Depending on your policy you may qualify for an insurance discount of up to 20% when you have a monitored security system.

Reed Security protects a number of local insurance brokers including The Co-operators, Cherry Insurance, Cooke Insurance and Saskatoon Insurance Agencies. We contacted them for advice and we found the discounts vary between insurance companies.

The main reason an insurance company provides a discount is because it’s less likely you will have a claim. In fact, it’s 400% less likely to have a break-in or major loss when have a monitored security system.

Sometimes the insurance discount can even pay for the entire cost of your monthly security fees. If your home insurance policy is $1600/year and you received a 20% discount, you would save $320/year on insurance costs. If the monthly 24/7 monitoring fee you pay to your security provider is $21.95/month (x 12 months = $263.40), then you would save $56.60 every year.

Some insurance companies provide a discount of 10% to 15% no matter what 24/7 monitoring coverage you have. Other insurance companies will provide additional discounts when you have monitored fire, flood and low temperature protection. To determine exactly how much you can save please contact your local insurance broker.

WARNING: If you cancel your 24/7 monitoring service with your security company you should let your insurance broker know immediately. If you were receiving an insurance discount based on lower risks – you don’t want to run into any problems when you need to use your insurance. Security companies provide records to investigators.

It's that time of year when you will be getting pressured by aggressive door to door salespeople. They will be pushing you to sign you up to "limited time offers" that expire "right away" (because they do not have a local office).  And before you know you know it you're on the hook for thousands of dollars.

Several alarm companies only have SUMMER PROGRAMS. They rent houses and hire large crews of university students which are offered large commissions ($400 to $500 per contract) to get you to sign up.

LEARN MORE by Googling "door to door alarm scam".