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About Homesite
Homesite Insurance was founded in 1997 in Boston, MA, and has since expanded across the country, offering coverage in most states. They are a home insurance company, as the name implies and for much of their history offered solely home and renters policies.
In 2014, Homesite became a part of American Family Insurance, and their website now advertises that they also offer term life insurance, auto insurance, and commercial insurance. The auto and life insurance products are actually underwritten by American Family, while Homesite continues to write their home insurance policies. Commercial insurance also appears to be directly underwritten by Homesite.
Homesite Insurance Group has several member companies, and policies may be underwritten by any of those companies depending on where you live.
Homesite products are sold directly online and not through agents – with the exception of those that are through American Family, as an agent may be involved in those. They also partner with major car insurance companies to provide homeowner’s insurance in order to create a bundle for their customers – Progressive and GEICO are among them.
Homesite Products
Homesite’s website offers only basic information on their products, with an outline of standard and optional coverage for each option. Since they do not underwrite auto or life insurance, we will not go over those products in detail – check out our review of American Family Insurance for information on their auto and life products.
Home Insurance
Homesite’s base insurance policy for a single-family home includes coverage for the structure and for personal possessions, as well as loss of use and medical payments to others. Unusually, the policy does not appear to come with liability insurance as a standard coverage.
The options listed are extended coverage on the house itself, coverage for special valuables, identity theft, and personal injury protection. While it is not named that way, the personal injury protection appears to be what would be called personal liability at most insurance companies. There is no explanation for this.
The Condo policy, on the other hand, does include personal liability as a standard coverage. In every other way, it is much the same as the home insurance policy, with the exception of the structure coverage that is not needed for a condo. Personal injury protection is again offered as an option.
Like the Condo policy, the Renter’s policy also includes personal liability coverage. It also adds mold protection as a standard coverage, which is pretty unusual for this type of policy.
Homesite also offers flood insurance as a separate add-on policy.
Commercial Insurance
Similar to the personal side of things, Homesite does not provide much of a description of their commercial products.
They write General Liability policies, Business Owner’s Package policies, and Worker’s Compensation as well.
Life and Auto
These two products are underwritten by American Family Insurance. The auto page takes you directly to that company’s website for a quote, but the life insurance appears to be sold and quoted by Homesite in spite of being an American Family product.
The life insurance policies offered are both term life, one being a standard term policy and the other an annual renewable policy. Limited information is offered on these products.
Rates
Since auto insurance with this company is actually written by American Family, we recommend visiting our review of that company in order to get rate and policy information.
We ran a quick quote for term life insurance, using the sample of a 30-year-old male non-smoker living in California. The coverage amounts offered in the quote ranged from $50,000 up to $250,000, with 10, 20, and 30-year terms available.
A $100,000 10-year level term policy was quoted at $14.90 a month. At 30 years, the same policy was quoted at $22.60 a month. Those rates are reasonable, but not the least expensive we have seen for similar coverage.
Claims
Claims can be filed online for almost any of the products offered by Homesite. There is also a toll-free number available. It is not stated whether or not this claims line is open 24/7, but it appears to be given that business hours are not listed.
The online claims system is only accessible by logging into the customer area of the account, which most customers should be able to access easily given they likely purchased their insurance policy that way.
There is a brief FAQ section on claims that cover the basics of the process on the company website. Homesite will assign an adjuster and then send an appraiser out to assess the damage, after which coverage and benefits will be determined.
Life insurance is the one product for which claims information is not listed in the main section. Life claims are handled through American Family – as are auto claims – but that information is only found in the fine print.
Ratings and Consumer Reviews
Homesite has an A+ rating with the Better Business Bureau (BBB). They are not accredited and have a total of 108 complaints closed in the past three years, with 22 of those in the past 12 months.
There have been 316 reviews posted on Consumer Affairs, giving the company a rating of just over 1 star overall. The majority of the reviews are negative. Most of these involve a very difficult claims experience.
Yelp has 12 reviews and a 1-star rating overall. The volume here is not too high, but the complaints are much the same.
A lot of the complaints appear to come from customers that purchased Homesite policies through Progressive or GEICO; many of these customers were surprised to learn that they did not actually have a policy with the company they purchased through, an issue that cannot be blamed on Homesite.
The Bottom Line
Homesite likely gets a lot of its business through partnerships with other companies, and they may be a good choice if you are looking to bundle your GEICO or Progressive policy. The general lack of details on their products makes it hard to determine what kind of value they offer, and it is, therefore, difficult to form a solid opinion of the company.
For a list of companies that we recommend, visit our Best Insurance Companies page.
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Review Information
I am a former insurance agent and banker turned consumer advocate. My priority is to help educate individuals and families about the different types of insurance they need, and assist them in finding the best place to get it.
Marcus says
This article must be partially paid by Homesite insurance. It recommended this company and gave it more stars than they deserve. Homesite is not a good insurance company because of their underhanded practices.
Eric Stauffer says
Hi Marcus,
Thank you for taking the time to leave your feedback. As of the time of this writing, we have no relationship with Homesite, and never have in the past. They had no interaction or influence as it relates to this review.
Best,
Eric Stauffer
Cynthia Fillion says
Homesite Insurance is the worst company to deal with! I got a quote on our vacation home. Someone came out, took pictures and then raised the premium about $200. That was ok; until I received all my money back (via a credit to a credit card). I was now being told that the roof had to be replaced. We told the gentleman that came to the vacation home that all materials to replace the roof were in the garage, which we showed him and he took pictures of that, too. The roof was replaced within the timeframe that they asked for. Pictures and receipts were scanned and sent to them. Homesite claimed that the pictures were not good enough and that the receipts were unreadable. I scanned the receipts darker, went back to the house and took another set of pictures. That still was not good enough for them. I offered to overnight the originals of the pictures and the receipts to them. There is no physical address to receive these types of items. It goes to a central clearinghouse that will scan the photos and receipts thereby ending up in the same boat. I suggested that they send the person out who originally did the inspection. Homesite said no, “we only visit a property once. That’s our policy.” Needless to say, I did nothing to try to make this work after that ridiculousness. I wouldn’t let this company insure by doghouse!!!! Can’t tell you how much this company is a rip-off!!!!
Staci says
I filed a claim against a policyholder after being told specifically that my claim would not affect their premium. We were friends with the policyholder & did not want to compromise their policy. Well, after the insurance company paid me, they canceled the policyholder. WORST COMPANY EVER!!! DO NOT INVEST IN THEM, THEY WILL SCREW YOU OVER!!
Zack says
We had LaTuna fires on 9/1/2017 which devastated the whole Glendale, Burbank, Sunland and Tujunga areas.
After 2 months of back and forth, they denied our claim without any regard to our damaged personal property. Please stay AWAY from this company.
Unhappy CaMPER says
BEWARE OF THIS COMPANY. THIS IS A WARNING ABOUT A [Redacted] COMPANY THAT SCREWS CUSTOMERS AND HAS NO REGARD FOR CUSTOMER SERVICE.
Neighbor’s washing machine exploded April 1, 2016 and flooded my garage and part of my kitchen. Contacted Homesite Insurance, A PROGRESSIVE COMPANY and started a claim for damages. [Redacted] was assigned the claim as my adjuster. His smooth Texas style and accent was supposed to lull me into happiness. He reassured me that his 30 years of experience as an adjuster would make this claim move easily. He told me that I need to get an Angie’s List subscription and find local contractors to deal with repairs and the damage. I went out, found several contractors, took the time off of work, had them come provide estimates, sent these to [Redacted] at HOMESITE INSURANCE, A PROGRESS COMPANY and was told to go ahead and start the repairs. They sent a check for the Service Master crew that arrived to do initial destruction and drying of water damage. Then they sent another check to me. They told that the funds were incorrect so I returned the uncashed checks to HOMESITE INSURANCE , A PROGRESSIVE COMPANY. A bill was received from Service Master and I immediately paid it as it arrived 30 days late and had extra fees attached to it. HOMESITE INSURANCE , A PROGRESSIVE COMPANY did not pay them and expected me to pay out of pocket.
The contractor that I selected to do the repairs did the work on the damage and when the work was completed, I paid them for their work. During this time, [Redacted], disappeared and was no longer handling my claim. I was then told that [Redacted] was the new adjuster. He reviewed the materials submitted concerning this claim. I had additional damage to claim that was identified after the initial assessment. I was told provide an estimate which was done. I was told go ahead and do the work. After the work was completed, I again paid the contractor.
[Redacted], adjuster, cut a check to Service Master for their water mitigation work and he also cut me a check for the initial costs. He finally cut a check for personal property that was lost in this claim.
I submitted a final invoice for the last work that needed to be accomplished and [Redacted], CLAIMS ADJUSTOR FOR HOMESITE INSURANCE, A PROGRESSIVE COMPANY sent me a reply stating that I had been overpaid for this claim and that I owe them $217.17. I explained to her that this work was identified after the original damage was assessed. She did not care that I have already paid $500 dollar deductible and had “DEPRECIATION” withheld from what I am owed. Now I have [Redacted], Recoverable Depreciation Associate, requesting photographs and estimates and information concerning the last work accomplished. There is some subrogation company involved with the claim and even with all of these people here to make my claim as efficient as possible, NO ONE IS REPLYING TO EMAILS, CALLS OR ATTEMPTS AT COMMUNICATION.
At this point, I have no other recourse other than seeking legal representation and suing HOMESITE INSURANCE, A PROGRESSIVE COMPANY for failure to do what they are supposed to do. I am still almost $2000 out of pocket into this claim and no relief in sight.
As soon as this gets resolved, I intend to move my 2 cars, motorcycle and house away from PROGRESSIVE INSURANCE AND THEIR ASSOCIATED COMPANIES due to their lousy customer support.
My advice to anyone considering insurance with the PROGRESSIVE FAMILY OF INSURANCES is to look elsewhere. It is true, you get what you pay for.
Thomas Haddad says
I had similar issues with them. I never received full payment. I was shorted almost $2000 for repairs, called depreciation. I filed to reclaim my so called depreciation. I sent them all the required paperwork, itemized statement from contractor, receipts and bank statements plus proof I paid the deductible. They had already deducted the $1000 when they sent me a check. How do I prove to them that they took out the deductible. Anyway, I never was paid. 3 months later, some millennium from their office emailed me. I just blew them off. $2000 is not going to ruin me. They need the money worse than I do. Pitiful company.