- One of the biggest insurers in Florida, making it a good option for Florida residents.
- Easy discount for homeowners over 55.
- Decent coverage for homeowners in the southeast.
- No quick comparison tool.
- Higher than average premiums.
- Not a good option for those with homes with a replacement cost value above $750,000.
- Far lower than average customer satisfaction.
- Lack of customizable options.
- Only available in a handful of states.
Heritage Insurance was founded in 2012. The company’s legal name is Heritage Property & Casualty Insurance Co., which is owned by Heritage Insurance Holdings. The company provides regional home insurance coverage in the southeastern United States.
While they aren’t at the level of a major national carrier, they write over $1.2 billion of premium per year. Their resources aren’t as extensive as a major carrier, but they do have experience with catastrophic weather and claims related to that given the states that they insure in. They don’t offer anything special necessarily, but they may be a good option for homeowners in the states that they insure.
Where does Heritage offer home insurance?
Heritage only offers home insurance in a handful of states, with all being in the southeast of the country. The states they offer coverage in include Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, North Carolina, and South Carolina. Heritage is one of the largest home insurance companies in the state of Florida.
Heritage homeowners insurance coverages
Heritage offers pretty much just standard home insurance policies without many add-on coverages available to homeowners.
The standard policy sections include:
- Dwelling: protection for damage that occurs to the structure of the home or any attached structures
- Other structures: protection from damage to any structures on the property not attached to the home
- Personal property: protection to repair or replace personal belongings such as furniture or electronics
- Loss of use: protection for additional living expenses incurred while the home is being repaired or rebuilt to make habitable again
- Personal liability: protection for any lawsuits that might arise from injuries or damages to others where the homeowner is found to be at fault
- Medical payments to others: protection for any injuries that may occur to a guest on the property no matter who is found to be at fault
Additional coverages offered
Heritage offers two other policies that include more coverage than their standard policies. Their Pillar Policy and Pillar Plus Policy.
Pillar Policy features:
- 50% of dwelling coverage limit with replacement cost coverage for personal property: increased coverage for personal belongings with no depreciation accounted for.
- $5,000 of water backup and sump pump overflow coverage: protects the homeowner from flooding damage caused by a water backup or sump pump failure.
- Extended loss of use coverage: This protection increases the loss of use limits to beyond the original stated amount.
- Identity theft coverage: This protection reimburses the homeowner for expenses related to recovering their identity.
- Service line coverage: Reimburses the homeowner for expenses related to repairing or replacing service lines on the property.
- High-value items coverage: This protection increases the sub limits for each category of item to further protect the homeowners’ personal belongings and valuables.
The cost of this policy ranges to around 15% more expensive than a standard policy through Heritage.
Pillar Plus Policy
- 75% of dwelling coverage limit with replacement cost coverage for personal property: increased coverage for personal belongings with no depreciation accounted for.
- $5,000 of water backup and sump pump overflow coverage: protects the homeowner from flooding damage caused by a water backup or sump pump failure.
- Extended loss of use coverage: This protection increases the loss of use limits to beyond the original stated amount.
- Identity theft coverage: This protection reimburses the homeowner for expenses related to recovering their identity.
- Service line coverage: Reimburses the homeowner for expenses related to repairing or replacing service lines on the property.
- High-value items coverage: This protection increases the sub limits to Heritage’s highest limits for each category of item to further protect the homeowners’ personal belongings and valuables.
The cost of this policy ranges to around 20% more expensive than a standard policy through Heritage.
They do offer one other additional coverage. Heritage offers a mini-farm endorsement. This coverage is meant to cover farming operations on a property, but there are some requirements. The farm must be less than 20 acres and have an income of less than $5,000 per year; therefore, making the farm a sort of incidental feature of the property, but is not the main focus of the homeowner.
Coverage limits
Heritage doesn’t have exceptionally high coverage limits for their policies but has decent coverage limits for homeowners that have homes in the average range of replacement cost across the country.
Their coverage limits for each section of the policy are:
- Dwelling coverage: limits range from $125,000 up to $750,000.
- Other structures: limits range from 0% to 70% of the dwelling coverage limit.
- Personal property: limits range from 25% to 75% of the dwelling coverage limit.
- Loss of use coverage: The limit is 10% of the dwelling coverage limit.
- Personal liability coverage: limits offered are $100,000, $250,000, $300,000, and $500,000.
- Medical payments to others: limits offered are $1,000, $2,500, and $5,000.
Heritage homeowner discounts
Heritage Insurance offers just three discounts to homeowners:
- Secured community/building: Homeowners that live in gated communities or communities with 24-hour security, gates with codes, or a combination of all three are eligible for a discount.
- Installing protective devices: Installing smoke detectors, security systems, and other preventive devices can make you eligible for a discount
- Senior/Retiree: Homeowners that are 55 or older are eligible for a discount
Heritage also offers slightly reduced premiums for homes that are new builds or built with especially strong materials.
Cost of Heritage homeowners insurance
We couldn’t find an average cost of a policy at Heritage, but from our research, we were able to deduce that premiums with Heritage are higher than the national average for all insurance companies due to their regional nature as well as insuring higher risk states for severe weather.
Several online customer reviews complained that their premiums went up drastically. One homeowner stated that their premium skyrocketed from $1,600 to $9,000 because of a severe storm that happened 1000 miles away from their home address.
Claims process
Customer reviews for claims with Heritage aren’t particularly positive. There have been many complaints over the years as to the claims process with the company. It seems that they lack resources to adequately care for customers. Their website does not offer an online claims tool, which is a drawback. They do provide a 24/7 line that homeowners can call to file a claim. Overall, not a glowing review of their claims process.
Customer experience
Zooming out of the claims process with Heritage, the overall customer experience with Heritage Insurance is not great. According to the National Association of Insurance Commissioners complaint index, Heritage’s rating for complaints when it comes to their homeowners insurance is 7.64 for 2022, which is well above the expected 1.0. This means that Heritage has over seven times the number of claims that would be expected for a company of its size. This is not a good sign for the quality of customer service that the company offers. Policyholders should look out for this.
Financial strength
Heritage Property & Casualty Insurance Co., does not have any ratings from the three big credit rating agencies, AM Best, Standard & Poor’s, and Moody’s. They do have a rating from a credit ratings agency called Demotech, which specializes in rating regional insurance providers. Their rating is an A, which shows that they have decent financial strength and are able to weather outlier claims events. A good sign especially for a regional carrier in a high-risk area.
Conclusion
Heritage Property & Casualty Insurance Co. is an average or slightly below-average home insurance provider. They only offer coverage in a few states making them a very niche company. They are one of the biggest home insurers in the state of Florida making them a good option for residents of that state.
They do have 24/7 claims service available, but they do not allow you to start the process online, which is a drawback. Due to their regional nature and especially since they service one of the most high-risk parts of the country for extreme weather, this makes their policies a higher price than a nationwide insurer.
They also have a lack of customization options and discounts, which can be a drawback for many home insurers. They do provide a solid standard home insurance policy for those looking for the basics and their range of limits for coverage other than dwelling coverage is quite good. Owners of homes over $750,000 should avoid this company as they will not be able to fully insure the home.
Overall, Heritage is not necessarily a recommended insurer other than in the state of Florida. You can find the same standard coverage at other insurers and most likely at a cheaper price. You will also probably be able to find more customization options and deduction options at other companies.
