Auto-Owners home insurance review: A+ coverage options
Auto-Owners home insurance features industry-best affordability, coverage, and financial stability, making it a great option in the 26 states it works in.
By
Pat HowardPat HowardManaging Editor & Licensed Home Insurance ExpertPat Howard is a managing editor and licensed home insurance expert at Policygenius, where he specializes in homeowners insurance. His work and expertise has been featured in MarketWatch, Real Simple, Fox Business, VentureBeat, This Old House, Investopedia, Fatherly, Lifehacker, Better Homes & Garden, Property Casualty 360, and elsewhere.
Edited by
Colin LalleyColin LalleyContent Director, Home & Auto InsuranceColin Lalley is the content director for home and auto insurance at Policygenius, where he leads our property & casualty editorial teams. His insights have been featured in Inc. Magazine, Betterment, Chime, Credit Seasame, Zola, and the Council for Disability Awareness.
Our proprietary ratings methodology takes multiple factors into account, including customer satisfaction, cost, financial strength, and policy offerings. See the “Ratings methodology” section for more details.
5.0
AM Best rating
AM Best is a global credit rating agency that scores the financial strength of insurance companies on a scale from A++ (Superior) to D (Poor).
A++
Cost
Using a mix of internal and external rate data, we grade the cost of each insurance company's premiums on a scale from least expensive ($) to most expensive ($$$$$).
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The bottom line
Auto-Owners Insurance is one of the best home insurance coverage options on the market thanks to its low average rates, comprehensive coverage options, numerous policy perks, and up to a dozen potential discounts to help further your savings.
In addition to being budget friendly and offering top-tier policy add-ons like guaranteed replacement cost and inland flood coverage, Auto-Owners also boasts some of the best customer service ratings with J.D. Power.
While it doesn’t offer online claims — you’ll need to call your Auto-Owners agent to do this — its reputation for personalized and efficient claims service means you likely won’t have absurdly long hold times.
Auto-Owners Insurance home insurance policies include these six basic coverages to protect your home, belongings, and liability.
Dwelling: Pays to rebuild or repair the structure of your home, such as the roof, floors, walls, built-in appliances, and any structures attached to the home.
Other structures: Pays to rebuild or repair additional structures on your property that aren’t attached to your home, like a detached garage or gardening shed.
Personal property: Covers the costs of repairing or replacing your personal belongings, such as furniture, clothes, electronics, and other possessions you own.
Loss of use: Helps cover the cost of hotel stays, restaurant meals, pet boarding costs, and other temporary living expenses while your house is being rebuilt or repaired after a covered loss.
Personal liability: Covers medical and legal expenses in the event you’re legally responsible for an accidental injury or property damage.
Medical payments: Pays for guests’ medical expenses if they’re injured in your home, regardless of who is at fault.
Additional coverages offered
Consider adding the following coverages to your Auto-Owners Insurance homeowners insurance policy for an additional cost.
Guaranteed replacement cost: In the event your house is badly damaged or destroyed by a covered loss, this covers 100% of rebuild costs — regardless of how much it costs.
Special personal property: Also known as open perils coverage, this extends your policy’s personal property coverage to cover lost or misplaced items — two causes of loss that generally aren’t covered by standard home insurance.
Personal property replacement cost: If your belongings are stolen or damaged by a covered peril, this covers the cost of new items without deducting depreciation from your claim payment.
Equipment breakdown: This coverage covers the cost of replacement or repairs if an appliance, home system, or computer is damaged due to a mechanical, electrical, or pressure systems breakdown.
Scheduled personal property: Higher coverage limits on expensive valuables, such as jewelry, musical instruments, furs, and more.
Identity theft expenses: If your identity is stolen, this provides up to $15,000 in protection to cover the cost of legal fees, lost wages, and other costs you incur during the recovery process.
Ordinance or law coverage: Provides additional coverage limits for modifications required by building ordinances or laws following a covered loss to your home.
Home cyber protection: Covers the cost for you to hire a professional to recover stolen or corrupted data, restore the corrupted device to its previous functionality, and legal counsel to review and develop a response for the personal data compromise.
Inland flood: Covers water damage to your home, belongings, and pays for additional living expenses if your home is impacted by an inland flood event.
Homeowners Plus: Auto-Owners’ endorsement bundle that includes higher coverage limits for refrigerated items, water backup coverage, no deductible for glass breakage, mortgage expense protection, and more.
Business liability: Provides you with additional liability protection if you use your home or another building as incidental business occupancies.
Professional liability: Protects your operation as a barber, beautician, or teacher when your office is located in your home.
Watercraft liability: Provides additional liability coverage for watercraft that operates at a higher speed or larger boats.
Umbrella insurance: If you have a liability claim that exceeds your liability coverage limit, umbrella insurance kicks in to cover the additional costs.
Flood insurance: Auto-Owners Insurance offers separate flood insurance through the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP), the main provider of flood insurance in the U.S.
Ratings methodology
Price
4.7/5
Auto-Owners home insurance policies are roughly 25% cheaper than the national average, making it a relatively affordable option for homeowners in the 26 states where it's available. In addition to already low premiums, it has around a dozen available discounts to further your savings — helping land Auto-Owners a near perfect price rating.
Customer experience
4.1/5
Auto-Owners Insurance earned an impressive 4.1 out of 5 customer experience rating thanks to its above-average customer satisfaction score in J.D. Power’s 2022 Home Insurance Study. While it scored below the segment average in J.D. Power’s 2022 Digital Experience Study, which looks at the quality of a company’s web and app experience, it still managed to rank 4th out of the 17 insurers customers were surveyed about.
Coverage options
4.7/5
Auto-Owners Insurance earned a high coverage options rating due to the high number of add-ons and supplemental policies it offers (up to 24, in fact), such as guaranteed replacement cost, professional liability protection, and a Homeowners Plus package that rolls several policy endorsements into one. While Auto-Owners’ standard home insurance policy offering doesn’t include anything extra beyond the six standard coverages, there are no shortage of ways to personalize it to your liking.
Financial strength
4.9/5
As of December 2022, Auto-Owners Insurance has an A++ rating with AM Best, a credit-rating agency that rates insurance companies’ ability to fulfill their financial obligations, earning it a high financial strength rating. Auto-Owners has not yet been rated by S&P or Moody’s.
How much does Auto-Owners home insurance cost?
The national average cost of an Auto-Owners home insurance policy is $1,406 per year for a policy with $300,000 in dwelling coverage. This makes Auto-Owners Insurance about 26% cheaper than the national average.
However, your own rates will depend on your home’s location and how much coverage you need. Here’s the average yearly cost of Auto-Owners Insurance for five different levels of dwelling coverage:
Dwelling coverage limit
Average annual cost
$100,000
$716
$200,000
$1,002
$300,000
$1,406
$400,000
$1,590
$500,000
$1,902
Rates are based on our analysis of 2022 sample home insurance quotes from across the country provided by Quadrant Information Services. Actual rates will vary based on location, policy limits, coverages, claims history, and other factors.
What discounts does Auto-Owners Insurance offer?
Auto-Owners Insurance home insurance comes with several potential discounts to lower your rates even more:
Multi-policy: If you bundle home and auto insurance policies with Auto-Owners Insurance, you can save an average of 18% on premiums.
Protective devices: If you have burglar alarms, fire alarms, fire sprinklers, or other safety or security devices installed in your home.
Water shutoff system: If you have a qualifying and properly maintained home water shut-off system that automatically turns off the water supply when it detects a leak.
Automatic backup generator: If you have a qualifying backup generator.
Claim-free: If you’ve gone a certain number of years without filing a claim.
Mortgage free: if you don’t have an existing mortgage or line of credit on your home.
Mature homebuyer: For Auto-Owners’ customers who are 65 years of age or older.
Payment history: If you’ve paid your premiums on time in the past 36 months.
Green discount: If you opt for paperless billing and pay your premiums online.
Advanced quote: If you get an Auto-Owners Insurance home insurance quote at least a week before your current policy expires.
Paid-in-full: If you pay your premiums for the year upfront. Although this discount does not apply to homeowners who pay through their escrow account.
Compare home insurance quotes with top insurers in minutes
Auto-Owners home insurance is available in the following 26 states:
Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah, Virginia, and Wisconsin
What to expect with Auto-Owners home insurance
How to get a quote: To get a homeowners insurance quote, you’ll have to call a local Auto-Owners Insurance agent. It has an agent lookup tool on its website, however it does not offer an online quote option.
Customer service options: To contact Auto-Owners general customer service department, call 1-800-346-0346. For billing questions specific to home, auto, and business insurance, call 1-800-288-8740.
How to file a claim: To file a home insurance claim with Auto-Owners Insurance, you’ll need to first call your local agent to report the loss. If you’re attempting to report a claim after normal business hours, on a weekend, or a holiday, call Auto-Owners’ after-hours claim reporting service at 1-888-252-4626. Once you file your claim, you can track its progress online.
How to cancel your policy: To cancel your Auto-Owners Insurance policy, call your local agent.
Auto-Owners Insurance vs. other home insurance companies
Compare Auto-Owners Insurance to similar homeowners insurance companies using the table below.
Auto-Owners insurance was one of the top ranked companies in J.D. Power’s 2022 U.S. Home Insurance Study which considers claims, among several other factors. The high marks with J.D. Power, along with its low number of NAIC customer complaints, likely means Auto-Owners is above average when it comes to paying out claims.
Does Auto-Owners write property insurance in Florida?
Yes. As of December 2022, Auto-Owners writes property insurance in Florida and 25 other states.
What is Auto-Owners home insurance claims phone number?
To file a home insurance claim or to check the status of an existing one with Auto-Owners Insurance, call 1-888-252-4626.
Pat Howard is a managing editor and licensed home insurance expert at Policygenius, where he specializes in homeowners insurance. His work and expertise has been featured in MarketWatch, Real Simple, Fox Business, VentureBeat, This Old House, Investopedia, Fatherly, Lifehacker, Better Homes & Garden, Property Casualty 360, and elsewhere.
Colin Lalley is the content director for home and auto insurance at Policygenius, where he leads our property & casualty editorial teams. His insights have been featured in Inc. Magazine, Betterment, Chime, Credit Seasame, Zola, and the Council for Disability Awareness.
