Travelers homeowners insurance offers substantial discounts and customizable coverage with more add-on policy options than most companies on the market. Carrying strong financial standing with more than 160 years experience, Travelers provides customers a 24/7 claim center and even a smart home incentive for new policy holders.
The Specs
| Price | Varies by home, location and coverage |
| Best for | Those who value customization and extra coverage options |
| Not for | Those in need of superior customer service |
| States served | 50 |
| Discounts | Multi-policy (15%), Home buyer, Loss free, Protective device, Green home |
| A.M. Best Rating | A++ |
| Standout features | High coverage limits |
The Claim
With more than 160 years as an industry leader, Travelers Insurance advertises that its about “Protecting your house and what makes it a home.”
Regarding homeowners insurance, Travelers claims it offers a variety of policy options and packages to help meet your unique needs, and provides you peace of mind through a simple and stress-free claims process.
Is it True?
There’s no debate that Travelers Insurance has been around a long time and has significant financial backing. However, it the past few years, Travelers homeowner’s insurance has consistently received an overall slightly below average score on J.D. Power 2019 U.S. Home Insurance Study, and this year the homeowner’s part of the company was listed among the lowest ranked, with a score of 796. Average score is 816 with Amica Mutual coming in 1st place with a score of 845.
Our Deep Dive
- Dwelling coverage: Dwelling coverage pays to repair or reconstruct your property. If you want to change your coverage to less than the estimated cost to rebuild, you must speak with a Traveler’s agent.
- Other Structures Coverage: Most home insurance policies, including Travelers, do not include detached structures from your immediate home in dwelling coverage. Instead, these are classified as other structures and covered under a specific Other Structures portion of your policy.
- Personal Property Coverage: Personal property coverage reimburses you for personal items that are damaged or destroyed. There are caps to liability for certain items. Most items are replaced via actual cash value, minus depreciation.
- Optional personal property coverage: Travelers does offer an option coverage that makes it so depreciation value will not be deducted. Limits and deductibles apply.
- Loss of use coverage: When you can’t get into your home for extended periods of time, costs add up. When this happens as a result of insured damage, loss of use coverage pays for you to stay somewhere else while you home is repaired. Travelers maxes out loss of use coverage at 30% of dwelling cost. Many insurance companies do not do this. However, the standard loss of use coverage in a policy is 20%.
- Personal liability: Personal liability coverage options range from $100,000 to $500,000. If someone is injured at your home as a result of your actions or someone in your household, personal liability insurance covers their cost. It should also protect you from legal retribution. Exclusions apply.
- Medical liability: This provides coverage for anyone not living in your home, who gets injured on your property, regardless of fault. Minimum coverage begins at $1,000 a person.
As per most other home insurance policies, flood and earthquake damage is NOT included in Travelers homeowner insurance. Damage to land is also not included.
Additional Coverage Options
One of the areas that makes Travelers homeowner insurance stand out among competitors is its additional coverage options, including:
- Special personal property coverage: This selection helps cover your personal property in more situations than a homeowners policy covers.
- Additional replacement cost protection coverage: If amount designated by primary policy is not enough to repair or rebuild a home, this coverage fills the gap.
- Jewelry and valuable items: This coverage makes sure if your valuable items are considered a loss, you will receive a fair price to cover the items worth.
- Personal Articles Floater: Floater coverage provides any higher coverage needed for valuable items beyond what you already hold.
- Identity Fraud: Identity fraud coverage will reimburse you for up to $25,000 in expenses required to restore your identity if it’s used fraudulently.
- Green Home Coverage: Green home coverage gives you the resources to repair, replace or rebuild with green materials, after a covered loss.
Travelers also provides a 24/7 claims center and frequently sends a team to help affected customers during disaster aftermath.
Cost rundown
The quote tool for Travelers home insurance is very thorough. Potential customers are surveyed about a large variety of details about their home, its upkeep, security and more.
All of the following are taken into consideration during the quote process:
- Your credit-based insurance score
- Year property was built
- Number of mortgages
- Square footage of home
- Foundation type
- Losses in the last 7 years
- Driving history and amount of liability insurance chosen for car insurance
- Type of heating system
- Number of bathroom, stories
- Bathroom and kitchen quality (4 choices)
- Builder’s grade, custom, semi custom or designer
- Access to fire hydrant
- Type and shape of roof
- Last year roof was replaced
- Type of siding
- Whether or not your home has solar panels
- Type and size of garage
- Whether or not you have a pool
Travels also reserves the right to order additional consumer reports, such as loss history, in order to update or renew your insurance should you purchase a policy.
Saving on homeowners insurance
Traveler’s offers many discount options for homeowner policies.
- Multi-policy discount: If you bundle a homeowners policy with auto or another policy, you can save up to 15%.
- Home buyer discount: This discount is open to policyholders who have purchased a home in the last 12 months.
- Loss-free discount: If you have not experienced a loss within the given timeframe Travelers stipulates, you will receive a discount.
- Personal device discount: Installing devices that are likely to keep both you and your home safe can also earn you a discount. Eligible devices include but may not be limited to smoke detectors, fire alarms, interior sprinkler systems, home security systems and smart home technology.
- Green home discount: Earn up to a 5% discount for owning a certified green home.
The Competition
Travelers home insurance earned a score of 796 on the J.D. Power ratings. While in years past, Travelers homeowners insurance has scored “about average” on the scale, this year it is listed as “among the rest” and received only two out of five stars. This essentially translates to below average. Score ranges for the survey are as follows:
Among the best: 838-845
Better than most: 826-843
About average: 799-816
Among the rest:747-796
Amica Mutual (845)
For the 18th year in a row, Amica Mutual home insurance is ranked no. 1 among for customer service and claims satisfaction by J.D. Power. Amica Mutual was also the only company give 5/5 Power Circles.
AllState (814)
With AllState additional coverages, customers can avoid premium increases despite claims by choosing to pay a bit extra for RateGuard. And those who rent out their home through AirBnB can have peace of mind about the safety of their property with HostAdvantage.
Farmers (808)
In addition to traditional homes and condos, Farmers also covers specialty homes, like mobile homes. Farmers claim forgiveness and option to cover a home’s land, rather than just the building, could be big-time incentives for families who spend lots of money on landscaping.
Nationwide (796)
Coverage choices such as inflation protection, law or ordinance coverage, better roof replacement and mine subsidence make it clear Nationwide has considered every scenario. For individuals living near an old mine or skeptical of the current money market, Nationwide offers impressive options.
What Others Are Saying
Despite an overall score of 4 out of 5 by Consumer Affairs, most ratings under “homeowner’s insurance” were 1 or 2 out of 5 stars, with most complaints regarding lack of communication and refusal to cover claims.
The Bottom Line
Valuable discounts and add-on coverage options with Travelers homeowners insurance help to create lower cost policies for specific coverage choices. Unfortunately, based on verified customer feedback, Travelers homeowner’s insurance has work to do when it comes to the customer claim experience.
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