In this Review: Our Take | Pros & Cons | Cost & Discounts | Coverage | State Availability | Customer Reviews | Conclusion | Costco vs. The Competition | Company Information | FAQs | Methodology
Purchasing a home insurance policy can save you a lot of money in the long run. When an unexpected disaster or other event occurs, your home insurance policy will safeguard your investment’s interior and exterior, along with your personal belongings. Most basic policies even protect you from paying for medical expenses and legal fees out of pocket if a guest gets injured on your property.
Choosing the right homeowners insurance provider can be tricky since different companies offer different coverage. In any case, you want to work with a reputable company with a proven track record.
In this in-depth Costco home insurance review, the This Old House Reviews Team helps you discover if this is the right provider for your needs. However, to find the coverage you need at the lowest price, we recommend entering your ZIP code in the tool below to compare quotes from multiple providers:
Our Take on Costco Home Insurance
The wholesaler Costco offers homeowners insurance through its underwriting partner, Connect insurance. Connect was formerly Ameriprise, before it was purchased by American Family Home.
Through Connect, Costco offers comprehensive home insurance coverage with an extensive range of endorsements at a very low, affordable rate.
However, Costco home insurance is only available in 44 states and the District of Columbia. It offers few discounts, does not underwrite its own policies—meaning that you have to contact a different company for customer service—and does not have 24/7 customer service by phone.
We give Costco home insurance a score of 78.25 out of 100.
Pros & Cons of Costco Homeowners Insurance
Compare the advantages and disadvantages of Costco home insurance:
Costco Home Insurance Cost
The exact cost of Costco homeowners insurance depends on many factors, including your property value, size, the materials it was constructed with, where you live, the coverage limits you select, the insurance deductible you choose, and more.
We retrieved the cost from a customer representative for a single-family, 2,200-square-foot home in Raleigh, North Carolina.
The monthly cost of $73.50 is well below the national monthly average for home insurance.
Cost
| Type of Coverage | Amount of Coverage |
|---|---|
| Dwelling | $246,000 |
| Other structures | $24,600 |
| Personal property | $172,200 |
| Loss of use/Additional living expenses | $49,200 |
| Liability | $300,000 |
| Medical payments to others | $5,000 |
| Monthly Cost | $73.50 |
Discounts
You can also lower your Costco home insurance premiums by qualifying for one of their discounts:
Costco Home Insurance Discounts
| Discount | Description |
|---|---|
| Multi-policy | Discount for bundling several Ameriprise policies |
| Age of home | Discount for newly built homes |
| Claim-free | Discount for not having filed a claim in the last five years |
| Tenure | Discount for being a loyal Ameriprise customer for a specified period of time |
| Home safety | Discount for having installed protective devices like security systems and smoke alarms |
| Renovation | Discount for recently replaced components like roof, electrical, plumbing, and more |
Coverage
Costco offers all industry-standard coverage through its basic policy.
Costco Home Insurance Coverage
| Type | Description |
|---|---|
| Dwelling + other structures | Covers the cost to rebuild or repair your dwelling and detached structures (such as garages and sheds) in the event of a covered loss |
| Personal property | Covers your personal property in case of a covered loss, including furniture, clothes, appliances, and electronics |
| Liability | Covers legal fees in the event you are sued by a guest for personal property damage or injury |
| Loss of use/additional living expenses | Covers the cost to live outside your home when it is temporarily uninhabitable due to a covered loss |
| Medical payments to others | Covers the medical expenses associated with a guest getting injured on your property |
Costco offers several endorsements to help you customize your homeowners insurance coverage.
- Personal injury
- Water backup and sump pump overflow
- Scheduled personal property, including jewelry, fine art, and musical instruments
Costco Home Insurance State Availability
Costo is available in 44 states excluding Michigan, North Dakota, Wyoming, Louisiana, Maine, and West Virginia. Click on your state below to see more providers in your area.
Alabama | Alaska | Arizona | Arkansas | California | Colorado | Connecticut | Delaware | Florida | Georgia | Hawaii | Idaho | Illinois | Indiana | Iowa | Kansas | Kentucky | Maryland | Massachusetts | Minnesota | Mississippi | Missouri | Montana | Nebraska | Nevada | New Hampshire | New Jersey | New Mexico | New York | North Carolina | Ohio | Oklahoma | Oregon | Pennsylvania | Rhode Island | South Carolina | South Dakota | Tennessee | Texas | Utah | Vermont | Virginia | Washington | Wisconsin
Customer Reviews of Costco Insurance
Costco does not have a Better Business Bureau page for its home insurance, as its coverage is provided through Connect Insurance. The company is not accredited by the organization and holds an A+ rating.
See what some customers had to say about their experience:
Brian C. said:
“I’ve had several claims since I’ve been with [Costco] and they handled it perfectly so far with all of them. Of course none of the claims were my fault but they resolved the cases with professionalism and courtesy… I initially chose [Costco] for their low premiums. But so far have received better service than any other insurance companies I’ve been with.”
William L. said:
“What this company does is immoral and should be illegal. They sell you a reasonable policy for a reasonable price through Costco and then change your coverage for the worse and up your premium in hopes that you’ll either not notice or will change insurers before making a claim, thus allowing them to pocket an easy one-year premium. Please, whatever you do, avoid this company like the plague! They ended up costing us $15k+ with their bait-and-switch scheme.”
*Lemonade home insurance is available in AZ, AR, CA, CO, CT, GA, IL, IN, IA, MD, MA, MI, MO, NV, NJ, NM, NY, OH, OK, OR, PA, RI, TN, TX, VA, WA, WI
Is Costco Home Insurance Best for You?
Costco home insurance, offered through Connect, is comprehensive and offers a wide range of endorsements and discounts at an extremely low, affordable rate.
However, it does not underwrite its own policies, meaning that customers have to file and track claims and handle customer service requests through Connect. This can be frustrating for customers, as it adds a third-party into the mix.
Overall, we give Costco a score of 78.25 out of 100.
To find the best homeowners insurance provider for your individual needs, we always recommend getting quotes from multiple home insurance companies that serve your area:
Costco vs. The Competition
See how Costco stacks up against some of its top competitors on key metrics.
Comparison
Provider |
Get A Quote |
State Availability |
24/7 Claims Service by Phone |
Mobile App |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Costco |
44 |
X |
X |
|
Lemonade |
27* |
✓ |
✓ |
|
Amica® |
– |
48 (not available in AK and HI) |
✓ |
✓ |
Company Information
- Company name: Costco
- Company type: Public
- CEO: W. Craig Jelinek
- Year founded: 1983
- Headquarters: 999 Lake Drive, Issaquah, WA 98027
- State availability: 44 States excluding MI, ND, WY, LA, ME, WV
- BBB rating: A+
Costco Home Insurance FAQs
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.