8 Best Homeowners Insurance Companies in Delaware of 2023

Homeowners in Delaware understand the need to protect their homes because it’s usually their largest asset and investment.

To protect your home from the financial impact of unforeseen or unexpected disasters, homeowners need homeowners insurance.

Homeowners insurance will repair or rebuild your home if a fire destroys it.

And if your personal belongings are stolen, damaged, or destroyed, homeowners insurance will pay to replace them.

For Delaware residents, we strongly suggest that they purchase homeowners insurance because the state is subject to hurricanes and severe winds, to name a few, that can easily damage your home.

These natural disasters are only covered if you buy a policy.

Choosing the best home insurance company for you may be daunting. There are so many insurers out there that cover Delaware.

How can you find a policy that provides financial peace of mind and fits your budget?

At PropertyNest, we want all Delaware homeowners to have the best coverage, so we ranked different insurers by category to take the guesswork out of buying homeowners insurance.

Allstate: Best Homeowners Insurance That Rewards You for Being Claims-Free

Allstate’s large size and reach, as well as its strong financial standing, means your claims will be processed faster, and you’ll get reimbursed promptly.

Speaking of claims, Allstate offers many incentives to policyholders who don’t make any claims.

• Claim-Free Rewards. You'll save on your rate if you had no recent claims with your prior insurance and switched to Allstate.
• Claim-Free Bonus. 5% back on your renewal every year if you don't have a claim.
• Deductible Rewards. Get $100 off your deductible when you sign up with Allstate and an additional $100 off each year you stay claims-free, up to $500.

Read a full Allstate homeowners insurance review.

Liberty Mutual: Best Homeowners Insurance for Optional Coverages

Liberty Mutual may not have the most competitive rates, but its optional coverages that you can add can make your standard policy more comprehensive in scope.

• Replacement Cost. Property stolen or damaged will be replaced using today’s cost, not the depreciated cost.
• Blanket Jewelry. Replaces jewelry that is lost or stolen with no deductible or appraisal.
• Water Backup. Covers losses if water backs up from a sewer or drain or overflows from a sump pump.
• Inflation Protection. Automatically adjusts your coverage limits at your policy’s renewal to keep pace with inflation.

Read a full Liberty Mutual home insurance review.

Farmers: Best Homeowners Insurance for Policy Endorsements

Farmers serves more than 10 million households and holds more than 19 million policies.

It’s known for two standard benefits in your homeowners insurance policy. One takes $50 off your deductible each year you remain a policyholder.

The second prevents your rate from increasing after you make your first claim.

These two standard coverages are unique to the insurer.

But you may want to add a few endorsements to personalize your policy.

Farmers offers the following endorsements:

• Personal Article Floaters. Allows you to insure valuables at higher limits, such as expensive jewelry.
• Eco-Rebuild. Provides up to $25,000 additional insurance coverage to rebuild your home using eco-friendly appliances and building materials.
• Replacement Cost (RCV). If your items are stolen or destroyed in a covered peril, RCV will pay you in full using today’s prices.

In addition, like Progressive and Liberty Mutual, Farmers has a ton of discounts to lower your rate. These include standard ones like multi-policy, being claims-free, receiving documents electronically, and making your home safe. But we’ve listed the unique discounts that many insurers don’t offer.

Read a full Farmers homeowners insurance review.

Travelers: Best for Many Ways to Protect Your Personal Property

Travelers is a reputable, well-established insurance company that offers homeowners insurance for a very affordable rate.

It also offers an array of personal property coverage that you can add to your policy.

• Special Personal Property Coverage. Provides broader protection for your possessions in the event of a covered loss. It can cover your personal property in more situations than a homeowners policy.
• Jewelry and Valuable Items. Provides higher limits and expanded protection for high-cost property such as jewelry and artwork.
• Personal Articles Floater. You can add this as a separate valuable items policy if you need more coverage or higher amounts of coverage for your expensive property.
• Contents Replacement Cost. This is essentially replacement cost value (RCV). If your laptop, for example, gets damaged in a fire, RCV will pay for the full cost of your laptop at today’s prices and without any depreciation deduction.

State Farm: Best for Scheduled Personal Property

State Farm received a high score for customer satisfaction and offers home insurance at an affordable price.

To make sure your expensive items are insured to their total value, you should schedule them.

State Farm’s scheduled personal property is an optional coverage to your home insurance that can pay for your high-value possessions in full.

Scheduling a valuable means, you’ll schedule it for its total value.

Read a full State farm homeowners insurance review.

Amica Mutual: Best for Generally Known to Offer Some of the Lowest Rates

Of all the homeowners insurance companies that made our list, Amica stood out for being known to offer some of the lowest rates.

Amica’s average monthly cost is $95 or $1,140 per year.

According to the Insurance Information Institute, this is lower than the national monthly average of $106 per month or $1,272 per year.

However, your rate depends on a variety of factors, including your property value, size, additional coverages, the insurance deductible you choose, the location of your home, and your credit score.

Still, even if you opt for additional coverages or add-ons, your rate won’t skyrocket due to Amica’s many discounts.

Amica offers standard or more common discounts such as multi-policy, claims-free, e-discount, and autopay. The more unique discounts are below.

Progressive: Best for Many Discounts

Progressive is a top-rated insurance company that has been in business since the 1930s.

Like Liberty Mutual, Progressive offers the most discounts to policyholders that can help lower their premiums. There are too many to list, but here are the most popular ones.

Nationwide: Best for Better Roof Replacement

Nationwide is one of the largest home insurance companies in the US. It is noted for its outstanding coverage.

For example, Nationwide has better roof replacement, which is a rare add-on coverage. Not all insurers offer this plan.

Better roof replacement allows you to rebuild after a covered loss, using materials guaranteed to improve the safety and durability of your property.

In addition, the insurer also offers extended reimbursement. It helps cover the cost of rebuilding your home and extends your coverage by 20% if necessary.

How We Picked the Best Homeowners Insurance in Delaware

To determine the best companies that provided homeowners insurance, we looked at several factors, including price, coverage options, and discounts.

Discounts

We narrowed down our focus to those insurance companies that had the most discounts. That was to ensure that a prospective policyholder could purchase a policy at the lowest possible rate. In particular, we looked at Liberty Mutual, Progressive, and Farmers because all three insurers offered the most discounts.

Coverage

A standard homeowners insurance policy does not have enough coverage to tailor it to your needs.

So, we evaluated companies by the number of coverage options that were available to policyholders.  We also considered coverages that were unique to the insurer or that came standard in the basic policy.

In most cases, the best coverages are available as add-ons, so we looked at those that you had to purchase separately.

Technology

If a company’s website and the mobile app allowed you to manage most of your insurance needs, such as getting a quote, buying a policy, and filing a claim, to name a few, then that’s a company we considered.

Customer Reviews

We looked at many sites that offered vetted customer reviews for homeowners insurance companies to also narrow down our options. The ones with the most positive reviews were more favorable to us.

Price

Insurance providers that had low premiums or had plenty of options to lower your premium like discounts were more favorable to us.

Is It Mandatory to Buy Homeowners Insurance in Delaware?

You aren’t required to buy homeowners insurance and it’s not mandatory by law in Delaware.

But most homeowners have a home mortgage; in that case, your lender will likely require a policy to protect its investment.

The lender will want coverage equal to at least the value of your loan.

What is Homeowners Insurance?

Homeowners insurance protects your home—and the contents within—from the financial impact of unforeseen or unexpected disasters.

The insurance will pay to have your home repaired or rebuilt after damage from theft, vandalism, a fallen tree, or a fire. It will also cover you from natural disasters such as heavy winds and hurricanes, both of which are major concerns in Delaware.

And if your belongings are stolen or destroyed, homeowners insurance will replace them.

If you don’t have homeowners insurance, you will have to pay out-of-pocket for your destroyed home or personal items.

Many homeowners don’t have that kind of money to replace their belongings or rebuild their houses.

That’s why, for homeowners in Delaware, home insurance is a must. It can cost a lot, but considering everything your policy covers, you’ll see that the price is negligent.

What is a Covered Peril?

A covered peril is an event your insurer agrees to reimburse you after you file a claim.

Covered perils include:

• Fire, wildfire, and smoke damage.
• Weather conditions like lightning, hurricanes, windstorms, hail, and the weight of ice, snow, or sleet.
• Explosions.
• Theft, vandalism, and malicious mischief.
• Damage from an aircraft or a car or another type of vehicle.
• Water damage unrelated to natural floods.

What Does a Basic Homeowners Insurance Cover in Delaware?

Dwelling

This covers damage to your house. So, if your home is destroyed due to a fire or other covered event or peril, your insurer will cover the cost to rebuild your home.

Medical Payments

Pays if someone is injured on your property and needs medical treatment, regardless of who’s at fault. Also pays if you, a family member, or a pet like a dog injures someone elsewhere.

Personal Liability

This pays for medical bills, repair, or replacement costs if you are held responsible for physically hurting someone or damaging his or her personal belongings. Personal liability also handles legal fees if that person sues you.

Other Structures

It Covers outdoor stand-alone structures like fences, sheds, and detached garages on your property.

Personal Property

Covers the actual cash value to replace your personal belongings if your house was robbed or burned down. Covered personal property often includes furniture, clothing, electronics, everyday items like kitchenware, as well as high-cost valuables like jewelry.

Loss of Use

If a covered event destroys your property to the point that it is unhabitable, loss of use will pay for your temporary living expenses, including hotel stays, meals at restaurants. groceries, toiletries, and more.

Most Common Natural Disasters in Delaware

Homeowners insurance never covers floods and earthquakes.

Floods

Since there are no earthquakes in Delaware, residents here need to focus on adding a separate flood insurance policy on top of their insurance policy because floods are frequent in Delaware, especially near rivers and in flood basins.

Besides flooding, Delaware is besotted by hurricanes and heavy storms.

Wind Damage

Delaware homes can get damaged from wind due to storms, especially if the homes are near the Atlantic coast.

Fortunately, hurricanes and heavy storms that lead to wind damage are all covered by your standard homeowners policy.

Wind damage, for example, can cover shingles that are ripped off your roof and tree branches that fall and hit your home.

What Are the Types of Homeowners Insurance?

When you sign up for a policy, your insurer will give you the option of actual cash value (ACV) or replacement cost value (RCV).

For RCV, if your personal items were damaged or destroyed due to a covered peril, your insurer will pay for them in full using today’s costs.

But with ACV, your insurer will only reimburse you for your items at their depreciated value, the price you paid for them at the time of purchase.

Many want RCV, but it’s more expensive than ACV.

But if you need full-cost protection, RCV is always better than ACV.

How Much Homeowners Insurance Do I Need?

The amount of home insurance you need depends on your personal property and how valuable it is.

Depending on the value of your belongings, you can opt for higher coverage limits for various parts of your policy.

For most homeowners, this usually includes high-cost valuables that your standard policy can’t cover in full.

To determine how much personal property coverage to buy, take a home inventory of everything in your home using photos or any type of documentation, and make an estimate of what it would cost to replace your belongings.

You may think you don’t have enough property to cover but remember that every single thing you own can be covered, from everyday items like clothing and furniture like sofas and beds to appliances and heating and cooling systems.

Do I Need Extra Coverage for My Valuables?

The personal property coverage in a standard homeowners policy pays up to a certain limit for damaged or stolen belongings.

So, if you own high-value items, like jewelry, fine art, or musical instruments, the amount of coverage provided in your basic policy may not be enough to replace them if you have to file a claim.

For example, if your engagement ring is stolen, there may be a cap of $500 or $1,000 or more to replace it, depending on the insurer, and you could be subject to your policy’s deductible.

To make sure your expensive jewelry is insured to its full value, you should schedule it.

Scheduling your personal property means you’ll list it for its full value. So, if you schedule your engagement ring, for example, it will be removed from your personal property limits, and it will be insured separately.

What Factors Determine My Insurance Rate?

Location

The area where you live affects your premium. If you live in a safe neighborhood with a low crime rate, and your home is not in an area that is prone to natural disasters, you’ll pay less.

Construction of Home

Homes constructed with materials that are resistant to certain types of damage, like fire or heavy wind, can get you a lower rate.

Distance to Nearest Fire Station

The closer you are to a fire station, the faster firemen and firewomen are likely to get to you if a fire starts in your home.

Deductible

Your deductible is the amount you agree to pay out of pocket if you file a claim. Choosing a higher deductible means that the insurer will pay less if you file a claim, which can lead to a lower policy rate.

Additional Coverages

The more optional coverages or add-ons you choose to add to your policy, the more you will pay.

Credit Score

Homeowners with lower credit are statistically more likely to file a claim than homeowners with higher credit scores.

Claim History

If you have filed homeowners claim within a certain amount of years, your rate will rise. Even if you change your insurer, this new insurer can still see all your past claims and may charge you accordingly.

How Can I Lower My Homeowners Insurance Premium?

The three most popular ways to lower your premium include:

Shopping Around

Get quotes from as many insurers as you can.

A quote is an estimate of your premium cost.

If you compare multiple quotes for the same coverage from different companies, you’ll arrive at the most affordable policies that will fit your needs or budget.

As you evaluate each insurance company, you may want to think about how the company’s discounts and coverages fit with your situation.

But different companies apply different factors to assess your premium. This can result in you getting very different rates for the same coverage.

That's why it’s important to compare quotes from multiple companies to avoid paying more for the same, cheaper coverage elsewhere.

Getting Discounts

If you are looking to reduce the cost of a policy, you should ask your insurer for any discounts that may apply to you. Discounts are things offered by an insurance company that will lower your premium.

Making Your Home Safe

Install security features in your home, such as home security systems, surveillance cameras, fire, smoke, burglar alarms, and deadbolts. You’ll get a lower rate because then your home will be less susceptible to a break-in or a fire.

How Much is Homeowners Insurance in Delaware?

According to the Insurance Information Institute, the average annual premium for homeowners insurance in the United States is $105 per month or $1,260 per year.

Given the threat of severe storms, heavy winds, hurricanes, and flooding, Delaware homeowners will want a solid homeowners insurance policy with enough added coverage to ensure their homes are well protected.

But even with these weather threats, the average cost of homeowners insurance in Delaware is just $82 per month or $980 per year. This is significantly lower than the national average.

Read more: How Much Does Homeowners Insurance Cost?