A Texas renters insurance policy will include liability, loss of use, medical payments, and personal property coverage and could save you money if an accident causes damage to your rental or belongings.
To help you find the best renters insurance company in Texas, the This Old House Review team picked out the state’s top providers and included tips on how to find the right policy for you and your home. In this article, we break down the three best renters insurance providers in Texas based on personal property and liability coverage, endorsements, customer service, and more.
To get a personalized home insurance quote in your area, call 855-948-5219 or enter your zip code in the tool below:
Allstate: Best Coverage Options
Known for its customer service, Allstate helps guide you through the insurance buying process and provides an online estimation tool to help you calculate the worth of your personal belongings. Not to mention, Allstate provides 24/7 customer service to help with general questions and claims.
An Allstate policy includes personal property, loss of use, liability, and medical payments to others coverage.
Here are the available endorsements to add onto a base plan:
- Extended coverage on jewelry, watches, and furs
- Scheduled personal property
- Identity theft restoration
- Increased coverage on business property
- Uninsured/underinsured motorist
Here are some other Allstate benefits:
- Choice of actual cash value (ACV) or replacement cash value (RCV) policy, which either replaces your items based on their current value or based on their new value
- Add-on for business-related items
- Five discounts
Learn More: Allstate Renters Insurance Review
Farmers: Most Customizable Coverage
Farmers offers some unique coverage perks that aren’t available through other providers. For example, you can get a deductible as low as $100, while other companies, like Progressive and Nationwide, charge $250 deductibles. You can also purchase unlimited personal property coverage, allowing you to protect all the items in your home.
The only endorsement that Farmers offers is identity shield, which protects your identity from getting stolen.
Take a look at other advantages of a Farmers policy:
- Claims center open 24/7
- Discount for not smoking in your home
- Over 90 years in business
Learn More: Farmers Renters Insurance Review
USAA: Best Membership Perks
While most companies require you to purchase an add-on for natural disaster coverage or don’t offer it at all, USAA offers protection from floods and earthquakes in every policy.
USAA offers two endorsements on top of its liability, personal property, and medical payments coverage: valuable personal property and computers and tablets protection.
Here are some other benefits of a USAA policy:
- USAA membership perks, like shopping discounts and access to the USAA bank
- Premiums as low as $10 per month
- Up to $750,000 worth of personal property coverage
Note: You can only purchase a USAA policy if you’re a current military member, veteran, or a part of their immediate family.
Learn More: USAA Renters Insurance Review
Our Conclusion
Allstate, Farmers, and USAA all have unique benefits, whether that be providing quality customer service, offering low deductibles, or including natural disaster protection. Before purchasing a renters insurance policy in Texas, we recommend getting renters insurance quotes from all three providers in this review to compare coverage and pricing.
Use the tool below to find and compare renters insurance providers near you:
Compare Renters Insurance Companies
| Factor | Allstate | Farmers | USAA |
|---|---|---|---|
| Monthly Price | About $16 | About $30 | As low as $10 |
| Types of Coverage | Personal property, loss of use, liability, medical payments to others | Personal property, loss of use, liability, medical payments to others | Personal property, liability, medical payments to others |
| Personal Property Coverage Limits | $25,000–$150,000 | No limit | $25,000–$750,000 |
| Liability Coverage Limits | $100,000, $200,000, $300,000, or $500,000 | $100,000, $200,000, $300,000, or $500,000 | $100,000, $300,000, $500,000, or $1,000,000 |
| ACV or RCV | ACV or RCV | ACV | RCV |
| Discounts Available | 5 discounts | 3 discounts | 3 discounts |
| Unique Add-Ons | Scheduled personal property, uninsured/underinsured motorist | N/A | Computer and tablet |
| Customer Service | 24/7 | 24/7 for claims; limited for customer service | 24/7 for claims; limited for sales and service |
| BBB Rating | A+ | A+ | B+ |
Texas Renters Insurance Coverage
Here’s an overview of each type of coverage found in a Texas renters insurance policy:
- Liability Coverage: If you’re responsible for an incident that damages your neighbor’s personal property or injures them, your insurance company will pay any costs associated with the event. This may include legal fees if they sue you, medical bills if they see a doctor, and replacement costs if their belongings are destroyed.
- Coverage for Medical Payments to Others: If a guest is injured in your home, your policy will pay up to a certain amount of their medical expenses.
- Personal Property Coverage: The coverage amount you purchase should match the total value of your personal belongings because if an event destroys them, your policy will pay to replace them. This type of coverage even covers your belongings when they’re not in your home and will protect them if they’re damaged or stolen from your car.
- Loss of Use Coverage: Your renters insurance company will pay for living expenses, like the cost of a hotel room or the cost of meals, if you have to vacate your apartment temporarily for repairs.
- Endorsements: Most companies offer at least one endorsement that you can add onto your policy for an additional cost every month. Common endorsements include protection for earthquakes, jewelry, and identity theft.
How Much Does a Renters Insurance Policy Cost in Texas?
The cost of renters insurance in Texas in 2017 was $232 per year, or a little over $19 per month, according to the Insurance Information Institute. It was the fifth-most expensive state for renters insurance.
Factors to Consider Before Buying Renters Insurance
To make sure you purchase the best policy for you and your home, think about these factors before starting your search for renters insurance:
- Hurricanes: Texas is one of the most susceptible states to hurricanes, which can cause flooding and water damage to your belongings. A USAA policy includes flood protection and earthquake coverage in all of their policies.
- Budget: Determine how much room you have in your budget for renters insurance, and search for a policy that will fit within your price range. In addition to the providers in this review, look into State Farm, Toggle, and Lemonade for affordable renters insurance rates.
- Type of Premium: Renters insurance providers allow you to pay your premium in full at the beginning of the contract period or in monthly installments. Decide which you like better, but keep in mind that monthly installments may cost more than a single annual payment because companies add interest to monthly premiums.
- Roommates: Your roommates won’t be automatically included in your insurance policy, so you either have to add them onto your policy or have them purchase their own policy. Note: since most companies have personal property limits, and you and your roommates may have more belongings than can be covered under one policy, it may be a good idea to get two separate policies.
Frequently Asked Questions
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 renters 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.