Property owners in Britain are overpaying on their home insurance by a collective £1.3billion. So how can they drive their premiums down?

Research from a comparison website shows that despite consumers discovering how easy it is to compare policies online and save money on car insurance, they are not applying the same philosophy to home insurance. In 2008, just seven per cent of motorists who were also homeowners bothered to check to see if they could save money on their home insurance by shopping around online.

Incredibly, 44 per cent of homeowners have not reviewed their home insurance policies in the last five years. This is despite the fact that the UK home insurance market has exploded thanks to the growth in popularity of comparison websites which allow homeowners to compare quotes from dozens of providers with one search.

As a rule it pays to check your home insurance at least once a year and compare it to other deals on the market. That is because insurers typically push up premiums at renewal time while offering their best deals to new customers. In particular, bargains are to be found online where insurers pay less on overheads.

If you’re stuck in the middle of a lengthy home insurance contract and would have to pay extra to get out of it, then there are still ways to save.

Examine your policy carefully and consider whether you’re paying for any protection you don’t really need. While it’s not advisable to decrease your cover levels, you can at least review what you’re paying for to see if anything on the policy is unnecessary – for example, why pay for personal possessions cover if you don’t take any valuables out of the home?