This week:House Insurance

1 Revise rebuild cost:Make sure the cover you have for rebuilding reflects the changed reality of lower construction costs and not some nominal price decided upon at the height of the boom. Insurance companies tend to increase the amount of your buildings and contents cover each year to prevent you from being under-insured but, when prices are falling, cover may need to be revised downwards rather than up. Check the Society of Chartered Surveyors' guide to house rebuilding costs at http://url.ie/2wa4.

2 Ring around:When it comes to renewal always ring a number of companies and brokers and, if you get a lower quote, go back to your initial insurer and see if they will match it.

3 Checklist for quotes:The Financial Regulator has a checklist of questions that will help when sourcing the best quotes – http://url.ie/2w9w. The site also has a list of price comparisons based on certain case studies – http://url.ie/2w9z.

4 Excess discounts:Generally speaking, you can significantly reduce your premiums by agreeing to a higher excess amount on the policy. Hibernian Aviva gives a 2.5 per cent discount to those who agree to an excess of €200, while Allianz also gives a discount if the excess is increased to €500. Be warned that this may come back to haunt you if something actually goes wrong.

5 Online discounts:Insurance companies want you to do your business over the web because it costs them less and many offer discounts to online customers. Allianz offers a €65 discount when you buy a new policy with them online, while AIB gives an online discount of 10 per cent.