How to Bundle Auto and Home Insurance (and When Not To)

Every insurance company offers a multi-policy discount when you bundle auto and home with the same carrier. Discounts typically range from 5% to 15% depending on the carrier and your profile. The pitch is simple: one company, one bill, one discount. Most people take it without asking the obvious follow-up question: is this carrier also competitive on both policies individually?

Here's how we approach bundling decisions at Heritage. We run three quotes: auto-only at the best single-carrier rate we can find, home-only at the best single-carrier rate we can find, and the best bundle we can find across all carriers. Then we add the first two up and compare to the bundle. Sometimes the bundle wins decisively — it's cheaper and you get the convenience of one carrier. Sometimes the best auto and home carriers for your profile are different, and two separate policies are cheaper even without the bundle discount.

Real example from last year: a Charlotte couple came to us after their current carrier raised their auto rate 22% at renewal. We ran the numbers. Their current bundle was $3,840/year (auto + home). The best bundle we could find was $3,190/year — a $650 savings. But the best individual rate for their home alone was from a carrier that didn't offer competitive auto rates in North Carolina. Two separate policies came to $2,980/year. The separate-carrier option won by $210, but came with the inconvenience of two billing relationships. They chose the bundle because $210/year wasn't worth it to them. That's the right call — but only if you know the full comparison.

The other factor that matters: the claims experience of the carrier on each line. A carrier that's excellent at handling auto claims might be slower on home claims. An independent agent can tell you which carriers have better claim satisfaction ratings in your state because we see the outcomes across our entire book of business. A captive agent can only tell you how their company does — and they have an incentive to tell you it's great.

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