Unfortunately, it can be difficult to choose the best home insurance company for you. There are many providers that service Austin, Texas, but they are not all equal. They can differ in terms of overage, cost, and customer service quality.
Austin’s Top 4 Homeowners Insurance Companies
The highest-rated providers of home insurance in Austin, TX include:
Lemonade: Easiest Sign-Up Allstate: Best Coverage Options Travelers: Most Experience Amica: Best Customer Service
Lemonade
Lemonade is relatively new to the home insurance industry, offering a technology-driven approach and a focus on charity. The provider pools all of the money for premiums and donates whatever is left over at the end of the year to charity. To file claims, homeowners upload videos to a convenient mobile app, and nearly a third of claims are handled instantly.
Pros and Cons of Lemonde Home Insurance
✔ Easy-to-use mobile app✔ Almost a third of claims handled instantly✔ Charitable Giveback program✘ Not available nationwide
Lemonade Discounts
Lemonade offers several discounts such as:
Fire protection Protective devices Gated community Multi-policy by bundling policies such as Lemonade pet insurance, renters, or auto
Lemonade Endorsements
Lemonade offers a selection of endorsements.
Scheduled personal property: Covers the cost to replace damaged or stolen items like jewelry, art, musical instruments. and furs Home business: Covers operating a business out of the home Earthquake: Covers the cost of repairing and rebuilding structures after damage from an earthquake Sewer backup: Covers cost of damage to home after sewer backup
Learn More: Lemonade Home Insurance Review
Allstate
Allstate is one of the largest home insurance providers in the entire country and sets itself apart with its many customization options and its 24/7 customer service center. Unlike some of its competitors, Allstate has a 24/7 center for all home insurance questions—not limiting communication with representatives to just claims. This makes it a convenient choice for homeowners who prefer to speak directly with customer service representatives in real time.
Pros and Cons of Allstate Home Insurance
✔ Extensive endorsement options to customize your policy✔ Second-largest homeowners insurance provider in the U.S.✔ 24/7 customer service for all insurance questions✘ Average customer satisfaction ratings
Allstate Discounts
Allstate offers a variety of discounts to help reduce your premium:
Multi-policy Early signing Claim-free Home alarm Roof Smoke-free Storm shutter Homebuyer Easy Pay Plan Age 55 and retired Welcome and loyalty
Allstate Endorsements
Here you can see a sample of Allstate’s endorsements. Add-on coverages can vary depending on the state, so you should confirm which ones are available in your personalized quote.
Personal umbrella policy: Increases limits of personal liability coverage and adds coverage for lost wages and legal fees Earthquake: Covers repairs or replacement of your home after an earthquake Flood: Covers repair or replacement of your home in the event of a flood (required for homeowners in certain locations) Water backup: Covers water damage caused by clogged drains or sump pump failure Scheduled personal property: Covers valuable personal belongings, including jewelry, antiques, and more Business property: Covers computers and other home office equipment or equipment from a small business run out of the home Sports equipment: Covers golf clubs, skis, bicycles, and other sports equipment Identity theft protection: Covers legal fees and others costs associated with identity theft or fraud Green improvement reimbursement: Increases coverage to upgrade appliances with more energy-efficient uses after a loss Electronic data recovery: Covers costs from recovering lost computer data Yard and garden: Covers trees, landscaping, and ornamental plantings, or adds coverage for lawn equipment Musical instruments: Covers valuable musical instruments
Learn More: Allstate Home Insurance Review
Travelers
Travelers is a reliable home insurance company with more than 160 years of experience in the industry. The insurer provides a wide variety of add-on endorsements, with eco-friendly options like Green home, an endorsement that allows you to reconstruct your home after a covered loss with environmentally friendly materials in the event of a covered disaster.
Pros and Cons of Travelers Home Insurance
✔ More than 160 years of experience✔ Available in most states✔ Some less common endorsements, like Green home✘ Poor reviews for mobile app✘ Few discounts available comparatively
Travelers Discounts
Travelers offers several discounts to help you reduce the cost of your home insurance:
Multi-policy Loss-free Homebuyer Protective device Green home
Travelers Endorsements
Travelers offers multiple add-on coverage options.
Contents replacement cost: Pays to replace damaged or destroyed belongings at actual value, not factoring in depreciation Additional replacement cost: Adds an additional amount of up to 25% of your dwelling coverage if there is an increased cost to rebuild your home Personal articles floater: Provides coverage for specific, documented items Jewelry and valuable items: Additional coverage for valuable items like jewelry and fine art Green home: Helps pay to repair, replace, or rebuild your home with green materials after a covered loss Valuable Items Plus: Additional coverage for valuable items like jewelry, computers, and musical instruments Identity theft: Pays up to $25,000 for costs related to identity theft Water backup: Pays for damage to your home caused by sewer or drain backup and sump pump failure
Learn More: Travelers Home Insurance Review Amica® offers extensive protections and special features like Contractor Connection. This program connects vetted, experienced contractors with homeowners within as little as 24 hours for repairs. Homeowners can track the repair progress online, and all the workmanship comes with a five-year warranty.
Pros and Cons of Amica Home Insurance
✔ Comprehensive coverage✔ Affordable rates✔ Contractor Connection✘ Does not use local agents✘ Not available in Alaska, Florida, or Hawaii
Amica Discounts
Amica offers a range of discounts:
Multi-policy Claim-free E-discount Autopay Loyalty Alarm system Automatic detection devices New and remodeled homes
Amica Endorsements
Amica offers a variety of optional endorsements.
Personal property replacement: Fully covers the replacement cost for stolen or damaged items, instead of depreciated value Scheduled personal property: Offers more extensive protection for valuable items like jewelry or antiques Automatic dwelling coverage increase: Increases coverage limits when the cost to rebuild your home exceeds what your underlying policy allows Credit card: Covers up to $5,000 if your card is used fraudulently Water backup/sump pump failure: Covers damage from water backup and sump pump failure Computer: Covers computers, tablets, smart televisions, and smartphones Catastrophic: Covers damage due to earthquakes and floods Liability and medical payment: Increases liability coverage for legal fees and medical expenses
Learn More: Amica Home Insurance Review
Compare the Best Homeowners Insurance Companies
The best home insurance providers in Austin offer extensive coverage, including a variety of endorsements to customize your coverage, and affordable monthly premiums. Below is a breakdown of how the companies compare to one another. *Cost may be calculated for homes of slightly varying values
Industry-Standard Coverage
Most home insurance companies provide six basic forms of coverage—dwelling, other structures, personal property, loss of use/additional living expenses, personal liability, and medical payments to others. Each of our top picks offers these standard coverages. You can find a breakdown below.
Which is the Best Home Insurance in Austin, TX for You?
Each of the homeowners insurance companies we selected stands out in its own way. Allstate is the best overall option, with a wide range of endorsements allowing you to customize your policy and a 24/7 customer service center available to answer any questions. Amica has impressive customer service, including the Contractor Connection program. Travelers has a proven track record and more than 160 years of experience, and Lemonade offers a technology-forward approach and gives back to charity, so you can know that your company is supporting a good cause.
What is the average cost of homeowners insurance in Texas?
Texas is the fifth-most expensive state for homeowners insurance, with an average cost of $3.249 per year, according to Zillow.
Who offers the best home insurance rates in Texas?
This will depend on a variety of factors, including the age and size of your home, the materials it was constructed with, the deductible you select, and more. Of the companies we’ve evaluated, Lemonade has some of the best homeowners insurance rates in Texas.
Who has the best homeowners insurance in Texas?
We believe that Allstate has the best overall homeowners insurance in Texas, and Travelers, Amica, and Lemonade are top options as well.
Our Rating Methodology
The This Old House Reviews Team is committed to providing comprehensive and unbiased reviews to our readers. This means earning your trust through transparency and having the data to back up our ratings and recommendations. With that in mind, we created an objective rating system to score each home insurance company. Here’s what that review process looked like:
We analyze the information on each company’s website. This allows us to determine what products and services are offered by each home insurance provider. We get a sample quote from the companies by either talking to a sales representative or by using the online quote tool. This tells us what a policy looks like and costs. We test customer service by talking to a company representative, finding out their hours of operation, and determining what technological features are available for customers. We update all of this information on a continuous basis, storing it in a proprietary database that allows us to compare dozens of home insurance companies against each other.
With this data, we created a rating methodology to score each home insurance company. Our rating system is a weighted, 100-point scale based on the following factors:
Coverage (30): We rated home insurance companies higher if they offered the six main types of homeowner protection—dwelling, other structures, personal property, loss of use, liability, and medical payments to others coverage. State availability (7.5): Companies scored higher if they covered more states than their competitors. Customer service (15): This factor is based on our communications with the company representatives, as well as the companies’ claims and quotes processes, availability throughout the week, and customer service information found on their websites. Technology (12.5): Technology can increase the efficiency of filing and tracking home insurance claims. Companies scored higher if they had technology options like mobile apps and online chat functions. Reputation (20): We gauged trustworthiness based on years of experience and Better Business Bureau ratings. Additional benefits (15): Companies that offered optional features, like discounts and endorsements, scored higher than competitors that didn’t.
The This Old House Reviews Team has a full-time researcher who collects and regularly updates data points from every company to help us compare them on key factors such as coverage, service, and dependability. To share feedback or ask a question about this article, send a note to our Reviews Team at reviews@thisoldhousereviews.com.
