Our guide to annual versus monthly premiums explains how to work out the difference, and the savings goal calculator sets the monthly amount. SYM can turn that monthly figure into a small daily habit.