Insurance Benefits for having a Security System

WHY HAVE AN ALARM? If no one is going to show up when your house is broken into, why bother paying the monthly fee? One reason is that insurance companies offer discounts for security systems. The percentage varies depending on the sophistication of the system.

The Insurance Information Institute says the average discount is 15 to 20 percent. On our homeowner’s policy, the discount savings amounted to $221.93 a year. A study released last year by the School of Criminal Justice at Rutgers University found that the real value of security systems was that they protected entire neighborhoods. The study, which focused on Newark from 2001 to 2005, found that residential break-ins decreased as the density of alarms in an area increased.

In other words, the more people paying that monthly monitoring fee on your street, the more likely a burglar is not going to take a chance that a police officer is right around the corner.