About Auto-Owners Homeowners Insurance
Founded in 1916, Auto-Owners Insurance provides insurance to almost 3 million policy members. Headquartered in Lansing, Michigan, Auto-Owners is the 10th largest home insurance company in the nation.
What Is the Financial Strength Rating of Auto-Owners Insurance?
AM Best rated Auto-Owners Insurance’s financial strength ratings as A++ (Superior), praising the company’s balance sheet strength. The rating agency also praised Auto-Owners Insurance’s “very strong operating performance, favorable business profile and appropriate enterprise risk management.”
How Much Does Auto-Owners Home Insurance Cost?
The average annual cost for Auto-Owners home insurance is $1,525 for $350,000 coverage, based on our analysis. That’s not one of the cheapest rates among the companies we reviewed. Still, Auto-Owners Insurance earned a top spot in our best home insurance companies rankings thanks to its discounts, low consumer complaints and coverage options.
Cost by Dwelling Coverage
| Dwelling Coverage Limit | Annual average cost |
|---|---|
| $200,000 | $1,101 |
| $350,000 | $1,525 |
| $500,000 | $1,987 |
| $750,000 | $2,814 |
Cost by Deductible
| Deductible Amount | Annual average cost |
|---|---|
| $250 | $1,926 |
| $500 | $1,857 |
| $1,000 | $1,684 |
| $1,500 | $1,609 |
| $2,000 | $1,536 |
What Types of Coverage Does Auto-Owners Home Insurance Offer?
Auto-Owners homeowners insurance includes the standard types of coverage you would find in a typical homeowners policy:
- Dwelling coverage pays to repair or replace your home and attached structures (like a deck) due to problems covered by your policy (such as a fire).
- Other structures coverage pays to repair or replace detached structures on your property, such as a fence, shed or a garage.
- Personal property coverage pays to repair or replace your personal belongings if they are stolen or damaged by a problem covered by your policy, such as water damage from a burst pipe.
- Liability insurance pays for property damage and injuries that you or your household members accidentally cause to others. It also pays for your legal defense if you’re sued due to an accident covered by your policy.
- Additional living expenses coverage pays for expenses like restaurant meals, pet boarding and hotel bills if you cannot live in your home because of a problem covered by your policy.
- Medical payments coverage pays for smaller medical bills, typically up to $5,000, of people accidentally hurt on or off your property, not including household members. Medical payments coverage doesn’t consider who was at fault.
You can customize your home insurance with optional types of coverage, such as:
- Guaranteed home replacement cost if the cost of replacing your home exceeds your policy limits, this coverage pays the full cost to rebuild your house.
- Specialized personal property coverage offers more coverage for personal items, such as misplaced or lost items, and defaced or stained items.
- Homeowners plus is a package of coverage types that pay for problems like appliance leaks and food spoilage from power outages.
- Identity theft expense coverage pays up to $15,000 for expenses to restore your identity.
- Water backup of sewers or drains pays for damages to your home (such as furniture, walls, floors and electrical systems) if they are damaged due to a water backup.
- Ordinance or law coverage pays to get you up to code if local laws or ordinances require construction, demolition or repair of your property.
- Equipment breakdown covers mechanical and electrical failures of equipment such as heating units, air conditioners, computers and major appliances.
- Home cyber protection covers the cost to hire a professional to help recover stolen or corrupted data, restore your device and legal counsel to respond to the personal data compromise.
Related: Cheapest Homeowners Insurance Companies Of 2024
Auto-Owners sells different types of home-related insurance coverage including:
Home Insurance Complaints Against Auto-Owners
Auto-Owners has a low complaint ratio compared to the industry average. The National Association of Insurance Commissioners collects complaint information from state departments of insurance. A low level of complaint can signify high customer satisfaction.
Auto-Owners Homeowners Insurance Discounts
Trimming your home insurance premium may be as simple as scooping up a discount or two. Here is a list of home insurance discounts from Auto-Owners:
- Advance quote discount: If you are a new customer and you request a policy quote before the policy’s start date, you can get a discount.
- Automatic backup generator discount: If you have a backup generator, you may qualify for a discount.
- Claim free (favorable loss history) discount: You can save on your insurance if you haven’t filed a claim in five years.
- Green discount: If you pay your bills online and opt for paperless billing, you can get a discount.
- Mortgage-free discount: If you no longer have a mortgage on your home, you qualify for a discount.
- Multi-policy discount: Sign up for other insurance policies from Auto-Owners (such as car insurance) and you’ll get a discount on your home insurance premium.
- Paid in full discount: Get savings on your premium when you pay your policy in full.
- Payment history: If you have paid your home insurance premium on time for the past 36 months, you may qualify for a discount.
- Protective devices discount: If you have devices such as smoke detectors, fire extinguishers and deadbolt locks in your home, you could qualify for a discount.
- Renovated house discount: If you recently renovated your home, you may save a percentage off your home insurance bill.
- Water shut-off system discount: If you have a system that shuts off the water supply when a leak is detected, you may be eligible for a discount.
Comparing Auto-Owners Home Insurance
Price
Auto-Owners offers competitive rates for home insurance, though the company’s average rate is well behind Progressive, Nationwide and Erie Insurance. It’s still about $150 lower than the national average ($1,678).
The cost for home insurance varies quite a lot from one company to the next. To find the company that best suits your homeowner profile and budget, compare home insurance quotes, coverage and discounts offered by each insurer.
| Home insurance company | Average cost per year |
|---|---|
| $729 | |
| $1,157 | |
| $1,256 | |
| USAA* | $1,270 |
| $1,298 | |
| $1,344 | |
| $1,395 | |
| Auto-Owners | $1,525 |
| $1,810 | |
| $2,020 | |
| $2,035 | |
| $2,065 | |
| Shelter | $2,363 |
| $3,220 |
*USAA is available only to veterans, military members and their families.
Bundling with Auto Insurance
Auto-Owners Insurance’s 10% average home and auto insurance bundle discount is less than the national average of 14%. It’s still better than some competitors. State Farm offers the best multi-policy discount.
When shopping for a policy, ask about discounts, especially how much you would save by bundling home and auto home insurance. Bundling discounts are often the most generous offered. You shouldn’t make your decision solely on a bundling discount but it may help bring down your rate.
| Company | Average discount for bundling home and auto insurance | Average annual savings for bundling home and auto insurance |
|---|---|---|
| 23% | $787 | |
| 18% | $486 | |
| 18% | $732 | |
| 15% | $497 | |
| 15% | $535 | |
| 15% | $516 | |
| 11% | $484 | |
| Auto-Owners | 10% | $214 |
| Average | 14% | $466 |
Military and Veterans
USAA, which is only available to veterans, military members and their families, is the best homeowners insurance for military members and veterans.
USAA offers military-related perks not common with other insurance companies, such as Auto-Owners Insurance. For example, USAA covers uniform and military equipment replacement with no deductible for active-duty members. The insurer also covers personal property up to $10,000 with no deductible if the loss is due to war under certain conditions.
It’s tough to beat USAA if you’re looking for military member-related benefits, but it’s still wise to shop around to ensure you get all the coverage that best suits your needs. For example, Auto-Owners offers guaranteed replacement cost coverage; USAA does not have that coverage.
High-Value Homes
Auto-Owners’ home insurance costs for $1 million dwelling coverage are above the national average. Competitors like Westfield and Progressive offer excellent rates for home insurance for high-value homes.
That doesn’t mean you should avoid Auto-Owners home insurance if you need a policy with $1 million dwelling coverage. You may find Auto-Owners’ long list of policy discounts may reduce rates significantly.
| Company | Annual average home insurance cost for $1 million in coverage |
|---|---|
| $2,362 | |
| $2,695 | |
| $3,253 | |
| $3,304 | |
| $3,731 | |
| $3,825 | |
| $4,197 | |
| $4,203 | |
| Auto-Owners | $5,007 |
| $5,211 | |
| $6,335 | |
| $6,436 | |
| $6,449 | |
| Shelter | $7,892 |
| National average | $4,636 |
High Liability Limits
Chubb offers up to $100 million in liability insurance, which makes it the best home insurance company for high liability limits. The coverage pays for claims up to the policy limit if you or your household members cause bodily injury or accidentally damage another person’s property. It can also pay for your legal defense.
Though Auto-Owners can’t compete with that level of liability coverage, you can buy umbrella insurance through the company. Umbrella insurance is a separate liability policy that extends your coverage once you’ve exhausted your home insurance policy’s liability limits.
Auto-Owners umbrella insurance provides up to $5 million in additional coverage. You might be able to buy even more but need to get approval.
Coverage Perks
We gave Erie Insurance high marks for coverage perks because of its wide range of policy add-ons. These include identity theft, service line, water backup and sump pump overflow. Erie’s Extended Water Coverage pays if your home is damaged by flash floods, inland flooding, storm surges or snow melt. Standard home insurance doesn’t typically cover flood damage.
Though Auto-Owners might not offer as much added coverage as Erie Insurance, Auto-Owners does provide a variety of policy enhancements. These include specialized personal property coverage that increases limits for personal items, identity theft expense coverage and equipment breakdown coverage.
Adding these kinds of benefits can expand the scope of your coverage, but that also often comes at a higher cost.
Extended Coverage for Dwelling
Auto-Owners home insurance offers both extended replacement cost and guaranteed replacement cost coverage. Extended coverage lets you exceed dwelling coverage limits by a specific amount—typically a percentage— if a home rebuild following a covered problem exceeds your dwelling limit.
Auto-Owners Insurance’s extended replacement cost coverage lets you exceed the dwelling limit by 25%, similar to competitors’ extended replacement cost coverage.
| Company | Offers extended replacement cost coverage? |
|---|---|
| From American Family Connect, starting at $5,000 | |
| Auto-Owners | Up to 25% more |
| Up to 25% more | |
| Up to 25% more | |
| Up to 50% more | |
| Up to 20% more | |
| USAA* | Up to 25% or 50% more |
| Up to 25% more |
*USAA is available only to veterans, military members and their families.
Auto-Owners home insurance provides guaranteed replacement cost coverage as a policy endorsement. This type of coverage guarantees that the insurer will pay to rebuild your house regardless of the cost after a covered problem, such as a fire. This may be a vital policy enhancement during times of high inflation and rising building costs.
| Company | Offers guaranteed replacement cost coverage? |
|---|---|
| Yes, with American Family Connect | |
| Auto-Owners | Yes |
| No | |
| Yes | |
| Yes | |
| No | |
| USAA* | No |
| Yes |
Other Types of Insurance Offered by Auto-Owners Insurance
Other types of non-home insurance offered by Auto-Owners include:
- Boat insurance
- Car insurance
- Life insurance
- Motorcycle insurance
Methodology
To find the best home insurance we scored companies based on these factors:
- Home insurance rates (50% of score): Based on average rates for each insurance company for homes with dwelling coverage of $200,000, $350,000, $500,000 and $750,000. Source: Quadrant Information Services.
- Complaints (20% weight): Based on complaints about home insurance that were upheld by state insurance departments. Source: National Association of Insurance Commissioners.
- Availability of extended and/or guaranteed replacement cost coverage (20% of score): Extra dwelling coverage is valuable in the event of large disasters, when construction materials and labor costs tend to spike. We gave points to companies that offer either extended or guaranteed replacement cost coverage. Source: Forbes Advisor research.
- Banned dog lists (10% of score): Banned dog breed lists can make homeowners ineligible for coverage. (A company’s banned dog list might not be applicable in all states.) While any homeowners insurance company could potentially ban any dog with a biting history, not all put a ban on specific breeds. Source: Forbes Advisor research.
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