Why Home Insurance Costs So Much—and How to Pay Less

If you want to hunt down the best value for your insurance dollar, comparison shopping is a good way to start. Companies’ judgments of you and your property won’t be identical, so you may get a more favorable price from one company than from another. Just make sure you’re comparing coverage apples to apples. 

Switching insurers is fairly common. Twenty-one percent of Consumer Reports members surveyed recently about the experiences they’d had with their homeowners insurance companies said they’d switched carriers in the previous five years. Of those, 62 percent said they did so to get better rates—or because their old one had raised its rates. (Results are based on 59,670 responses, reflecting 65,000 experiences with homeowners insurers.)

Keep in mind that it’s key to establish the right replacement cost for your home so you’ll be covered if it gets destroyed. For that reason, consider using a local, independent agent or broker who sells policies from several insurance companies vs. an online vendor, says CR’s Bell. These professionals can go over how the different companies have determined the replacement cost of your home, and they may also recommend policy add-ons that can help your coverage keep up with inflation. (Find an agent through Trusted Choice, which is affiliated with numerous such companies.) 

However, you may still want to do an initial search for coverage online to get a sense of what might be available. Consider The Zebra and Policygenius, both of which provide quotes from a variety of insurers. (Bear in mind, however, that these sites might not include all companies, and they are likely to share your contact information with specific insurers who will then contact you directly.) Once you get a quote through one of these aggregators, you take it to your local independent broker, says CR’s Bell, or act on it directly. Keep in mind, though, that the local broker can help set up the coverage and possibly even get you a better rate or find additional discounts. Also check with your state insurance department, which may publish rate comparisons. Floridians, for instance, can go to Florida’s Office of Insurance Regulation; Californians, to the California Department of Insurance. 

CR members can consult Consumer Reports homeowners insurance ratings to identify companies that best satisfied the 59,670 members who responded to our survey. We judge carriers on price, breadth of coverage, nonclaims customer service, and other factors. We also rate them on claims handling, including how satisfied members are with the dollar amount they receive.