Savings And Safety Top Of Mind As Americans Prepare For Home And Auto Purchases This Fall

New survey also shows new home and auto owners not always following through on safety measures

BOSTON -- Oct. 13, 2015: Similar to the spring, the fall season marks an active time for home and auto sales, but what are Americans most concerned about when they make that big purchase? Money and safety top the list of pain points along with maintaining those new investments, according to new research released by Liberty Mutual Insurance from a national survey of 1,000 adults.

Money Matters

Money still proves to be the leading source of anxiety for Americans this fall, with mortgage amounts a top concern when purchasing a home (38 percent) and monthly payments (38 percent) a top concern when buying or leasing a vehicle.

Also on the home front, additional financial concerns include getting a good deal on the home (36 percent) and the amount of repairs that would need to be made (29 percent). For auto purchases, in addition to payments, other top concerns related to cost include getting the most bang for the buck (33 percent) and the car depreciating immediately after purchase (23 percent).

Safety Brings Peace of Mind

For both home and auto buyers, safety is also a consistent theme. The top concern when purchasing a home is that it is in a safe neighborhood (49 percent). Among those who currently own or lease a vehicle, or plan to do so this fall, safety features are the second most researched topic prior to purchase (36 percent) after gas mileage (58 percent) with airbags, anti-lock brakes and anti-theft systems ranked as the three most important safety features.

However, while home and auto buyers may place safety at the forefront when researching their purchases, they don't always follow through with proper safety or maintenance measures. For example, heading into winter, only a quarter (25 percent) of Americans test their smoke and carbon monoxide alarms, and only 25 percent will make sure their gutters are clear. Americans rank checking their heating system as the most important step to winterizing their home, yet only 24 percent of people actually plan to check it prior to the season.

On the road, about half (46 percent) of auto owners don't plan to buy any key winter preparation items for their cars this fall such as new wiper blades, new snow tires, dry gas, jumper cables, ice scrapers and more.

"Buying a new car or home always comes with some element of worry from the financial burden to the stress of maintaining that purchase," said Anthony Storm, executive vice president and Chief Marketing Officer of Liberty Mutual Insurance. "That's why we're committed to offering solutions from special discounts to reward our customers for making informed, safe choices, to offering expert advice on how to best safeguard their investments to provide better piece of mind."

To help ease concerns and assist with upfront research and preparation, Liberty Mutual has tapped television personality and DIY handyman Chip Wade.

"In addition to researching the best options for you and your family, make sure once you make that investment to protect that investment," notes Wade. "Whether you're preparing your car for colder weather or using the fall as an opportunity to tackle home maintenance projects, it's important to start early to ensure you're well-equipped for worst case scenarios."

Wade and Liberty Mutual offer the following tips to research and maintain your investment:

Savings for Safety - Make sure you're also taking advantage of discounts on your insurance to ensure your home or auto is safe. For example, installing protective devices such as smoke or fire alarms can lead to savings on your home insurance—the survey showed only one quarter of homeowners (23 percent) are taking advantage of these discounts. Standard and innovative safety features on your car purchase can also provide additional savings.

Do Your Homework - Buying a new home or car can be overwhelming, but the research doesn't have to be. When car shopping, technology can make it even easier to break down your priorities. Free tools such as the Liberty Mutual CarZen app make it easy to research price, gas mileage and can even help find the right model to match your personality.

Start Small - Fall home maintenance is mainly a DIY project for Americans, with 78 percent tackling the tasks on their own. If you're considering the DIY approach, test the waters first. Try focusing on smaller home projects that can still effectively prep your home for winter such as cleaning and replacing air filters to your HVAC system to increase energy efficiency and wrapping water pipes that run along the exterior of the home to prevent freezing.

Preparedness is Key – It's important to ensure your home and car are ready for the rigors of inclement weather—this includes having an emergency kit for the road and clean gutters and a tuned-up heating system for the home. It's much easier to tackle these projects in the fall, while you can still do work outside the house and your car has plenty of time to get tuned up, plus you'll have peace of mind as you move into the winter months.

For additional information about the Liberty Mutual research study, visit www.LibertyMutual.com/newbeginnings and join the conversation on Twitter @LibertyMutual with #mynewbeginning.

About the Report Liberty Mutual Insurance commissioned ORC International to conduct a quantitative methodology September 3-6, 2015 to measure fall home and auto purchases and related concerns among adults across the United States. The report included a survey among a nationally representative sample of 1,023 adults 18 years of age and older. Overall the findings from the report can be interpreted at a 95 percent confidence interval with an error margin of +/- 2 percent.