Important tips on getting the maximum value for your insurance premium.

When talking to your insurance adviser about signing up for an insurance policy, it is important to figure out how much cover you actually need. There is no point asking for $30,000 worth of cover if you only have $15,000 worth of items and/or property. This is important because if you do need to make a claim. Your claim must be legitimate and only the contents stated that are missing or destroyed should be claimed. If you try to claim on items that you didn't have to begin with, you could lose everything.

The next step is to decide on what circumstances you need the insurance for. For example, for medical cover, house and contents insurance or car insurance. If you have an old car that is not worth that much and you dont mind it being dented every once in while. You should consider third party cover. Third party insurance covers whatever damage you make to the car you crash into. The insurance does not cover damages for your own vehicle if you are found liable for the crash. However, if you are a good driver and do not care if your car gets damaged, you can significantly decrease your insurance premium with this option. It's best if you play it safe and go for the comprehensive car cover.

Another important issue when deciding on an insurance policy is declaring important or valuable items such as family heirlooms, jewellery and other personal items that have significant value to them. If these items are high value items, your policy premium may increase due to the extra requirements needed. This may be a pain, but consider that you will be covered for all of your valuable items. You should also update your policy as soon as you purchase a valuable item or receive a family heirloom to ensure these items are covered.

Updating your personal details is important to an insurance company. If you neglect informing your insurance company about important issues such as postal address. You could miss an insurance payment and risk losing your insurance cover. Other important information required is if you have a minor driving a car that you have insured. This will obviously increase your insurance bill, but it will also cover your son/daugther driving your car.

Read insurance policies carefully and ask your spouse or a legal advisor to check these policies before you sign up to them. Insurance companies provide cunning ways of creating clauses in their contracts to mitigate (lessen) their payouts to the policyholder. It is important that you read the clauses carefully and understand and ask questions on what they mean exactly. This will prevent you from finding the hard way and losing your cover. When you have signed your insurance contract you should follow and abide by all the clauses to ensure you will receive your insurance payout when all goes wrong.