12 tips for buying life insurance online
Is it possible to buy life insurance online? Should you? Our detailed tips could help you stay ahead and net yourself the best life insurance deal.
Years ago, before the rise of the internet, independent financial advisers were an integral part of the process of buying life insurance. Multiple insurers offering a huge range of nuanced products meant that any normal person who wanted to get the right policy might need some kind of guide or translator throughout the process.
Thankfully, nowadays it’s never been easier to set up a tailored policy online, saving the time, effort, and, importantly, the extra cost of using a financial adviser. To stay competitive, many insurers pass on those savings to consumers, resulting in cheaper life insurance for all.
That being said, it might still be a bit of a jungle out there, so we’ve compiled a list of tips and hints to help you get the very most out of setting up life insurance online…
Do your homework on how life insurance works
If you’re completely new to buying life insurance, taking the time to sit down and learn the basics could pay dividends later. Picking up on the life insurance industry terminology, types of life insurance and the purposes life insurance could mean you’ll end up with a much more informed perspective when you begin to…
Compare life insurance
Because it’s so quick and easy to get a life insurance quote online these days, insurers may try a few tricks to get you to go with their offer and make you feel like you’ve found what you’re looking for. Steel yourself, and keep looking until you’re absolutely sure you’ve found not just a good price, but also the life insurance policy that best suits your specific needs. It can’t hurt to compare too many offers!
Be sure you’re getting an accurate quote
Any insurer worth their salt goes to great lengths to make the process of giving you a life insurance quote as quick and easy as possible. However, a responsible insurer also makes sure their quote is based on all the information they need.
That means taking a reasonable amount of information from you. If they don’t ask certain questions, for example regarding your family medical history, the quote you end up with could be artificially low, compared to their actual offer when they have collected all the information they need.
A quick life insurance quote will be based on a short number of basic questions, however your final figure based on medical and lifestyle information will be more accurate.
Be honest
This should go without saying, but don’t give into the temptation of conveniently forgetting about certain details, or fudging the numbers when it comes to how long you’ve given up smoking. Doing so even at the quote stage could have a knock-on effect that could void your life insurance policy in the event of your death.
Check the insurer’s financial rating
If you’re not certain whether a life insurance provider or underwriter is a good fit for you or not (our underwriter is Family Assurance Friendly Society Limited), check their financial rating from an independent agency like A.M. Best. You need to know you’re trusting the security of your loved ones to a reputable company, and a good rating might give you that peace of mind.
Read reviews from other users
Nobody knows how pleasant a life insurance company is to deal with quite like those who’ve used them in the past. Price comparison sites and consumer watchdog groups should have dedicated places for users to post reviews of different companies. So, if you’re having a hard time choosing between a few insurers, take a peek at what others are saying about Beagle Street.
Are your life insurance needs too specific for online?
The best life insurance is always tailored around an individual’s particular needs. Only you know what those needs are, so if you’re looking at setting up life insurance online and something doesn’t seem quite right; trust your gut. Give the insurer a call and they should be able to help with a more detailed assessment.
Once you’ve got a quote up on your screen, take a screenshot and squirrel it away on your computer. That way you’ll have proof of a certain offer being made to you, in the event of details being lost or any other errors being made.
Be sure you’ll be able to review or amend a life insurance policy
With choices of policy lengths ranging from 5 to 40 years for term life insurance and some providers offering Whole Life Assurance (which provides cover until you die), you may want to leave wiggle room for if and when your circumstances change by taking out a series of shorter term policies to meet your needs at each stage of your life. Getting married, having children, changing careers or a different mortgage amount could all have an effect on your life insurance requirements. If your circumstances change and can’t alter your life insurance policy, then you could consider cancelling your policy and starting again, although this may have an effect on your premium as you will be older.
Be realistic about your life insurance needs
Under-insuring yourself could be as big a mistake as over-insuring and paying too much for premiums. Consider what source of income you’d be replacing with your life insurance, who you want to protect financially and what it should realistically take to secure their lifestyle.
Don’t use a ballpark ‘rule of thumb’ kind of figure – take time to do the maths and figure out exactly what’s going to work best for your family’s circumstances.
Be ready to swoop on a good deal
With enough research under your belt, you’ll be able to build a picture in your mind of what a good life insurance deal looks like. From there, you could be ready to take advantage of any particularly good limited marketing offers which you might come across. Don’t be afraid to get the ball rolling!
Check whether you’ll be able to write your life insurance in a Trust
There could be all sorts of benefits to getting your life insurance written in Trust, including giving you greater control over how the pay-out is spent, as well as speed and tax efficiency. When you’re browsing different policies, check whether you could get your life insurance written in this way, to make sure you’ve got the option.
Cheap online life insurance from Beagle Street
By shopping online and exercising a bit of savvy, you could find the best life insurance deal for your needs without leaving your house. To find the best life insurance company for your circumstances it’s all a matter of keeping your eyes open and knowing what you need.
At Beagle Street, we make this as easy as possible with our online life insurance quote tool, which is designed to give you a speedy glimpse of how much life insurance could cost you in under 60 seconds.
If you’re thinking about taking the first steps towards securing peace of mind for yourself and your loved ones, contact the Beagle Street team on 0800 048 0480.
