- Ocean Harbor insures higher risk areas along the coast
- Offers a good array of additional coverages and discounts
- Subpar website
- Poor customer service/experience
- Confusing and frustrating claims process
- Only available in a handful of states
Ocean Harbor Casualty Insurance Company was founded in 1986 with a focus on offering property insurance to those living in coastal areas of the country. It has a niche as a company that will insure homes that may be too high of a risk for some other companies due to the unique risks that coastal locations face. The company is headquartered in Tallahassee, Florida.
While it is a somewhat niche insurer, Ocean Harbor boasts itself as one of the top 100 insurance companies for homeowners insurance, with a large portion of their over $300 million of annual written premium coming from their home insurance business.
Where does Ocean Harbor offer home insurance policies?
Ocean Harbor currently offers home insurance in just five states. Residents of Louisiana, Mississippi, New York, South Carolina, and Texas may have the opportunity to purchase homeowners insurance from Ocean Harbor, if they so wish. Unfortunately, residents of the other 45 states do not have Ocean Harbor as an option.
Ocean Harbor homeowners insurance coverages
Ocean Harbor offers HO-3 policies, which are the standard home insurance policies used across the country today. In addition to that they offer optional coverages that can be added on to those HO-3 policies. They also sell other home-related insurance policies.
Ocean Harbor’s standard policy sections include:
- Dwelling (Section A): protects the structure of the home and any attached structures.
- Other structures (Section B): protects the detached structures on the property such as a fence or shed.
- Personal property (Section C): protects the homeowner’s personal belongings on the property such as clothing or jewelry.
- Loss of use (Section D): protects the homeowner from incurring additional living expenses while unable to use the home during repairs or rebuilding.
- Personal liability (Section E): protects the homeowner from the legal bills that may be forced upon the homeowner due to a lawsuit stemming from an injury to a guest on the property or damage to another’s personal property where the homeowner is found to be at fault.
- Medical payments to others (Section F): Protects the homeowner from medical bills that may arise due to a guest’s injury, regardless of who is found to be at fault.
Coverage limits
We were unable to find the standard coverage limits that Ocean Harbor offers in its standard homeowners’ policies. Talk with a local Ocean Harbor agent to learn more about the coverage limits they offer.
Additional coverages
Ocean Harbor offers a number of optional add-on coverages that policyholders can choose from to customize their policies. These additional coverages include:
- Scheduled personal property: This coverage provides higher coverage limits for valuable personal property such as art or jewelry.
- Identity theft: This coverage protects the homeowner from incurring expenses related to recovering the homeowner’s identity.
- Personal injury: This coverage protects the homeowner from personal offense injuries that may occur to them such as libel, slander, wrongful eviction, etc.
- Water and sewer backup: this coverage protects against backups of the water and sewer systems on the homeowner’s property.
Other Ocean Harbor policies
As mentioned earlier, Ocean Harbor offers more than just standard HO-3 home insurance policies and optional add-ons to go along with it. They also offer the following insurance policies:
- Condo insurance: this insurance is designed to protect condo units.
- Renters insurance: this insurance is designed to protect the renter’s personal belongings and loss of use.
- Dwelling fire insurance: this insurance is designed to protect second homes and rental properties of homeowners.
Cost of Ocean Harbor homeowners insurance
We were unable to find an average cost of a standard policy with Ocean Harbor. Based on customer reviews, the company seems to be on the higher end of the spectrum in terms of cost. This would make sense with their niche being coastal communities where some home damage risks are higher. There are numerous factors that go into any individual premium. Homeowners should talk with an Ocean Harbor agent to determine what the cost of the policy may be for them in their specific situation.
Discounts available
Ocean Harbor has a handful of discounts available to homeowners. These available discounts include:
- Multi-tier rating: This can be a discount for those who fit in “safer” home tiers
- New home: This is a discount for those who have bought a newly built home
- Security systems: this is a discount for those who have installed security devices on the property
- Hurricane protective system: This is a discount for those who have installed a system that helps deter and mitigate hurricane damage
- Superior construction: this is a discount for those who own a home that is built with materials that are storm or damage resistant
- Alarm system: this is a discount for those who have installed an alarm system on the property
It is important to keep in mind that not all discounts may be available in every state that Ocean Harbor offers coverage in. Homeowners should talk with their local Ocean Harbor agent to determine what discounts they may be eligible for.
Claims process
According to customer reviews, the claims process with Ocean Harbor Insurance looks to be awful. Policyholders state that the company is unresponsive meaning won’t answer phone calls or emails and doesn’t respond to messages. Customers also state that the company tries to lowball claims awards and find ways to reduce how much they will pay out. The majority of customers are dissatisfied with the claims process. There is also no way to start a claim on the company’s website, which is something that is important to homeowners in today’s world.
Customer experience
The overall customer experience with Ocean Harbor seems to be mostly negative. Customers generally review the company very negatively citing the company’s lack of response to communications and the company not working with policyholders to get them a good deal when it comes to pricing or claims. Customers also state that Ocean Harbor is not very flexible in its pricing.
The poor customer experience is something potential policyholders should be wary of when shopping around for home insurance coverage. According to the National Association of Insurance Commissioner’s complaint index, Ocean Harbor receives far greater complaints than would be expected for a company of its size. The complaint number is well above the expected number line, leading a potential policyholder to deduce that customers are quite dissatisfied with their experience with Ocean Harbor.
As of June 2023, Ocean Harbord has earned a 2.1-star rating from 128 Google reviews.
Financial strength
Ocean Harbor has an A rating with Demotech, a credit ratings agency that focuses on regional insurers such as Ocean Harbor. An A rating with Demotech is an exceptional rating meaning the company is in great financial health. Ocean Harbor also has a B rating with AM Best, which is an ok rating, but is not exceptional by any means. It is a little interesting that they would have an A rating from one company and a B rating from another. A “B” rating from AM Best is not a great sign of financial health. It shows that the company can meet their obligations in normal times but may have some major issues if there are many claims at once or a major economic downturn. This is something that potential policyholders should keep in mind when looking for coverage. On the other hand, an A rating from Demotech inspires a little more confidence in the financial health of the company.
Conclusion
Ocean Harbor is a below-average insurance company when it comes to home insurance. Most customers did not have anything good to say about the company, which is not a good sign for potential customers to see when they are shopping around. The company’s website is good but could be more detailed and easier to navigate.
Customers really dislike the customer service of the company and say that Ocean Harbor finds various ways to charge them extra while not responding to calls from customers or not working with customers when agents do answer.
The financial strength of the company is a bit intriguing with two different ratings that aren’t particularly close to each other. The financial strength looks to be good, but homeowner may need to be wary if there are major economic downturns or if a storm comes through leading to numerous claims at the same time.
Ocean Harbor may be a homeowner’s only option if the home is in a particularly high-risk area. If other options are available homeowners should shop around and weigh the pros and cons of each company in order to make an informed decision. Ocean Harbor may be a company to be cautious about committing too but could be a decent option for the right person.
