Allstate Homeowners Insurance Review

Best Company for Premium Discounts

As a homeowner, there are a lot of demands on your budget. From maintenance to HOA dues, homeownership can be expensive. That’s why finding the best rates and discounts on homeowners insurance is so important.

Allstate offers many homeowners insurance discounts, including unusual discounts like an early signing discount, responsible payment discount and a 20% claim-free discount. With these valuable reductions available, Allstate is our choice as the best homeowners insurance company for premium discounts.

• Allstate Homeowners Insurance Pros and Cons
• Allstate Homeowners Insurance
• Credentials
• Cost of Allstate Homeowners Insurance
• Accessibility
• Customer Satisfaction
• Allstate Homeowners Insurance FAQ
• How We Evaluated Allstate Homeowners Insurance
• Summary of Money's Allstate Homeowners Insurance Review

Allstate Homeowners Insurance Pros and Cons

Pros explained

Valuable discount programs

Allstate has a lengthy list of potential discounts that can significantly reduce your premiums. Discounts include a 20% claims-free discount, an automatic payment discount, protective device discount and more.

Home sharing insurance available

With the rise in popularity of services like Airbnb and VRBO, more and more homeowners are renting out their homes to vacationers. Homeowners insurance policies usually don’t cover home sharing, but Allstate’s HostAdvantage policy can be added to your homeowners insurance coverage to protect you while hosting renters.

Also sells flood policies

Homeowners insurance doesn’t usually include flood protection, and not all insurers offer it as a rider. If you live in an area prone to flooding, this can leave you at risk. With Allstate, you can add flood protection to your policy.

Cons explained

Policies may be issued by third parties

While Allstate is available in all states, it doesn’t serve every zip code. Depending on where you live, Allstate may connect you to a third-party insurer. For example, when we requested a quote for a home in Florida, we were redirected to Security First Managers.

Extra coverage not available in all states

Allstate, like most insurers, offers additional coverage riders for valuables like musical instruments, business property and identity theft restoration. However, those riders aren’t available in all states; you have to contact an agent to see what coverages are available in your area.

Higher-than-average number of complaints

Allstate has received a higher number of complaints than is typical for a company of its size. In fact, its issuing companies received two to four times more complaints than expected.

Allstate Homeowners Insurance

Allstate homeowners insurance covers the following:

• Dwelling: Allstate’s dwelling coverage will pay for damages to your home and attached structures surrounding it, such as your garage or deck.

• Other structures: The other structures portion of the policy protects structures that are separate from your home, such as a detached garage or storage shed.

• Personal property: Personal property protection covers the property inside the home, such as furniture, electronics and other valuables.

• Family liability protection: If someone sues you after being injured on your property, family liability protection can help you cover legal costs.

Additional coverage available

As with other insurance companies, Allstate’s homeowner policies don’t include coverage for floods, earthquakes or water backup. However, Allstate does offer additional riders that cover these incidents, for an added cost.

Allstate also has the following optional coverages:

• Extended coverage for jewelry, watches and furs
• Identity theft restoration
• Water backup
• Business property

Limitations

Allstate’s policies are only sold through insurance agents. Depending on where you live, Allstate may not offer homeowners insurance in your area. If that’s the case, the company may direct you to a third-party insurer.

Credentials

Founded in 1931, Allstate has a long-standing history in the United States. It is the second-largest writer of homeowners insurance policies based on direct premiums written. In 2020 — the latest available data — Allstate’s market share was 8.9% with over $9.7 billion of direct premiums written.

Financial stability

Your house is likely the single biggest investment you’ll ever make. When choosing a homeowners insurance company, you need to know that the company is financially sound and able to weather market changes.

Credit rating agencies like AM Best and Demotech review insurers’ financials and business operations to issue credit ratings. These ratings can help you make informed decisions about which insurers to work with when you shop around.

In 2021, AM Best affirmed Allstate’s A+ (superior) rating. In its statement, AM Best cited the company’s balance sheet strength and operating performance as part of its rationale for the high rating.

Third-party ratings

In the 2021 J.D. Power U.S. Homeowner Insurance Study, J.D. Power ranked Allstate 10th out of 21 companies. Its score was just above the segment average.

The study evaluated customer satisfaction based on five factors: customer interactions, policy options, billing and policy information, claims and price.

Regulatory actions

Allstate isn’t currently dealing with any regulatory actions. However, it did recently settle a nationwide class-action lawsuit. The lawsuit was filed against Allstate on behalf of policyholders that alleged that Allstate underpaid property damage claims.

Lawsuits are common issues with a company of Allstate’s size. When choosing an insurer, be sure to review your policy declarations carefully to ensure you understand what’s covered, how reimbursement amounts are calculated and other policy conditions.

Cost of Allstate Homeowners Insurance

According to the National Association of Insurance Commissioners, the average homeowners policy costs $1,396 per year, or about $116 per month. However, homeowners insurance premiums can vary a great deal because the price is based on your location, the building material used, age of the structure and roof, your eligibility for available discounts and other variables.

It’s wise to get quotes from multiple homeowners insurance companies so you can get the best deal — and the best coverage — possible.

To give you an estimate of what to expect in terms of price, we requested a quote from Allstate for a sample property in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania with the following coverages and a $2,500 deductible:

• $650,000 in dwelling coverage
• $65,000 in other structures
• $394,000 in personal property
• $100,000 in personal liability coverage
• $65,000 in additional living expenses
• $1,000 in medical payments

Allstate’s quoted premium was $384 per year or $4,620 per year, significantly higher than the average industry cost. Allstate does not allow you to lower the reimbursement amount for dwelling coverage, other structure protection, personal property insurance or additional living expenses with the online quote tool, so you may be able to customize your coverage — and lower your costs — by working with an agent.

Accessibility

Unlike some other companies that allow you to buy homeowners insurance online, you have to work with an agent to buy an Allstate policy. There are thousands of agents nationwide; you can find one near you with the locator tool.

With most questions or issues, you’ll contact your agent for support. However, you can get answers to general questions or submit claims by phone, email or through Allstate’s mobile app.

Contact information

You can reach customer support by calling 1-800-255-7828. Or, you can send an email through Allstate’s secure messaging platform.

User experience

Allstate allows customers to get preliminary quotes online. However, you may find that you can't customize the coverage amounts or deductibles as much as you can with other companies; to truly adjust your coverage and get the right policy, you’ll need to contact an Allstate agent.

Once you purchase a policy, you can manage your account, make payments, view policy documents and start the claims process online or through the mobile app.

Customer Satisfaction

In general, Allstate customer reviews are negative, with many policyholders complaining about claims processing times and customer support.

Customer reviews

Allstate generally has less-than-stellar reviews. On Trustpilot, it has a TrustScore of 1.4 out of 5 based on over 130 reviews, placing it in the “bad” category.

Allstate isn’t accredited by BBB, and it has a 1.12 rating out of five.

However, reviews on these platforms are often about Allstate’s vehicle coverage, so it may not be reflective of the typical homeowner insurance policyholder’s experience.

Complaint index

Every year, the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) collects the complaints that consumers submit about insurance companies. Comparing the number of complaints to the company’s market share, the NAIC assigns each company a complaint ratio.

When comparing companies, keep in mind that the industry standard complaint ratio is 1.0. If a company’s ratio is higher than that, it received more complaints than the NAIC expected for a company of its size. Similarly, a company with a ratio below 1.0 received fewer complaints than the NAIC expected.

With Allstate, its complaint ratio is dependent on which of its subsidiaries you view. In general, its complaint ratios for its homeowner insurance segment range from 2.03 to 4.01 — much higher than the industry standard.

How We Evaluated Allstate Homeowners Insurance

To evaluate Allstate and see how it measured up to other homeowners insurance companies, we looked at the following factors:

• Availability
• Coverage options
• Optional coverage
• Policy exclusions
• Cost
• Third-party ratings
• Financial stability
• Customer service

Summary of Money’s Allstate Homeowners Insurance Review

When it comes to homeowners insurance, cost is key. If you’re looking for ways to save on your premiums, Allstate may be a good choice for you. It has many discount programs, including automatic payment discounts, protection device discounts and payment history discounts.

However, Allstate has received mixed reviews about its customer service and claims processing. Before choosing an insurer, make sure you shop around and talk to multiple insurance agents from different companies to find the best homeowners insurance policy for your needs.