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Hippo Home Insurance Review (2023): Pros, Cons & Premiums

Founded in 2015, Hippo is one of the newer players in homeowners insurance. They offer a wide range of coverage options in 39 states. Many report saving money with Hippo’s affordable premiums.

Read Time: 9 mins

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4.0
★ HOIC RATING
Premiums 5
Claims 3
Customer Satisfaction 4
Financial Standing 4
PROS
  • Easy online quote tool.
  • Reasonable yearly premiums.
  • Plenty of coverage options.
  • Rapidly growing insurance company.
CONS
  • Only available in 39 states. 
  • Hasn't earned the highest financial ratings yet.
  • Some complaints from customers.

Hippo Home Insurance has been in the business of insuring homes for just shy of 10 years. As another insurance junior on our list of reviews, Hippo is among the first to make a statement from coast to coast. Hippo is licensed for service in 39 states. When we first review this company back in 2019, they were only offering insurance in 17 states. That means they have been growing very rapidly.

  • Alabama
  • Arkansas
  • Arizona
  • California
  • Colorado
  • Connecticut
  • Delaware
  • Georgia
  • Illinois
  • Indiana
  • Kansas
  • Kentucky
  • Massachusetts
  • Maryland
  • Maine
  • Michigan
  • Minnesota
  • Missouri
  • Mississippi
  • North Carolina
  • Nebraska
  • New Hampshire
  • New Jersey
  • New Mexico
  • New York
  • Nevada
  • Ohio
  • Oregon
  • Rhode Island
  • South Carolina
  • Tennessee
  • Texas
  • Utah
  • Vermont
  • Virginia
  • Washington
  • Washington D.C.
  • Wisconsin
  • West Virginia

This home insurance company is yet another one with big dreams of revamping the insurance industry. Hippo strives to create a seamless claims process and change the way people think about home insurance and the processes therein. 

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How does Hippo compare to other companies with like-minded goals? More importantly, how do their trusted customers feel about their treatment and service delivery?

Inquiring minds would like to know just how well this tech-heavy mindset is working for insurance companies. Keep reading to find out! We’ll break it down for you, from their coverages and discounts and more.

Hippo homeowners insurance premiums & coverages

Hippo makes it clear that their coverages vary by state. That said, there are plenty of insurance coverages available for their standard insurance package. Besides ‌basic home insurance, they also offer insurance for condos, landlords, and properties under construction. 

We love seeing pricing tools on home insurance websites. This makes it so much easier to find the right price for your home insurance. Not to mention, it makes a company seem that much more transparent and trustworthy with its premium options. 

In the case of Hippo, we used their quote tool, which took us closer to 90 seconds. We used a cozy $140,000 home in Arkansas, where rates are among the most expensive because of excessive winds, flooding, and fraud. 

We chose the “Just the Basics” option during our quote process. Each of the other two options contained higher tiers that would have given us higher dwelling and replacement cost coverage. Instead, we were met with a $2,075 yearly premium that came with: 

  • $200,000 worth of dwelling coverage 
  • $150,000 for personal property (75%)
  • $1,000 deductible 

The average premium cost in Arkansas for $250,000 worth of dwelling coverage is around $2,100. All that considered, this quote is spot on. Again, certain coverages are location specific. Let’s look at everything Hippo offers from a bird’s eye view.

Homeowners Insurance Cost Calculator

Hippo’s standard homeowners insurance policy

Hippo offers basic home insurance from dwelling to liability, plus some optional endorsements, and coverages. It looks a little like this:

  • Dwelling: Covered damage done to the main structure on your property is damaged by a covered based on your home’s replacement cost. Depending on the age and condition of your roof, it may be covered by actual cash value instead. 
  • Other structures: Damage done to the outlying structures on your property is covered.
  • Personal property: Replacement cost coverage is provided for your personal property in case of covered damage. 
  • Loss of use: In case your loss causes you to take on extra living expenses, this coverage will pay for the charges. 
  • Personal liability: In case you are sued or otherwise held responsible for major bodily injury or property damage, this coverage will handle the costs.
  • Medical expenses: This smaller coverage helps pay for minor injuries regardless of who is at fault. 

Hippo’s homeowners insurance additional coverages

There is a wide range of extra coverages available that can be added to your standard home insurance:

  • Extended replacement cost: This add-on can give you a little more coverage with additional cash to cover your dwelling in case of damage from a covered peril. 
  • Water backup: If water overflows from drains or sewers, this coverage will take care of up to $20,000 worth of the damage. 
  • Computers: Up to $8,000 worth of additional replacement cost can be added to help take care of the cost of your expensive electronics.
  • Home office: $10,000 worth of home office equipment and other supplies are covered with this extra protection.
  • Domestic workers: This coverage protects you from the costs incurred by a worker getting hurt on your property.
  • Equipment breakdown: Up to $100,000 worth of heavy home appliances are covered from damage. 
  • Service line: The costs of repairing or replacing the service line from the street to your home are covered for up to $10,000. 
  • Jewelry and watches: The allotted personal property limits can be enhanced by adding up to $5,000 worth of protection for precious jewels and furs. 
  • Ordinance or law: This protection helps you from paying the extra costs of keeping up with your city code or ordinance. 
  • Mortgage payment protection: This helps provide up to $1,500 a month for the cost of your mortgage while your home is being repaired. 

Depending on where you are, you can mix and match any of these coverages to build your perfect plan. Each coverage or endorsement may vary in price when you consider your location, the age of your home, and various other factors.

Hippo homeowners insurance discounts

We noticed during our quote process that Hippo asked us a couple of qualifying questions for possible discounts. Just like how some coverages only exist for certain states, we can assume that certain discounts are treated the same way. 

The state of Arkansas and the condition of the house at the address we plugged in prompted these discounts:

  • Early Bird: Starting your policy in 8 days or more can save you money. 
  • Recent Home Purchases: You can save money if you’re buying a home or have owned your home for less than a year.
  • Gated Community: You receive discounts if your home is part of a fenced-in community.

Hippo offers a popular type of discount called their Smart Home discount. This incentive is available to customers who purchase a smart home system through Hippo and use their smart home services. When you buy a home insurance policy, they include a smart home system used to guarantee safety from theft and break-ins.  

Homeowners can reduce their annual premium by up to 10% for self-monitored systems. That would bring our $2,075 premium down to around $1,870. This percentage gets even bigger when a homeowner utilizes a professionally monitored system. 

Other discounts include:

  • Storm shutters
  • Theft protection device
  • Fire extinguisher
  • Hail-resistant roof
  • HOA
  • Interior sprinkler system
  • No mortgage
  • Affinity discount
  • Claims free
  • Companion policy discount

Hippo home insurance claims process

Their claims page vows to walk you through the process and provide answers from start to finish. Hippo allows you to file a claim by either calling their 24/7 claims team at 855-999-9746 or by going online and logging into your account. 

When it comes to claims, Hippo’s online reviews are a mix of positive and negative feedback. Many customers are happy with the way the company handled their claims. Other customers beg to differ in their online reviews. Negative reviews declare communication ending just after submitting all the necessary documentation. Overall the number of positive reviews about Hippo’s claims outweighs the number of negative responses.

NAIC doesn’t have Hippo listed or rated, so it’s difficult to get a consensus based on their rating. We can, however, base their claims process on complaints by their underwriters at Spinnaker Insurance. 

According to the Company Complaint Index, they were rated at 1.52 in 2022. This is only slightly higher than the average number of complaints, with most of them being about claims. 

Hippo homeowners insurance customer reviews

There isn’t too much information available regarding their customer base. Without an NAIC rating, we’re left to scavenge customer review sites to see how they feel about Hippo.

Most customers have left positive reviews for Hippo with many happy with their premiums. The main complaint is slow communication. Some homeowners of late have complained about slow and low payouts coupled with their frustrating claims process. Others didn’t like how much premiums have risen after the renewal. Overall, positive reviews from the actual customers outweigh the negative ones.

Nevertheless, out of 161 ratings on the BBB website, their review average is 3.15 as of this article being written. 

Hippo’s financial strength

As we mentioned earlier, Hippo is a junior in the home insurance business. This could be their excuse for not being rated by AM Best or Weiss Ratings. The BBB only just accredited Hippo in 2018 and they now have a solid B rating. 

Their underwriting company, Spinnaker, has a Weiss rating of B-. This means they offer good financial security and resources to deal with a variety of adverse economic conditions. Spinnaker is also rated by AM Best, but with an A- instead.

Hippo was launched in 2015 by two entrepreneurs, Assaf Wand, and Eyal Navol. They built this company in Mountain View, California to provide smart home insurance for modern households. While many companies offer online quotes, not many allow you to complete the purchase of the policy online. Hippo hopes to change this and make it more convenient for each customer to purchase their home insurance policies online by offering transparent coverages. They spent a lot of time coming up with new strategies for making purchasing policies a faster process, figuring out how they can help their customers avoid loss by using smart home sensors while eliminating unnecessary or hidden costs.

Final thoughts

Younger insurance companies like Hippo have truly taken the industry by storm. As always, finding the right balance between customer experience and affordable coverage is a difficult task. It turns out, this notion held true with Hippo.

Hippo could be for you if you’re shopping around for home insurance at a low-to-average rate with extensive coverage options. 

They declare their claims process is accompanied by communication and understanding, but some of their customers beg to differ. Perhaps, with the rapid expansion across more and more states each year, it can be difficult for Hippo’s team to address all the claims in a timely manner. Nevertheless, most customer reviews are positive, so you should consider Hippo as your next insurer if you live in one of the 39 states they cover.

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ABOUT AUTHOR

Lauren Bell is a data analyst by day, content writer and editor by night. When she’s not making data discoveries, she’s writing about them! She also enjoys writing about lifestyle and finance; two of her favorite topics.

As an Arkansas native, Lauren loves the fresh air. When she’s not hard at work in front of a computer, you could catch her spending time on an outdoor adventure with her two kids.

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