Rent insurance on the house? A real estate agent had asked me to give an estimate of how much it would cost to cover the cost of rent (in the event that we cannot keep the house) if I can keep a very small amount, about 300-500€. When I did research, I found that all insurance is done through the agent. I guess this was their way of making more money from me. That brought me to the question, can I pay a premium to rent insurance through a foreign insurance company instead of through my agent. The agent would charge a premium of around 5% of the value of the property, which would be a lot for a 250€ house. A: Yes, that's possible. You can get renters insurance for anywhere from a few hundred dollars to a few hundred pounds from lots of places, and at least in the U.K., many agents are connected to one or more of the big providers, e.g. Direct Line, Churchill, Axa, Zurich, etc. I'm not sure why you would expect the agent's commission to be any higher than normal insurance commissions. Their work in this case is similar to the agent who sells you your flood insurance—they're really just a middleman, so they're supposed to get a commission for their work. And the insurance provider is still making their money by selling the policy to you, the client. A: If you want to get a lower price, you can shop around. If you are paying for renter's insurance, you want the policy to cover all or most of the possible risks. If you get a policy that doesn't cover the damage you might suffer from a fire or theft, you are left out-of-pocket, just as if you paid your mortgage but didn't get a policy for your furnace. Also, if your house isn't insured, and then you suddenly need a new one, you could find yourself in the position of having to spend far more on repairs than the existing place is worth. How to find better prices. You want to check each insurance company's product line. Then do some online searches to see which companies rate the best in reviews (including local consumer/public rating websites like TrustPilot). If you find several providers who offer the same insurance, the cheapest one is the best one. Be sure to consider the difference in policy pricing when you do comparisons. Some insurers offer a wide range of coverage options. For instance, one might price a policy that's supposed to cover fires for a home based on the building code of the area, or a certain age of the structure. Another might offer the same plan based on how long the property has been standing. Both methods may cost about the same amount. Or the prices might differ by hundreds or even thousands of dollars. You may not be able to predict which one will cost you more. So for example if you decide to keep a condo for a while instead of renting it out, you might find that you could save hundreds or thousands of dollars by having your insurer re-rate your policy to reflect the lower value. When you get your first quote, it may not come out much different from what your agent quoted you. That could be because he negotiated a low rate. To help find a lower price, you can ask your current agent if he will contact his "broker" (agent for that insurance company). He may get a better deal that way. Also ask your current agent if he can help with obtaining the best policy with the lowest price. Insurers have different features they sell, and some features could apply to you (or not apply), and some policies may be a "better deal" than others. If your agent says it's too expensive, ask him to check to see if he can find a similar policy that will be lower cost. Also ask him if he will write the renewal and provide it to you with the quote. Otherwise if something major happens, you could be left paying something you don't want to pay for, which is why I advise shopping around with different insurers. It is possible that your current agent might not want to help because the company's product lines are proprietary information, so he can't share them or take a commission from them without breaking the contract (or policy), or being sued by the insurer for helping you use a lower price. In general, if you need the most cost-effective policy, I would ask the current agent to call his broker. It might be the case that the broker is just passing on your rate quote to him and nothing more. Consider the cost of using a broker. Some brokers may charge a fee for using their company. That may not be covered by an auto insurance policy, but you may pay it for renter's insurance and not notice the fee. Ask the broker how to make sure you have enough coverage. If something happens, you might not have enough coverage. If your tenant moves out, you may want to go somewhere else and get a new tenant to cover their loss of rent. Even with this information, it may still be cheaper for you to use an agent because an agent may be able to tell you other information about any of your policies (auto insurance, life insurance, renters insurance, maybe even real estate) that he gets through his affiliation with an insurance company. I also asked this question on https://lifehacks.stackexchange.com A: I got a quote through a broker instead of my agent. Agent: €500 Broker: €250 That made the difference and I am now considering using the broker whenever I buy something expensive that can be stolen or damaged. However, I have to say that I did get quotes from two insurance brokers, neither of which offered significantly better rates than the two major insurers that my agent worked with. This was for non-residential insurance. This is for a commercial property, so you don't know whether you will need it.