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A Philadelphia home insurance policy can help give you peace of mind for your home in the City of Brotherly Love. When unexpected incidents occur, from theft and vandalism to fire and hailstorms, you’ll want a homeowners insurance policy so you don’t have to pay thousands of dollars out of pocket.
In order to find the best home insurance in Philadelphia, you’ll have to do some research. There are many companies that provide coverage in the area, but they aren’t all equal in terms of coverage, reputation, and cost. Keep reading to learn more about the best homeowners insurance providers.
5 Best Home Insurance Companies in Philadelphia
Here are the top five providers of home insurance in Philadelphia:
- Lemonade: Easiest Sign-Up
- Allstate: Best Coverage Options
- Liberty Mutual: Best Discounts
- Travelers: Most Experience
- Farmers: Most Customizable Coverage
Lemonade
Lemonade is a newcomer to the industry that has made waves since its launch in 2015 with its technology-forward approach. With its easy-to-use mobile app, you can upload videos explaining your claims for fast service—and in almost a third of cases, the claims are handled instantly. Lemonade also donates leftover premium funds to charity.
Benefits of Lemonade Home Insurance
- Easy-to-use mobile app
- Nearly a third of claims handled instantly
- Charitable Giveback program
Learn More: Lemonade Home Insurance Review
Allstate
Allstate, the second-largest home insurance company in the country, has a strong reputation and solid financial backing. It is ranked best overall for a variety of reasons, including its highly customizable coverage and 24/7 calls center. While many insurers allow 24/7 calls for claims, Allstate goes above and beyond by having customer service representatives on hand to answer all insurance questions and concerns.
Benefits of Allstate Home Insurance
- Second-largest homeowners insurance provider in the US
- 24/7 customer service for all insurance questions
- Many endorsement options to customize your policy
Learn More: Allstate Home Insurance Review
Liberty Mutual
Liberty Mutual typically offers a variety of homeowner discounts, which is usually more than what’s offered by Farmers and Travelers. The discounts keep Liberty Mutual premiums affordable and range from being claims-free to having a new roof and signing up for paperless billing.
Benefits of Liberty Mutual Home Insurance
- Has over 100 years of experience in the home insurance industry
- Offers a unique endorsement for hurricanes
- Has insurance agents available 24/7
Learn More: Liberty Mutual Home Insurance Review
Travelers
Travelers gave us the cheapest quote out of the providers in the review. The quote was for $72 per month, which is lower than the national average of about $101 per month. In addition to affordability, Travelers has over 160 years of industry experience.
Travelers Home Insurance Benefits
- Up to $10,000 per person of medical payments to others coverage
- Deductible as high as $50,000
- Up to 100% of dwelling for loss of use coverage
Learn More: Travelers Home Insurance Review
Farmers
Farmers offers the most customizable homeowners insurance coverage. While other providers have a set percentage of coverage for other structures, personal property, and additional living expenses, Farmers allows you to select how much coverage you want. You can go up to 200% of dwelling coverage for other structures and personal property, and you have the choice of 10%, 20%, or 30% for additional living expenses.
Benefits of Farmers Home Insurance
- Up to $2 million of liability protection
- Deductibles split up by peril
- Discount for not smoking in the home
Learn More: Farmers Home Insurance Review
Philadelphia Home Insurance Coverage
Home insurance in Philadelphia covers six coverage areas:
- Dwelling—This type of coverage protects the structure of your home, which includes the interior and exterior walls, foundation, cabinetry, and other parts that are built into the home. This should also cover the complete cost of rebuilding your home.
- Other structures—This covers other structures on your property, like fences, sheds, and detached garages. It’s usually expressed as 10% of your dwelling coverage amount.
- Personal property—This protects your personal belongings and covers them regardless of where they are, which means they’ll be covered inside your home, on a trip, and in your car. Personal property coverage is typically 50% of dwelling coverage.
- Additional living expenses/loss of use—Your insurance provider will reimburse you for living expenses acquired while you were living outside of your home due to repairs. This includes the cost of staying in a hotel and the cost of meals. It’s usually 20% of dwelling coverage.
- Liability—If you’re responsible for an event that injures someone or damages their personal property, your policy pays medical bills and replacement costs. We recommend purchasing at least $300,000 of protection in this category.
- Medical payments to others—If a guest is injured in your home, your provider will cover medical bills. It’s standard to purchase $1,000 of protection per person.
How Much Does a Home Insurance Policy Cost in Philadelphia?
According to the Insurance Information Institute, the average cost of homeowners insurance in Pennsylvania in 2017 was $931—a little over $77.50 per month. That made Pennsylvania the 39th-most expensive state for home insurance in the country.
Although the state as a whole provides home insurance that’s more affordable than the national average, Philadelphia will likely be close to or higher than the national average because it has a higher cost of living than the rest of Pennsylvania. Since Philadelphia’s housing market can be expensive, it will take more money to rebuild your home, so you’ll need to purchase more coverage which could increase your premium.
Factors to Consider Before Buying Home Insurance
To help you find the right policy for your home, here’s a list of factors to consider as you begin your search:
- Weather—Philadelphia’s temperatures drop during the winter, and several feet of snow is not uncommon during those months. Make sure your policy covers damage from snow so that you don’t have to cover the cost yourself.
- Discounts—The best way to save money on a policy is to look for discounts. Most insurance providers will offer discounts for being claims-free, having home safety features, and bundling home and auto insurance.
- Pets—In general, insurance companies will increase your insurance rate if you have a dog breed, like a pit bull or German shepherd, that’s historically considered aggressive. We recommend looking at companies like State Farm or AAA that decide liability coverage for dogs based on the dog’s attack history, not the breed.
- Personal property coverage type—Personal property coverage protection can come in two forms: actual cash value (ACV) or replacement cash value (RCV). ACV policies only cover the cost of replacing your belongings based on their depreciated value. RCV policies cost a little more, but they give you enough money to replace the items as new.
Which is the Best Home Insurance in Philadelphia for You?
FAQs About Home Insurance in Philadelphia
How much is home insurance in Philadelphia?
This will depend on a variety of factors—the company you choose, the size and location of your home, the materials it was built with, how recently it’s been renovated or updated, and more.
What is the cheapest home insurance in Philadelphia?
This can vary quite a bit depending on your home’s size and value. In general, Lemonade has some of the cheapest costs in the nation, starting at $25 per month.
How is the cost of homeowners insurance calculated?
Homeowners insurance companies use a variety of factors to decide how much your premium will cost. Here are a few common factors used to calculate pricing:
- Proximity to a fire station and fire hydrant
- Credit score
- Number and type of pets
- Claims history
- Cost to rebuild your home
- Whether your home is high risk
Who should have homeowners insurance?
If the institution that gave you a loan to buy your home requires homeowners insurance, you’ll have to purchase a policy. We recommend that every homeowner purchase a policy to protect their home and budget if an unexpected event or damage were to occur.
Is home insurance worth it?
If an event like a fire were to damage the structure of your home and all of the belongings inside, you likely wouldn’t have the budget to repair or replace your items. Homeowners insurance gives you peace of mind that those costs will be taken care of in exchange for a premium and deductible.
Our Rating Methodology
The This Old House Reviews Team is committed to providing comprehensive and unbiased reviews to our readers. This means earning your trust through transparency and having the data to back up our ratings and recommendations.
With that in mind, we created an objective rating system to score each home insurance company. Here’s what that review process looked like:
- We analyze the information on each company’s website. This allows us to determine what products and services are offered by each home insurance provider.
- We get a sample quote from the companies by either talking to a sales representative or by using the online quote tool. This tells us what a policy looks like and costs.
- We test customer service by talking to a company representative, finding out their hours of operation, and determining what technological features are available for customers.
- We update all of this information on a continuous basis, storing it in a proprietary database that allows us to compare dozens of home insurance companies against each other.
With this data, we created a rating methodology to score each home insurance company. Our rating system is a weighted, 100-point scale based on the following factors:
- Coverage (30): We rated home insurance companies higher if they offered the six main types of homeowner protection—dwelling, other structures, personal property, loss of use, liability, and medical payments to others coverage.
- State availability (7.5): Companies scored higher if they covered more states than their competitors.
- Customer service (15): This factor is based on our communications with the company representatives, as well as the companies’ claims and quotes processes, availability throughout the week, and customer service information found on their websites.
- Technology (12.5): Technology can increase the efficiency of filing and tracking home insurance claims. Companies scored higher if they had technology options like mobile apps and online chat functions.
- Reputation (20): We gauged trustworthiness based on years of experience and Better Business Bureau ratings.
- Additional benefits (15): Companies that offered optional features, like discounts and endorsements, scored higher than competitors that didn’t.
The This Old House Reviews Team has a full-time researcher who collects and regularly updates data points from every company to help us compare them on key factors such as coverage, service, and dependability.
To share feedback or ask a question about this article, send a note to our Reviews Team at reviews@thisoldhousereviews.com.