Smart Home Devices and Homeowners Insurance: Saving Money and Staying Safe
Insurance companies love homes where risks are minimized. What they care about are steps taken to prevent fire and smoke damage, burst water pipes, break-ins, vandalism, and other expensive calamities.
These kind of risks are unpleasant for your insurer because they usually result in costly claims against insurance policies. As a homeowner, there are ways you can defend against such activity and keep your homeowners insurance premiums lower.
You could have at least one family member patrolling your house, inside and out, 24/7, to keep your shelter and family safe and the claim activity down.
Not really practical? Don’t worry. Today, there’s a better solution in smart home technology.
What Is Smart Home Technology?
It’s a term that encompasses a multitude of high-tech devices that connect with your home’s Wi-Fi system and can be monitored and controlled by an app. Homeowners upload the app onto their smartphones or computers — or both — to use those home-installed devices even when they’re countless miles away from the family house.
Smart devices that operate this way include adjusting thermostats, burglar and carbon monoxide detectors and alarms, surveillance cameras, and even devices that perform such routine tasks as opening and closing drapes.
These home devices are inexpensive and easy to install and connect to your Internet system. Just double-check with your insurer to see if your homeowners policy covers these DIY tasks.
In addition to enabling you to, in effect, spy on your house when you’re away, these smart devices for home help reduce the threat of burglars and vandals and make your house safer and more energy efficient.
The Connection Between Smart Devices and Insurance Discounts
Remember how insurance companies love lower risk homes? That was defined as homes that stay safe and free of risks that your homeowners insurance covers but result in high-cost claims. Guess what? Avoiding that risk is what smart devices do best.
How Safety Equals Savings With Smart Technology
Imagine you and your family are on a two-week island cruise during spring break and want to keep your house safe. You’re thousands of miles away. Sure, you might have a neighbor keep an eye on your place whenever they think of it, but that’s hardly a 24-hour sentinel.
You can also turn on a few lamps, but that wastes energy and might be a dead giveaway to a suspicious person who notices that your lights are on during the day and in the middle of the night.
Now imagine you could turn those lights on and off as often as you felt was appropriate. You could open and close the drapes in accordance with the time of day. Imagine that you had cameras posted on the front and back of your house and in some rooms, and you could monitor them all from your phone whenever you felt like it. If you saw suspicious activity, you could suddenly turn on exterior lights, activate alarms, call your local police department — or do all three.
You could also use your smart home technology to watch for fires, smoke, or burst water pipe damage, even while lolling on a Caribbean beach.
In addition to making your house safer, they also make your insurance company happier. That’s likely to result in you paying less for your homeowners insurance.
Elevating Home Security With Smart Devices
It’s not just a matter of making your house safer when you’re thousands of miles away. With smart home technology, you’ll feel better protected when you’re right there, too.
Deterring Intruders With Intelligent Gadgets
You hear a noise in the middle of the night. Was it footsteps?
If you have a range of smart devices for home, you have several response options, all of which start with simply picking up your phone and clicking on your home device app. You can turn on the lights, activate a burglar alarm, and monitor your house from cameras in various rooms.
What if most of the family is away, but one teenager is left alone for the weekend? Your smart cameras can be on the lookout for unauthorized parties or other suspicious activity. (The mere fact that your child knows those cameras are posted might alone reduce the risk of the sort of festivities that usually end with local cops paying a visit.)
Instant Alerts and Remote Monitoring for Peace of Mind
Do your kids come home to an empty house after school? Working parents often experience this, and it can be stressful for everyone involved. Parents worry about their kids being alone, and every scary sound might rattle the kids.
What if someone rings the doorbell? Do you really want your young children talking to strangers on the front porch? If you have a smart security system that alerts you whenever the doorbell rings, you can “answer” it from your phone and communicate with your visitor. You handle it remotely so the kids at the house don’t have to open a door or be involved. In this way, you can also monitor home package delivery and reduce the risk of theft.
This is just another example of how home automation makes your family safer, boosting your peace of mind.
Energy Management and Efficiency
You’ll love paying less for your homeowners insurance. But that’s not the only savings you’ll get with your investment in home automation. Here are a few more examples.
Smart Thermostats: Tailoring Temperature for Cost Reduction
Are you cooling an empty house in the summertime or making it nice and toasty-warm for no one in the winter?
Of course, you could save money by turning the air conditioning off during the middle of the day or keeping your house just barely warm enough to avoid freezing your water pipes when you’re not home in the winter. But then the family returns to an uncomfortable house or wastes additional energy (and money) by dialing way up or down to comfort levels as soon as you come home.
Or maybe the kids are home hours before you, and they either over-adjust the thermostat or don’t know how to operate it at all, so they have to sit in the chilly air or sweltering heat until you get back.
No more. With a smart thermostat device, you can gradually raise or lower the temperature. Keep the thermostat at its most cost-efficient setting while no one’s home, but start to adjust the setting a half hour or so before you get home.
You’ll be amazed at the energy savings you can get with a smart thermostat that will very quickly pay for itself.
Energy-Saving Lighting and Appliance Control
Did you leave that kitchen burner on when you left the house this morning? Will you return to a house in flames (or get to experience your smart smoke alarm)? Not if you have smart appliances. Just check your phone for peace of mind. Or to turn off a burner that you did indeed leave on.
You can also program your coffeemaker so that you come home to the welcoming scent of fresh coffee beans. Smart plugs make even an antique lamp “smart.” Turn it off and on with a click of your app or a voice command.
The takeaway is that there’s a smart digital solution to just about everything you do around the home. A solution — or several — that can make you feel safer, save money, and waste less energy, and definitely make your life easier and less labor-intensive.
Disaster Prevention and Mitigation
Consider these two uncomfortable facts of life:
- Home disasters cost money.
- Claims on your homeowners insurance can raise your premiums.
Now you understand how smart devices can save you money, often more than paying for your investments in the technology. As a most valuable added bonus, some smart devices can save the lives of your family members. Take a closer look.
Leak Detectors and Water Sensors to Avert Costly Damage
Water is your friend until it’s not. Slow leaks in your water pipes can create mold and mildew and even damage the structural integrity of your house. Here’s the rub: the damage occurs just a few drops at a time.
Sometimes, the water damage is more sudden and severe, such as a burst water pipe.
Smart leak sensors and water sensors alert you to water flow problems when the damage is minor and the cost negligible. You can get this information while at home, at work, or far away. All it takes is a clever device, a smartphone, and an app.
Smoke and CO Detectors Save Lives and Property
Smoke and, especially, carbon monoxide are silent killers. They can strike while your family is asleep and totally defenseless. Learning the leading causes of house fires and being prepared with proactive steps and the right smart home apps will protect you and your loved ones. Just one fire claim can make your homeowners policy virtually unaffordable.
Once again, you can find cheap and easy-to-install smart technology solutions. Set alerts on your phone and program it to call 9-1-1 when either of the two deadly risks is detected.
Insurance Perks of a Connected Home
Before you make your first investment in smart home technology, call your homeowners insurance agent. You’ll find that many digital upgrades equal getting smart home insurance at much lower rates than your standard homeowners insurance policy.
That’s because your house is both safer and better monitored with today’s smart devices for the home. Ask your agent which devices will lower rates the most.
If you’re doing business with independent homeowners insurance agents, they represent multiple brand-name insurance carriers. That means they can help you find the best rates from insurers that offer discounts for the adoption of home technology.
Secure Your House and Save
At Acceptance, you’ll meet independent homeowners insurance agents who know the value of upgrading to smart home technology. We’ll point you to the devices that will result in maximum premium discounts and make your safe and secure home more comfortable and energy-efficient as well.
Call us at 877-405-7102 or get a quick homeowners insurance quote online. You can also find an Acceptance Insurance office near you.
