Home, car, health… Insurance has an important part in the budget of French households. According to SFAM figures, the average budget allocated to insurance is between 1720 and 1750 euros per year. Only here it is: this sum could be much lower if you got rid of useless insurances which glean your portfolio…
Marion Plasse, editorial manager of the lesfurets insurance comparator, shares her expert advice on how to properly sort out duplicates, useless guarantees and superfluous covers… And therefore make precious savings on your budget.
Marion Plasse. Some insurance is essential because it is legally required. This is the case of land motor vehicle insurance. The owner of a car, a motorized two-wheeler, a truck or even a utility vehicle must subscribe to it. Home insurance, too, is mandatory for tenants. For owners, it is not mandatory but highly recommended.
Marion Plasse. Complementary health insurance, for example. Only employees on a permanent contract in a private company are required to do so. But everyone should subscribe to it. There is also loan insurance: the law does not require it, but when it comes to large loans, banks may refuse if you do not take out any insurance.
Marion Plasse. Civil liability is the classic duplicate. People subscribe to it when it is already included in all home insurance contracts. It also often overlaps with school insurance. If your children live under your roof, you do not need school insurance.
People are particularly recommended to find out about their credit card insurance. Often, other specific insurances are wrongly taken out. This is the case for trips: you take out cancellation, loss of luggage, repatriation guarantees…. Always paying attention to the conditions. Sometimes warranties apply only to goods and services purchased with the card in question, or only protect the cardholder.
How to get rid of all these useless insurances?
Marion Plasse. Unfortunately, there is no magic solution. The only way is to read all your contracts carefully, and ask your insurer if you have any doubts. It is necessary to check the small lines without neglecting certain clauses. In home insurance, certain guarantees are optional. for damage and theft of property, for example, the insurance does not necessarily cover property outside the home.
Marion Plasse. Policyholders are encouraged to review their contracts every year: check that their situation has not changed, first. For a car, it may happen that it is used much less, or that the car is older. So there will be less need for global coverage. You have to check your needs and take stock.
With the new laws that allow you to terminate your contracts after one year free of charge, everyone is also encouraged to regularly compare offers to find cheaper insurance.