I know that we've all seen the commercials online about bundling and how you can save a certain percent on your insurance. While this may sound simple enough to some people, there are others that are not fully understanding of the impact that bundling can do. Heck, even on the agent side, there may be times that your agent isn't even bundling correctly, meaning that you aren't getting the full value you are looking for.
So why bundle? There of course is the cost benefit in the amount that you can save, but there is also many other reason that can be just as important to you. Let's take a look.
Discounted Rates
The most common thing of all is going to be the discounted rate. When you bundle one or more items together you are going to get a discounted rate. Typically this will be anywhere between 5-15% depending on who you are going with. Now if you are out shopping around your insurance and are trying to get a bundle right from the start, it is pretty likely that it will be bundled correctly. But, what about if you already have a home somewhere, and you're wanting to add the auto? It will be incredibly easy to already have the discount applied to the auto insurance, but make sure that you are having your agent go to the home and get you an updated bundle price with the home as well.
A big key when looking at rates is look at the total cost. Perhaps Insurance Company A has your homeowners insurance already, and you're paying $1,500 for the year. Insurance Company B has your Auto insurance and it's just $100/month. When you go to shop it with Company A, their rate comes back at $105/month with the auto/home bundle. At first glance it may seem like you are paying more but it isn't the case. Check what the home rate would drop to. Let's assume that their is a 10% discount when you bundle. We need to take a look at the home and realize that you'll be saving $150/year with the home! So while you're paying an extra $5/month for your auto ($60/yr), you're saving $150 more on your home by bundling, so you're $90 better off by having it bundled together, even though your auto is more.
Convenience
You don't have to chase around multiple people multiple times/day. Say you park your cars outdoors and there ends up being a big hail storm at your house. Dents all over the vehicle, perhaps a cracked windshield, roof damage, maybe siding damage. It's a lot to take in. You already know that the insurance agencies will be having a busy few days and you're going to have to call in and jump in line with many others. Only problem is, you aren't bundled together, so you have multiple agencies to call to get taken care of.
Bundling helps avoid that mess altogether. With a bundle, you'll be able to have your agent take care of everything all in one place. No more calling multiple times and getting through after an hour or so of trying and leaving messages, just to repeat the process with the next agent. Let your one agent take care of everything by bundling to help give you more peace of mind and save some time out of your day for you.
Simplified Billing
Paying bills sucks. I don't like it, you don't like it, but it's a part of life that we can not get away from. Bundling together can help at least simplify the process just a bit. Typically when you have policies bundled together, they work on the same billing plan, so you just have 1 bill that you have to pay each month for insurance instead of multiple. With the growing popularity of automatic bank withdrawals, this does not have quite the impact it used, but for anyone who does still like to make manual payments either in person or online, this can be a nice benefit of one less thing to think about.
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