- There’s an online quote tool.
- Financial outlook is favorable across the board.
- Customers are pretty happy.
- There is plenty of coverage available.
- Not available in all 50 states.
- You have to bundle services to get an online homeowners insurance quote.
Nationwide is a prominent insurance firm in the US that stands out for its remarkable reputation. It excels not only in insurance but also in financial services such as banking, investments, and retirement plans.
From its modest beginnings as a mutual auto insurer solely owned by policyholders in 1925, Nationwide has come a long way to reach a whopping $52.9 billion in sales as of 2021. Nationwide credits its customer focus and value over the last 90-plus years as its reason for being among the top 10 home insurers in the country.
Nationwide offers a collection of insurance products to customers, from pet insurance to farm insurance and more. That means this Fortune 100 company should be able to provide quality service to its customers on top of essential coverage for their homes.
We’re here to see how much Nationwide truly plans to be on your side. In this review, we’ll pick apart Nationwide’s home insurance policies to see just how comprehensive and affordable they are. If you’re in the market for home insurance, keep reading. We’ll look at how Nationwide customers feel about how they are served so you can get a feel for the level of protection before you dive in.
Nationwide home insurance coverages
Nationwide offers home insurance services to a majority of the states in the United States, except Alaska, Florida, Hawaii, Louisiana, Massachusetts, New Jersey, and New Mexico. For the remaining 43 lucky states, home insurance with Nationwide provides all the essential coverages necessary.
Thanks to Nationwide’s online quote tool, we can find out for ourselves just how comprehensive this coverage is. Luckily, they provide coverage for our test location in Arkansas.
We could only get an online quote if we chose to bundle home insurance with another insurance product, which was inconvenient and strange. For the sake of accessibility, we chose to bundle auto for this example. Once we plugged this test address into the pricing tool, here is what we were left with:
| Coverage | Limits |
| Dwelling | $221,955 |
| Other structures | $22,196 (10%) |
| Personal property | $166,466 (75%) |
| Loss of use | “Actual Loss Sustained – Not to Exceed Dwelling Limits” |
| Personal liability | $100,000 |
| Personal injury liability | $100,000 |
| Medical payments | $1,000 |
| Tools | $2,500 |
| Identity theft | $25,000 |
| Building ordinance or law | $22,196 (10%) |
| All perils deductible | $1,000 |
| Personal property deductible | $1,000 |
This coverage also included inflation protection, which automatically increases policy limits to compensate for nationally raising prices. It also included “Brand New Belongings Coverage” which is their fancy way of saying we have personal property replacement cost coverage.
We noticed that we were faced with a personal liability deductible, which seems odd. Even stranger, the wind and hail deductible was an add-on we could choose, which is usually an included peril. Plus, we were left with “actual loss sustained” as an idea for Loss of Use coverage limits. Typically, we would see up to 20% coverage for this.
We suppose Nationwide makes up for these peculiarities by giving us some other coverages we would usually have to add on, like identity theft coverage. Plus, they’ve given us a special limit already for tools, such as manual, electronic, or gas-powered handy tools. Here are some other add-ons we could choose from:
- Water backup limited: Protects you against damage caused by backed-up water from sewers, drains, or sump pump overflow.
- Better roof replacement: This coverage helps you rebuild your roof with better materials by paying for the difference between a standard roof replacement and a roof replacement with fortified materials.
- Equipment breakdown: This endorsement will cover the damage caused by large appliance or equipment failure. This is a per-occurrence limit of $500,000 with a $500 deductible. It also covers up to $3,000 in cleanup and pollutant removal.
- Service line: Covers the damage to wires, cables, and pipes underground after a $500 deductible.
- Protection boost: Increases special limits of liability, subject to the deductible outlined in a policy. These include money, securities, watercraft, trailers, jewelry, watches, & furs, vaulted jewelry, firearms, silverware, cameras, fire department service charges, credit cards, food spoilage, debris removal, biological deterioration, and landlord furnishings.
Nationwide home insurance premiums & discounts
Our test location has seen its fair share of wind and hail phenomena. This is partially to blame for Arkansas’ steady increase in average home insurance premiums.
Today, the average cost of home insurance in Arkansas is around $2,156 for around $350,000 in dwelling coverage. From our experience, our test address averages around $1,900 for between $200,000 and $350,000, which is considerably cheaper than the average. This is especially significant when you consider that this home was built in the 80s and has an older roof.
Once our quote provided us with all the essential coverage we could ask for, we took a closer look at the price.
| Insurer | Dwelling Coverage | Annual Premium |
| Hippo | $200,000 | $2,075 |
| Farmers | $260,000 | $1,300 |
| Costco CONNECT | $348,300 | $3,172 |
| Allstate | $240,097 | $1,540 |
| State Farm | $291,000 | $1,454 |
| Farm Bureau | $154,000 | $1,663 |
| Progressive | $203,000 | $2,183 |
| GEICO | $190,000 | $1,979 |
| Liberty Mutual | $206,700 | $1,087 |
| Nationwide | $221,955 | $2,060 |
Even after bundling another insurance product against our better judgment, Nationwide still provided us with more dwelling coverage for less money than a few of their competitors, like Hippo. We can’t ignore the fact that our price from Nationwide is still higher than other reputable insurers like Liberty Mutual, State Farm, Allstate, and Farmers.
Our annual premium is brought to us after applicable discounts are added. These areas for savings included:
- Home & car: This is the type of bundling (multi-policy) discount we receive for having more than one policy open with Nationwide.
- Protective devices: We received a discount for having smoke, fire, and burglar alarms installed on the property.
- Home purchase: For purchasing the home less than 12 months ago, we received a discount.
- Claim free: We’ve never had to file an insurance claim, so we were eligible for the claim-free discount.
- Age of construction: Our test home is actually almost 40 years old, but we still receive this discount, which is available for homes less than 10 years old.
- Prior insurance: This discount is available to us for having continuous insurance through another provider.
There were other discounts available that we didn’t qualify for. These were:
- Home renovation: You can receive a credit on your premium for recently renovating the electric, plumbing, heating, or cooling systems in your home.
- Roof rating: You can save money if your roof’s age and surface type meet their criteria.
- Gated community: You could qualify for savings if your home is located inside a gated residential community.
- Smart home: Certain smart home technology could provide you with savings on your annual premium.
Customer satisfaction reviews
According to the NAIC, the number of Nationwide auto insurance complaints just narrowly beat homeowners’ insurance complaints in 2022. Nevertheless, homeowners complaints still received less than the average number of complaints that year. On the National Complaint Index, Nationwide only scored 0.54, which is just under the set level of 1.00.
On the BBB site, there is an average of 1.15 stars out of a couple hundred reviews. This is despite the site’s A+ rating for customer responsiveness.
Elsewhere on the internet, customers are pretty satisfied with their service. Many solidify the claim that Nationwide provides quality customer service on top of essential home coverage for a decent price. Dissatisfied customers quote misunderstandings and a lack of communication with agents and inspectors.
Processing claims
Nationwide says it takes 10-15 minutes to file a property claim. All you have to do is go to their site and file a claim, and from there, you can track your claims process.
The NAIC notes state-specific claims to be the main area of complaints toward Nationwide’s claims process in 2022. Secondary complaints were related to unsatisfactory settlements and delays.
Online, some customers simply cite aggressive investigators. Others are pretty happy with Nationwide’s ability to be on their side. According to one customer, Nationwide can provide choices for companies and potential estimates. With this, customers can potentially get entire roofs replaced at no cost to them.
Financial strength ratings
As you can expect, Nationwide has a pretty favorable financial outlook. According to AM Best, this insurer has a “Superior” A+ rating in terms of financial stability. They have a similar score for long-term issuer credit. Nationwide has retained these ratings for several consecutive years now.
As told by Weiss Ratings, Nationwide is a part of the lower third of insurers that displays decent financial security. They have the resources available to encounter a variety of economic factors, and they are likely to retain their financial health.
Final verdict
If you’re a fan of quick and simple quotes and purchases, Nationwide could be the home insurer you’re looking for. This may especially be the case if you need detailed coverage and bundling at a fair price.
Some parts of their coverage may raise some eyebrows, like their personal property deductible or extra costs for wind and hail damage. They seem to make up for it with their interesting coverages and limits that we were given without hesitation.
Overall, Nationwide has financial security, customer service, and fully-encompassing home insurance to save the day. It wouldn’t hurt to try to give their online quote tool a spin – unless you’re not looking to immediately bundle your home and auto as we did.