The report below focuses on a topic that may be relevant to most any homeowner: what are a few home insurance companies that offer a better value by far than their competitors? To be as neutral as possible, below I will present rankings from 5 different nationwide consumer surveys (including from Consumer Reports, J.D Power, and Clearsurance). Note that I present this info simply as “something that you may want to research further,” not as a personal recommendation of any particular option.
SECTIONS:
- Summary findings
- Background info
- The 5 independent studies of consumer rankings
- Some comments on those 5 studies
- Closing comments
SUMMARY FINDINGS
In summary, the most-highly recommended home insurance company operating in Arizona appears to be USAA. However, only a fraction of people in Phoenix can get home insurance through USAA (because they only serve military personnel and other qualifying family members).
The second-best ratings that I saw are for Amica. They are apparently a company that can insure anyone’s home in Phoenix (unlike USAA). They consistently got rated very well for value by their actual customers who filed claims with them. However, they are not the cheapest (for those specifically targeting the most competitive prices rather than best overall value).
Finally, I also list 3 other insurance companies below for an “honorable mention,” including The Hartford. People who may be more interested in that insurance company include senior citizens in Arizona (because of the AARP’s special partnership with The Hartford).
“But what about MY current home insurance company?”
If you mainly want to know how well past and current clients rated any other insurance company serving Phoenix residents, you can skip ahead to the 5 independent reports by clicking here.
Background of why this topic should interest you (which is also why it interests me):
For years, I have been interviewing homeowners in greater Phoenix about serious problems they have had with their property insurance companies (and who helped them resolve those issues). Those interviews led to me researching why certain home insurance companies so often produce complaints (or even lawsuits) relating to insurance claims for water damage, roof damage, or other property damage.
Briefly, what I learned was startling. Year after year, I heard homeowners in Arizona tell me tear-filled stories about frustrations with their insurance companies. (Several examples are here.) In 2018, I even discovered several multi-million dollar jury awards to consumers that were defrauded by their insurance companies. (Some examples are here.)
5 independent studies of consumer rankings of home insurance companies
Next is a list showing 5 different studies (plus which insurance company was the top-rated one in each study). I list the 5 studies in the order of how many thousands of people were part of each one (with the largest first). To access any of the full reports, click one of the logo images below.
My comments on those 5 studies
Closing comments on the best value for home insurance in Phoenix
No, you will still benefit from having an ally both with relevant expertise and a financial interest in your getting everything that you are legally owed. Note that even these top-rated companies have LOTS of complaints reported to the BBB. See for yourself at the links below.
Keep in mind that insurance companies in general tend to have AWFUL consumer reviews on the BBB. Of these 4 top-rated insurance companies, all of them have an A+ BBB rating, but the best consumer review rating among them is only two out of five stars.
By the way, I did not consider this data in my main report because, for one thing, not all of these complaints are from actual policyholders (like complaints about being sent email promotions after requesting to be unsubscribed). I also ignored reviews on Yelp for the same reason.
So, even if you hire one of the best-rated home insurance companies, please read our article on
Why you STILL need an expert ally when making a property insurance claim
3) A study that I did not use (because they excluded smaller companies and, for the larger companies, simply used the ratings of provided by organizations including JD Power and Consumer Reports):