The Savings Sitting Quietly on Your Renewal — and How to Ask for Them
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Your home insurer is not going to call you to mention that you're paying more than you need to. Most of us give the annual renewal a quick glance, confirm the number hasn't jumped too badly, and click renew — and in doing so, we quietly leave money on the table year after year. The discounts you've earned often sit there unclaimed, simply because no one thought to ask.
Some of these are genuinely surprising: there's a discount just for paying off your mortgage, and at least one major Canadian insurer has handed customers a free water sensor to lower their risk. By the time you reach the bottom of this list, you'll probably spot two or three you can claim with a single phone call — so it's worth reading right to the last one, because the easiest savings tend to be the ones people skip.
If you own a car and a home but insure them with two different companies, this is usually the fastest win available to you. When you place both policies with the same insurer — often called a multi-line or multi-product discount — they reward you with a lower rate on each, because keeping more of your business under one roof reduces their administrative costs and makes you far more likely to stay. The Insurance Bureau of Canada points to bundling as one of the most reliable ways to bring your home premium down, according to the Insurance Bureau of Canada.
How much you'll save depends on the company and your profile, but many Canadian insurers offer somewhere in the range of 10 to 20 per cent off each policy, and a few advertise higher ceilings. The catch is simple: the eligible policies need to live with the same insurer, and that headline "up to" figure is a maximum, not a promise.
If you want a sense of the bigger picture on premiums, our guide to why Canada's home insurance rates are rising and how to save is a useful companion. The question to ask your insurer: "If I move my auto policy here too, what's my combined multi-line discount?"
Insurers love predictability, and the best predictor of a future claim is a past one. So if you've gone several years without filing, many companies will quietly reward that track record with a claims-free discount — and it's often one of the largest credits on the page. Co-operators, for example, lists a claims-free credit among its home insurance savings and encourages customers who've never made a claim to ask about it.
The savings can be substantial. Depending on the insurer and how long you've been claim-free, the discount commonly lands somewhere between roughly 5 and 30 per cent, and TD Insurance reports that new claims-free customers saved an average of about 25 per cent on their home premium, with the figure varying by region and number of years without a claim.
Here's the catch worth remembering: a single small claim can reset that clock, which is why it sometimes makes sense to pay a minor loss out of pocket rather than surrender years of discount — especially as premiums keep climbing across the country. The question to ask: "What's my claims-free discount, and how many years until the next tier?"
Paying off your mortgage is a milestone worth celebrating — and it turns out your insurer may celebrate it too. A number of Canadian insurers offer a mortgage-free discount, built on the idea that owners who fully own their homes tend to maintain them carefully and file fewer or smaller claims. It shows up as a genuine rating factor in Canadian pricing, not a marketing gimmick, and where it's offered it can shave up to around 20 per cent off your premium.
The frustrating part is that this discount is rarely applied on its own — you usually have to tell your insurer the mortgage is gone, because nothing in your file updates automatically when the bank stops holding your title. It also tends to apply to owner-occupied or rented dwellings rather than tenant policies, so eligibility depends on both your ownership status and the insurer's rules. If you've recently made that final payment, don't let the moment pass without a quick call. The question to ask: "I've paid off my mortgage — do you offer a mortgage-free discount?"
A good security system does two jobs at once: it protects your home, and it protects your insurer's bottom line. Because monitored alarms reduce both how often claims happen and how severe they become — catching a break-in, a fire, or a burst pipe early — insurers are happy to share some of that reduced risk with you. As Co-operators notes, an approved burglar or fire alarm can qualify you for a protection-system discount, typically in the range of about 5 to 15 per cent.
The critical catch is the word monitored. Insurers generally reserve these discounts for systems that are professionally or centrally monitored by a third party — the kind that automatically alerts a monitoring station or the fire department. A do-it-yourself system that only pings your phone usually won't qualify on its own, and your insurer will often want to see the monitoring certificate as proof. If you've installed or upgraded a system recently, this is an easy one to flag. The question to ask: "Does my monitored alarm qualify for a discount, and do you need the monitoring certificate?"
Water damage has quietly become one of the most common and costly home insurance claims in Canada, which is exactly why insurers have started rewarding the small devices that prevent it. Flow monitors that sit on your main water line, automatic shut-off valves, and simple leak-and-freeze sensors can all catch a problem before it becomes a flooded basement. Some insurers go further than a discount: Chubb offers price breaks and, in some cases, policy credits for approved leak-detection systems, and Desjardins has run an Alert program that provides eligible home and condo customers with smart water and freeze sensors to reduce water-damage losses.
The catch here is variety: the type of incentive, the amount, and whether it's available at all can differ widely from one insurer and province to the next. It's also worth pairing a sensor with good prevention basics — our guide to backwater valves in Canada covers another defence against water entering your home. Since leak detection is still relatively uncommon in Canadian homes, this is a discount many readers have never even been offered. The question to ask: "Do you offer a discount or a free sensor for a water leak detection device?"
There's something comforting about staying with the same insurer for years, and many companies do reward that loyalty with a tenure or renewal credit. It's a recognized discount category in Canadian pricing, and if you've been with your provider for a long stretch, there may be a quiet credit on your file that reflects it. So far, so good.
Here's the honest catch, and it's an important one: loyalty discounts can be slowly outweighed by annual rate creep, where each renewal nudges your premium up a little until the "loyal customer" is actually paying more than a brand-new one would. With home insurance premiums having jumped sharply over the past few years, it's worth confirming the loyalty discount is genuinely applied — and then testing it against the open market. The question to ask: "Am I getting a loyalty discount for my years with you, and how does my renewal compare with a fresh quote?"
This is the discount hiding in plain sight. Insurers partner with professional associations, unions, alumni networks, and employers to offer preferred group rates, and you may already belong to a qualifying group without ever having mentioned it. TD Insurance, for instance, extends preferred rates to graduates of eligible institutions and members of professional associations and employer groups.
The catch is that group savings don't always appear as a tidy line item called "group discount." Sometimes they're built into a lower overall rate offered through the group's program, which means you might not recognize the saving unless you specifically ask. And because these benefits often stack on top of other credits — a group rate plus a monitored-alarm discount, say — the difference can add up. Think about every association, alumni group, or workplace plan you belong to before you renew. The question to ask: "Do you offer a group rate for members of my professional association, alumni group, or employer plan?"
Here's the whole list at a glance. Keep it handy when you call your broker.
*Approximate, illustrative ranges only. Actual discounts vary by insurer, province, and your personal profile — always confirm with your own broker or insurer.
The good news is that turning this list into real savings doesn't take much more than a conversation. Most of these discounts won't apply themselves, so a few minutes with your broker can be the most profitable phone call you make all year. Here's how to approach it:
That last point matters most. The aim is to pay a fair price for the right protection — not the lowest possible number on a policy that leaves you exposed. If you want to understand how shifting risk is reshaping what's covered, our piece on whether your home is becoming uninsurable is a thoughtful next read. Make the call before your renewal date, work through the list, and you may well find that the money you've been leaving on the table was yours to claim all along.
About the Author
Angela Nightingale is the Senior Editor at Homeowner.ca with two decades of experience in digital publishing and content strategy. She has owned two homes, taken on her share of DIY projects, and learned what most guides fail to mention. She writes from the belief that the best home guidance comes from people who have lived through the decisions — and her goal is always to leave readers feeling confident, not overwhelmed.
Many are not automatic. Insurers often won't know about a paid-off mortgage, a newly monitored alarm, or a group membership unless you tell them, so it pays to ask your broker to review every discount against your file.
Many Canadian insurers offer roughly 10 to 20 per cent off each policy when you combine home and auto, and a few advertise higher. The exact saving depends on the insurer, your province, and your profile.
It often can. A single claim may reset your claims-free clock, which is why some homeowners choose to pay minor losses out of pocket rather than lose years of accumulated discount.
Call your insurer and tell them. The discount is rarely applied on its own, and it typically applies to owner-occupied or rented dwellings rather than tenant policies.
Usually only professionally or centrally monitored systems qualify. A self-monitored, phone-only setup generally won't, and your insurer may ask for a monitoring certificate as proof.
Sometimes, yes. Some insurers offer discounts or policy credits for approved leak-detection devices, and a few programs have even provided customers with a sensor. Availability and amounts vary by insurer and province.
Not necessarily. Loyalty discounts are real, but annual rate increases can quietly erode them, so it's worth comparing your renewal against a fresh quote each year.
Preferred rates are often available through professional associations, alumni networks, unions, and employer plans. They may be built into a lower overall rate rather than shown as a separate discount, so ask specifically.
Generally yes. Discounts such as bundling, claims-free, and a group rate often layer on top of one another, so even modest individual credits can add up to meaningful savings.
A higher deductible usually lowers your premium, but it means paying more out of pocket when you claim. Choose an amount you could comfortably cover, and never reduce essential coverage just to save.
No. The discounts on offer, the eligibility rules, and the savings amounts vary by insurer and by province, so the only way to know what applies to you is to ask your own broker or insurer.
