Kara McGinley is a senior editor and licensed home insurance expert at Policygenius, where she writes about homeowners and renters insurance. As a journalist and as an insurance expert, her work and insights have been featured in Kiplinger, Lifehacker, MSN, WRAL.com, and elsewhere.
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This article has been reviewed by a licensed Policygenius expert to ensure that sources, statistics, and claims meet our standard for accurate and unbiased advice.
Property & casualty claim consultant and expert witness
Britta M. Moss, CPCU, SCLA, AIC-M, has over 25 years of insurance industry experience. In her work as a property and casualty claim consultant, she provides consultation and expert witness services in claim handling standards, practices, and norms. She has been retained by law firms representing plaintiffs and those representing insurer defendants involved in disputes or litigation regarding coverage analysis, investigation, liability determination, damage evaluation, negotiation and settlement. She is a graduate of The Ohio State University.
Mobile home insurance is a type of homeowners insurance specifically designed for people who own a mobile or factory-manufactured home. Your mobile home insurance typically only covers your home while it is not in motion.
Key takeaways
Mobile home insurance covers the structure of your mobile home, personal property, and liability in the event you’re responsible for damage or injury to someone else.
If your mobile home isn’t your primary residence, you can get secondary mobile home insurance coverage to cover it.
It may be difficult to insure an old or vintage mobile home as they are seen as higher risk, especially if they are not up to building code regulations.
What is mobile home and manufactured home insurance?
Mobile home insurance — also called manufactured home insurance — is similar to homeowners insurance but is written specifically for people who own a mobile or factory-manufactured home or trailer to protect your belongings in the event of disaster or malicious activity. Mobile home or manufactured home insurance is composed of different types of coverages that offer different types of protection, which we’ll get into below.
What type of home insurance policy do I need for my mobile home?
You have a few options when it comes to purchasing home insurance coverage for your mobile or manufactured home.
One option is to go with an HO-7 policy, which is a specialized policy only available for mobile or manufactured homes. However, oftentimes you'll need to go through a specialty insurer to find this type of policy, which can make it more difficult to get.
Another option, and likely easier way to find coverage, is to reach out to a standard home insurance provider that offers HO-2 or HO-3 policies with mobile home endorsements.
Our licensed home insurance agents at Policygenius can help you find a policy for your mobile home and compare rates with multiple insurance companies — all from the comfort of your home.
What does mobile home insurance cover?
The following coverage types are typically included in a mobile and manufactured home insurance policy:
Pays additional expenses you incur while relocating or staying elsewhere if your mobile home becomes temporarily uninhabitable.
Additional mobile home insurance coverage
Mobile home insurance has additional coverages that offer small amounts of reimbursement for expenses you might not otherwise associate with your daily living.
Some of those additional coverages include:
Credit cards, identity theft, forgery: Pays for reimbursement for any costs incurred by the fraudulent use of your credit card, forged checks cashed in your name, and expenses related to identity theft.
Trees, shrubs, lawns: Protection for your landscaping.
Debris removal: If debris damages your home due to a covered peril, you may be able to get the cost to repair the damage reimbursed.
Food spoilage: If a loss of power causes your food to spoil, you may be able to get the cost of the food reimbursed.
Emergency protection and repair: May include protection for your mobile home when it is damaged in a collision with being transported or otherwise in motion.
What perils does mobile home insurance cover?
Your mobile home insurance covers different risks in the event they damage your property. Your policy will either be a named peril policy or an open peril policy. Named peril only covers risks outlined in your policy, whereas open peril covers everything except those listed as exclusions in your policy.
You may be able to add an endorsement to your policy for certain hazards, like earthquakes or floods.
How much does mobile home insurance cost?
The average cost of standard homeowners insurance is $1,899 per year. Mobile home insurance is often more expensive than standard insurance, since mobile homes are more at risk for wind damage and other hazards.
Below are four insurers that offer or specialize in mobile home insurance. Keep in mind that policies may not be available in all 50 states and coverages can vary from company to company.
Foremost was founded in 1952, and has been dedicated to providing specialized insurance policies to high-risk homes ever since.
Foremost offers comprehensive mobile home policies, and includes some additional perils that other insurers may not automatically offer, like coverage for collapse caused by the weight of ice and snow. Foremost also offers optional replacement cost coverage upgrades for your belongings.
State Farm is available in all 50 states and received high customer satisfaction scores from both J.D. Power and the NAIC complaint index.
State Farm offers all the standard mobile home insurance coverages, as well as fair rental value in the event that you rent out your mobile home. State Farm offers optional coverages like identity theft restoration and earthquake coverage.
Allstate is the second largest homeowners insurance company in the country and scored high customer satisfaction ratings with J.D. Power.
Allstate offers standard mobile home coverage in all 50 states. Allstate also offers lots of discounts to make your mobile home insurance more affordable — like a protective device discount for installing security measures like a home security system and a multi policy discount if you bundle home and auto insurance policies.
Assurant partners with companies like Geico and Liberty Mutual to offer customizable mobile home insurance policies. Assurant also offers online quoting tools and coverage add-ons, and insures both new and previously-owned mobile homes.
What kind of mobile homes are covered by mobile home insurance?
The type of mobile home that is eligible for coverage will depend on the insurance company. You may be able to get a mobile home insurance policy for the following:
Double-wide manufactured and double-wide mobile homes
Modular homes
Park model homes and some RVs
Trailers, travel trailers, fifth-wheel trailers
Sectional homes
Single-wide manufactured and single-wide mobile homes
Older mobile home insurance
It can be difficult to insure older mobile homes as they may no longer pass inspection, and they may have unregulated building standards. That said, if you make certain updates to your vintage mobile home, insurers may be more inclined to insure you as it makes your home less high-risk. If you can’t find mobile home insurance for your manufactured home, try looking into specialty carriers or consider making alterations to it.
Is mobile home insurance required?
If you have a mortgage on your mobile home, your lender will require you to purchase mobile home insurance. Some mobile home communities also require you to have insurance. Even if neither of the prior two statements pertain to you, you should still consider purchasing mobile home insurance. If you were to go without it, you’d have to foot the bill yourself for any kind of repairs.
Keep in mind that if your home is classified as an RV — and you plan on driving it on public roads — you’ll legally need some sort of RV insurance to do so.
How do mobile home insurance claims work?
The amount your insurance company is obligated to pay you in the event of a covered loss depends on what type of policy you have: actual cash value payment or replacement cost payment.
Actual cash value/Agreed loss payment: Reimbursement factors in depreciation. Agreed-loss policies are more affordable, but may not offer as much coverage if you’ve been living in your manufactured home for a long time.
Replacement cost: Replaces your property at the value of the property without accounting for depreciation, meaning what it costs to buy new. This is much more robust coverage, but it may be less affordable.
You have to pay a deductible when you file a property loss claim
The deductible is how much you have to pay your insurer before your coverage will kick in. For example, if your deductible is $500 and you file a claim for $5,000 loss, you’d pay your insurer $500 and they’d cover the remaining $4,500.
Mobile home insurance discounts
Insurance companies offer discounts on your premiums if you take safety precautions, like installing a security or anti-theft device in your mobile home. Your insurance company may also offer discounts for the following:
Multiple-policy discounts: Also called bundling, if you purchase multiple policies from the same insurer, you may get a discount on some of them.
Senior discount: Some insurers may offer a discount to customers above a certain age, even those as young as 50.
Original owner discount: Some insurers offer a discount if you are the original titleholder of your mobile or manufactured home.
Is homeowners insurance more expensive for a mobile home?
Homeowners insurance costs vary. Mobile homes can be higher risk to insure because they may be more susceptible to fire damage, but it really depends on the type of mobile home, square footage, location, and more.
Is it hard to get insurance for a mobile home?
Most major insurance companies offer mobile or manufactured homeowners insurance policies. That said, not every carrier offers mobile home insurance in every state. The agents at Policygenius can help you compare multiple mobile home insurers to find the best one for you and your mobile home.
What is the average cost of mobile home insurance?
The cost of mobile home insurance typically varies from a few hundred dollars a year to a couple thousand. Insurers look at lots of different factors when calculating rates — like your home’s age, build materials, square footage, location, as well as your claims history and credit score.
Kara McGinley is a senior editor and licensed home insurance expert at Policygenius, where she writes about homeowners and renters insurance. As a journalist and as an insurance expert, her work and insights have been featured in Kiplinger, Lifehacker, MSN, WRAL.com, and elsewhere.
Property & casualty claim consultant and expert witness
Britta M. Moss, CPCU, SCLA, AIC-M, has over 25 years of insurance industry experience. In her work as a property and casualty claim consultant, she provides consultation and expert witness services in claim handling standards, practices, and norms. She has been retained by law firms representing plaintiffs and those representing insurer defendants involved in disputes or litigation regarding coverage analysis, investigation, liability determination, damage evaluation, negotiation and settlement. She is a graduate of The Ohio State University.
