Switching Your Income Protection Insurance

Should you be switching your income protection insurance to another provider?

Value for money is an important part of most people’s decision-making when it comes to taking out a lifestyle protection policy. The usual approach for a prospective buyer is to look at a number of quotes and settle on the one that provides the best service for the best possible price.

Using a similar approach, most of us are more than capable of getting a good deal when we sign up to a policy. But how many of us are good at making sure we continue to get a good deal on our insurance after the papers are signed?

Major insurance companies know full well that most people are unwilling to go to the trouble of changing their insurance policy, and they use this to their advantage. Some will routinely put your premiums up by 5 or 10 percent each year, which might not seem like much, but means that within a few years you could be paying significantly more than you signed up for.

The solution to this is to be a smarter consumer and learn to know your market. The insurers who are out to rip you off are relying on your ignorance of the industry, so deny them this advantage by ensuring you know what price other insurers are offering if you switch over to them.

You don’t need to spend a long time researching, just call a couple of rival providers and see what they would offer you for a policy similar to your current one. Armed with this knowledge, you can then go back to your own provider and ask if they will match the lowest price you have found. If they say yes, you can stay put, but if they refuse, you simply take your business elsewhere.

With the economy as bad as it is at the moment, Britons of all incomes are tightening their belts and starting to feel that every penny counts. The latest figures from the economy reveal the extent to which people are suffering from the current downturn, with on average more than 1,764 people in the UK being made redundant every day. On top of that, on any single day there are estimated to be 101 properties being repossessed and 331 people being declared bankrupt.

These terrible statistics show two things – firstly the need to have a good income protection policy as a safety net against bankruptcy, and secondly the importance of making savings wherever you can in order to stop your expenditures getting out of control. Paying over the odds for lifestyle protection is just as bad as overpaying for a car, a house or your weekly groceries, and when these things all add up they can be part of a slippery slope towards financial ruin.

Switching insurance provider need not be as daunting as it sounds, and if it saves you hundreds of pounds it will surely be worth it! You may not even have to pay a switching charge – all it will cost you to switch is a little bit of time and effort.