Are you ready for a couple of home truths? Here goes!
1. The best essential services provider for you is not always the cheapest option.
2. The best essential services provider for you is not always the one with all the bells and whistles.
When we’re shopping around for service providers, sometimes we get distracted by the price, and sometimes we get distracted by the fancy features. Especially when we’re talking to sales people – they like to distract us with both of those things!
But the best way to find the perfect provider for your essential services, is to start by working out exactly what your NEEDS are.
So how can you do this?
I’m glad you asked!
I’ve put together a list of questions for each of the most common essential services. Ask yourself these questions to identify your needs BEFORE you even start shopping around, and it will become so much easier to work out which services are a good fit.
Taking the time to do this means you can choose providers which give you all the benefits or coverage you actually need, and can avoid paying for stuff you and your family DON’T need.
Yes, you need to spend a bit of time to do this but trust me when I say that this approach will save you time AND money in the long run. And in this busy world we live in saving time while saving money is something we all like to do more of.
These are the types of questions I ask my Home Bill Saver clients (plus a bunch more), before I start researching the best essential services providers to save them as much money as possible, while still meeting their individual needs.
Ready? Okay – here goes.
Electricity
1. Are you and your family away from home for most of the day (at work or at school) or is there usually a responsible adult at home during the day?
2. Do you have a solar system installed?
3. Do you have a smart meter installed? Don’t worry if you don’t know what a smart meter is, you can click here to find out more.
Home Insurance
1. What specific events do you need to be covered for? For example, if you live up in the hills and are not near a lake, then you are less likely to need flood insurance than someone who lives at sea level.
2. To what standard is your home built? This is a critical one! We all know that insurance companies are in the business of making money, so when they do pay out a claim they want to pay out as little as possible. That’s why it’s really important to let your insurer know about any non-standard things you have in your home when getting a quote or taking out a policy. Of course, this will increase the annual cost but it will also protect you from bitter disappointment if the worst happens. Say you have a fire in your kitchen and you originally had marble or stone benchtops. If you didn’t note this on your insurance policy, then your insurer has an excuse not to replace your benchtops with the same materials and you might end up with laminate benchtops instead.
3. What home security do you have? Do you have a security system installed on your doors and windows? Do you have an alarm? Is it monitored? What about deadlocks? These things can all make a difference.
Health Insurance
1. What are the main things you want to be covered for? It seems like a simple question, but it’s really not! The next few questions will help you narrow down your answer to this one.
2. When it comes to hospital insurance, do you need insurance coverage for reproductive or pregnancy services? If you’ve finished adding to your family, or won’t be having children, you may not need these options. Coverage for reproductive and pregnancy services can add hundreds of dollars to your insurance costs so if you don’t need it, then don’t be covered for it!
3. With extras, you should consider not only which extras you need, but also the amount of benefit you receive for the services you require. Take physiotherapy, for example. There may be two funds that both cover you for physiotherapy and cost about the same. But if one fund pays out $30 per visit and the other pays out $37 per visit then it’s obvious which one you should choose. The comparison is not always this straightforward, but you get the idea!
4. What occupations are you and your family members in? There are some funds out there that only cover members of a particular industry. These funds may give you many more benefits or save you money or both. Bonus!
5. How many people need to be covered by the policy? Many insurers now offer couples-only insurance which is perfect if your kids are working full-time or have already left home. It may not be a huge saving, but every little bit helps, right?
Car Insurance
1. How many kilometres do you travel on average each year? The less kilometres you travel, the less likely you are to have an accident, and that makes a difference to the cost of your insurance.
2. Where is your car parked at night and during the day? Is your car locked up in a garage at night or do you park out on the street or in your driveway? When you go to school or work, do you park in a secured parking garage or do you leave your car out on the street? Where you park makes a difference to the chances of your car being stolen or broken into, which of course has an impact on the cost of your insurance policy.
BONUS TIP: if you have more than one car in your family. Don’t assume that if they offer you the cheapest insurance for one car, that they will offer you the cheapest insurance for your other cars. Make sure you review the insurance for EACH car in your family because insurance companies can be sneaky like that!
Mobile Phone
1. How frequently do you travel outside of the main metropolitan areas?
2. Do you mainly use your phone to send text messages or make phone calls?
3. Do you ever make international phone calls?
4. Do you use your phone to stream music, watch videos or play online games?
Internet
1. How many devices in your home could be using the internet at the same time? Make sure you think about mobile phones, laptops, desktop computers, smart TVs, tablets and anything else that connects to the internet. Don’t forget that some appliances are internet-enabled these days!
2. Does anyone in your household play online games?
3. Would you be willing to pay more for your internet if you received priority service and prompt resolution when something went wrong? This could be important if you run a business from home, for example, or when the season finale of your favourite show is coming up!
Yes, it does take quite a lot of time to work through all of these questions.
But it is totally worth it to make sure you are meeting your specific needs AND getting the best possible deal on all of your bills.
If it still sounds like too much effort, let me do it for you!
When I review essential services bills for my clients, I consider all of the answers to these questions and more, then I find you the best plan at the cheapest price. And my money-back guarantee means you will ALWAYS save more than it costs you to hire me!
Click here [LINK] to get in touch today.