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Welcome to our comprehensive guide on how to choose home insurance policy
We understand that you may not want to spend hours reading literature on types of Insurance Policies and that's why we created this page with one thing in mind - how can we make it as short as possible and easy to navigate?
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 questions related to this topic. Go to FAQ
Enter your email address to immediately receive a full list of coverages for your policy, ready to be forwarded to your insurance agent
Before we begin, please note:
We are not 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.
What Insurance Company should I buy insurance from?
Unfortunately, the answer to this question changes every few years, and this article (written in January 2026) 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.
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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).
The 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 the 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 the two companies has totally different Standard Operating Procedures when it comes to processing insurance claims. And if Insurance Company approves a claim (by the industry figures we have seen, that is roughly 13% of all claims filed 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, lawsuit, etc.). However, in real life, that's not always what happens.
All State:
State Farm:
Comparing the 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 2026?"
Here is a list of Insurance Companies which, in our experience, are the most reasonable and professional to work with, and whose claims we have most often been able to settle without going to court, over the years 2019 - 2025.
- AllState Insurance
- Farmers Insurance
- American Family
- State Auto Insurance
- Acuity Insurance
- Foremost Insurance
We also feel obligated to share the carriers we have found the hardest to settle with. This is not an accusation against any company — it is what we have run into on our own jobs, and another homeowner's experience may well be different. The patterns we see most often:
- claim processing handed to a third-party vendor — in our files this usually ended in a full denial, or an approval for an amount below the deductible
- decisions produced by software rather than by a person — we have seen claims denied on what looked like a data-entry error
- the "resolution procedures" written into the policy — appraisal, arbitration, engineer's evaluation — refused in practice, which leaves litigation as the only route left; most homeowners will not go there because of how long it takes and what it costs
- State Farm
- Nationwide Insurance
- Badger Mutual Insurance
- AAA Insurance
- Erie Insurance
- The Andover Companies
- Rockford Mutual Insurance
- Berkshire Hathaway (Guard) Insurance
If a carrier listed here believes our experience does not reflect how they handle claims, write to office@staterestoration.us and we will review this page.
Do you need an Insurance agent or an Insurance broker?
If you do not have an Insurance Agent/ Broker you can trust - let us know and we will connect you with our trusted "go to" brokerage.
Still looking for more information? Take a look at our FAQs page or if you still cannot find what you are looking for, give us a call or fill out the form here and we will answer you as soon as possible.