If you are looking for an answer to a specific question - check out FAQ section of this page where you can find answers to the most commonly asked question related to this topic. Go to FAQ
Before we begin, please note:
We are not a licensed Insurance Agents, Insurance Brokers or Insurance Producers.
Any advice we give is based solely on our experience working with Insurance Companies on over 500 claims every year. Without any exceptions, if we are talking to any Insurance Company - that means something already happened: someone's basement flooded, house burned down, hail or wind damaged house roof, siding or windows. It is all based on real cases when it was the time for Insurance Company to do their job and pay the claim to someone like you, the Homeowner, and we do not care about how great their advertisement is or how nice their sales agents are.
If you want to email your Insurance Agent or Insurance Broker to request a list of essential coverages, use this provided text as a guide on How to Choose Home Insurance.
Copy and paste it into your email communication for a seamless request.
Home insurance policy should include the following types of coverages:
- Building Code/ Ordinance and Law coverage: 10%
- Roof extended coverage: Yes
- Ensure the policy is a Replacement Cost policy
- Exclude 'Cosmetic Damage Exclusion' provision/ endorsement from the policy
- Exclude Payment Schedule from the policy
- Opt for a fixed Deductible amount, rather than a percentage-based one.
- Include: Undamaged portion of the Property coverage
What Insurance Company should I buy insurance from?
Unfortunately, answer to this question changes every few years, and this article (written in January 2024) may not be accurate soon enough, so if you'd like to get your policy reviewed and evaluated for free - feel free to fill out the below "Contact Us" form.
Any information you provide will remain strictly confidential and will be not shared with any external parties beyond our organisation. We are not selling your personal information or using it for any marketing purposes. Protecting your privacy and maintaining strict confidentiality are our top priorities. For more information, please refer to our Online Privacy Policy and the U.S. Consumer Privacy Policy.
Every Insurance Company offers over a dozen types of Insurance Policies, starting with "Basic Forms Insurance Policy" (The most basic type of Insurance policy usually providing only required by State Law coverages such as fire, smoke, water, vandalism, etc.) and going up to the Premium Deluxe Policy Package (Insurance Policy that usually contains most types of coverages that could be purchased/ if appropriate for the type of house being insured).
More important question is what type of Insurance Policy will be purchased rather than what Insurance Company the policy is purchased from. Read more about how to choose your policy here.
However, one factor must be taken into consideration when choosing Insurance Company (or Insurance Carrier) for your Home Insurance, and that is Claims Department Standard Operating Procedures.
The easiest way to explain it would be on an example.
Take two largest Insurance Companies out there: State Farm and All State. Both companies' standard Home Insurance Policy contains very similar (if not the same) forty+ pages of legal language, most of which is there as it is required by the Illinois Department of Insurance. But each of two companies have totally different Standard Operating Procedures when it comes to processing insurance claims. And if Insurance Company approves a claim (statistically, happens in 13% of all claims field by Homeowners in U.S. and Canada) - no-one complains, but in these other 87% of cases when Insurance Company may under-pay or completely deny Insurance Claim - Standard Operating Procedures make a big difference.
Insurance Policy of both Insurance Companies will allow certain procedures to be performed, which should ensure a fair resolution of insurance claim (claim's appraisal, arbitration, engineer's evaluation, law suite, etc.). However, in real life, that's not always what happens.
All State
of all dispute claims are being approved/ or settled as a result of the above-described resolution procedures . 9% of all dispute claims go to court or being closed by All State (2021-2023)
of all dispute claims are being approved/ or settled as a result of the above-described resolution procedures . 63% of all dispute claims go to court or being closed by All State (2018-2020)
State Farm
of all dispute claims are being approved/ or settled as a result of the above-described resolution procedures. 68% of all dispute claims go to court or being closed by State Farm. (2021-2023)
of all dispute claims are being approved/ or settled as a result of the above-described resolution procedures. 16% of all dispute claims go to court or being closed by State Farm. (2018-2020)
Comparing statistics the ratio of approvals/ denials would be almost completely opposite in relation to both Insurance Companies.
So, "What Insurance Company should I Choose to Buy Homeowners Insurance in 2024?"
Here is a list of Insurance Companies which, in our experience, are the most reasonable and professional in their industry, and those that have the highest rankings of approved Claims compared to other Insurance Companies for any given period of time in years 2017 - 2023.
- AllState Insurance
- Farmers Insurance
- American Family
- State Auto Insurance
- Erie Insurance
- Acuity Insurance
- Foremost Insurance
We also feel obligated to share another list of companies which in our experience are not always acting in a good faith in relation to their own customers - Insured. Some of such wrongdoing are:
- assigning claim processing to a third-party vendor which almost always results in "full claim denial" or "approval for the amount below deductible"
- decision on a claim is being made by a computer software often results in claim getting denied as a result of data entry error
- denying any of the "resolution procedures" listed in Insurance Policy due to Insurance Company' Internal (NOT published) Standard Operating Procedures forcing claim to litigation, which most homeowner do not proceed with due to its duration and high cost
- State Farm
- Nationwide Insurance
- Badger Mutual Insurance
- AAA Insurance
- The Andover Companies
- Rockford Mutual Insurance
- Berkshire Hathaway (Guard) Insurance