- Overall positive customer reviews.
- Great for those who need quality customer service.
- Easier than average claims process.
- Reviews report affordable premiums.
- Only available in select Northeastern and Midwestern states.
- No online quote tool.
- Not much coverage flexibility.
Founded almost 200 years ago, The Andover Companies is among the oldest home insurance companies we’ve reviewed. To provide Massachusetts and the better part of the Northeast with various insurance products, they are now made up of three subsidiaries.
Back in the day, house fires were more common. As a result, Merrimack Mutual Fire Insurance came into being and represented a clever answer to safeguard their township. With Merrimack Mutual, property owners could reconstruct their residences, production facilities, or any other edifice in the eventuality of an inferno.
Throughout the years, the safeguarding demands of landowners began to escalate as their properties underwent a riskier variety of events. To meet demands and expand their tactics, Merrimack Mutual Fire Insurance Company acquired Cambridge Mutual Fire Insurance Company in 1913, and became “The Andover Companies”.
Decades later, they would acquire Bay State Insurance. This trinity of home insurance coverage now protects homeowners in:
As they call it, “steeped in tradition”, The Andover Companies claims to work with a strong sense of accountability to policyholders. We’re here to see how that claim holds up.
Read along with us as we review The Andover Companies’ home insurance. We’ll consider each piece of the Andover Insurance puzzle, including their coverages, prices, and even what their customers think.
With almost 200 years in the insurance business, The Andover Companies’ history is rich and filled with different stories that warm the heart of their clients. Back in 1828, Merrimack Mutual Fire Insurance Company began selling insurance policies in the town of Andover, Massachusetts, and other neighboring towns. 5 years later, Cambridge Mutual Fire Insurance Company was incorporated.
These two companies have merged in 1913 to form The Andover Companies. Merrimack Mutual Fire Insurance Company comprises half of the current asset base of The Andover Companies, while Cambridge Mutual Fire Insurance Company holds a third of the asset for Andover. In addition to these two insurance companies, The Andover Companies is also comprised of Bay State.
The Andover Companies homeowners insurance coverages
The Andover companies don’t reveal as much information as we would like when shopping for home insurance. They work exclusively through agents for more of a personable, hands-on experience.
Standard HO-3 policy
The Andover Companies provides standard HO-3 home insurance. This includes protection of the dwelling itself, structures attached to the house plus any detached structures. This policy will also protect homeowners from the costs of personal property; up to 50% of their dwelling coverage.
In addition to covering the expenses for the house itself and the belongings inside, Andover has the responsibility to pay for the homeowner’s temporary housing. This would be in the case when their home becomes unusable due to a covered loss.
On top of that, Andover Companies will pay for $100,000 worth of personal liability coverage. This will take care of the costs for legal or medical fees for an incident the homeowner is responsible for.
Personal belongings are covered for 16 named perils, like theft, vandalism, wind damage, fire, or explosion. Dwelling and other structures are covered on an open-peril basis.
Superior Home Protection Plan from Bay State
Additionally, Bay State, which is part of the Andover Companies, offers Superior Home Protection Plan, which includes a lot of additional packages:
- Guaranteed replacement cost: when a covered loss causes more damage than can be covered by your policy limits, this endorsement will automatically increase your limit to ensure your home can be entirely repaired or replaced.
- Increased personal property protection: this guarantees your personal property will be repaired or replaced based on its replacement cost with an increase of 20% additional coverage.
- Increased liability limits: your coverage E limit is increased to $300,000.
- Identity recovery: includes $15,000 worth of coverage for expenses associated with the costs of recovering your identity after it has been stolen. These costs can include lost income, loan application fees, attorneys fees, and more. Additionally, The Andover Companies will appoint a case management service to help you.
- Ordinance or law coverage: increases the limit to cover the costs associated with staying up to code enforcement standards. This includes debris removal, damaged property demolition, etc.
- Personal umbrella liability: this coverage could be available for $5 million.
- Pleasure boat endorsement: protects power boats up to 32 feet long and $125,000 in value, or sailboats up to 40 feet long in like value.
- Scheduled personal property: this helps protect certain items with more coverage, like furs, jewelry, fine art, cameras, musical equipment, etc.
- Water back-up and sump pump overflow: protects from the costs associated with the direct loss of property from water originating from a backed-up sewage drain, sump pump, or related equipment. Limits could be $5,000, $10,000, $15,000, or $20,000.
- Home systems protection and service line coverage: covers up to $50,000 in damage to household equipment like central air conditioners, furnaces, or hot water heaters. Additionally, protection up to $10,000 is provided to cover the loss associated with the failure of underground pipes or cables.
The Andover homeowners insurance premiums and discounts
Most of the customer reviews praise the Andover Companies for having competitive and in some cases the cheapest rates around.
The states serviced by the Andover Companies insurance contain the country’s more docile home insurance premium prices. According to Forbes average yearly premiums for their service areas are as follows:
| Connecticut | $781 |
| Illinois | $1,066 |
| Massachusetts | $835 |
| Maine | $634 |
| New Hamshire | $563 |
| New Jersey | $576 |
| New York | $737 |
| Rhode Island | $899 |
These are some of the cheapest states in the US when it comes to homeowners insurance premiums. Thus, based on customer reviews, you can expect similar or cheaper rates from the Andover Companies. Of course, your personal quote will depend on many factors such as the size of your home, location, age of your home, distance from the fire hydrants, etc.
We did find a couple of reviewers complaining about the Andover prices. They wanted to be able to have a little more control over their policy by getting less coverage in some places for a cheaper rate.
Potential discounts from the Andover Companies
We did find some discounts provided by Bay State Homeowner’s Program:
- Account Credit: receive a 5% discount for having more than one account written with Andover.
- Personal Umbrella
- Pleasure Boats
- Dwelling Fire
- Secondary locations
- Business Owners policy
- Deductible Credit Options: receive a higher deductible for premium discounts.
- Protective Devices and Alarm Services: receive a 10% discount for installing safety devices in the home.
- Sprinkler system
- Smoke detectors
- Burglar alarm
- Fire alarm
- Central station burglar alarm
- Central station fire alarm
- Homeowners/Auto Special: receive a discount for having an auto policy written by the same Andover agent.
- Generator: receive a discount for having a permanently installed hard-wired generator installed in your home.
- Non-Smokers: receive a 5% discount for not smoking cigarettes, pipes, or cigars on the property.
The Andover Companies homeowners insurance claims process
Most claim-related online reviews for the Andover Companies are positive, with clients reporting that their claims process was more than satisfactory. This is due in part to very attentive, and responsive adjusters, plus some affirmations of an overall stress-free experience. In some cases, getting the police report took longer than it took for the claims check to arrive.
Many other home insurance companies have endless complaints about a forever-long claims process. It’s nice to see the opposite for a change.
Merrimack has seen its fair share of lawsuits due to bad faith claims and denials. The same can be said for Cambridge Mutual, with one lawsuit regarding confusing policy language that cost one person $45,000 in personal property damage.
If you need to file a claim with The Andover Companies home insurance, you’ll have to get in touch with your independent agent. This might be the reason for such courteous comments about The Andover Companies’ claims process – their issues are handled personally from the get-go. If your incident happens after hours, you’re instructed to call their home office at 1-800-225-0770.
Once you get ahold of your agent, the rest is simple. Keep a record of your inventory, and pay attention to any repair costs you might have incurred.
What customers have to say about the Andover Companies
Not only are complaints low according to the NAIC, but their customer reviews seem to collaborate. Throughout 2019-2020 especially, homeowners took to the internet to express their admiration for The Andover Companies.
As of March 2023, The Andover Companies has a 4.3-star Google rating from 121 customer reviews. These reviews are overwhelmingly positive, save for a few scarce 1-star reviews from angry homeowners.
The NAIC seems to corroborate the customer’s claims of positive service. Each of the sub-branches received less than the average number of complaints in 2022. They scale is already set at 1 so anything below 1 is less than average across the industry. Merrimack Mutual received 0.6 complaints, Cambridge Mutual received 0.13 complaints, and Bay State received 0.7 complaints.
The Andover Companies’ financial strength
The Andover Companies has been an accredited BBB business since 2020. They currently have an A+ rating, with a mere 2 complaints closed in the last 3 years.
As for AM Best, all three companies have an A for financial strength, and an A+ for Long-Term Issuer Credit. They were each issued these grades in the middle of 2022. This was after they were all downgraded from an A+ to an A in 2020.
Weiss Ratings has provided all three companies with an Insurance Safety Rating of B-. This means The Andover Companies are in the lower third of companies that display good financial security. They have the resources to deal with a variety of adverse economic conditions and comfortably exceed the minimum levels for all rating criteria.
None of The Andover Companies are rated by Demotech.
Final thoughts
We have another win for the elder home insurance businesses. The Andover Companies are truly rooted in tradition and old-fashioned American standards.
Their inability to provide us with an online quote or in-depth information about their insurance products was a little off-putting.
Nevertheless, customers and financial rating companies are raving about their positive experiences and financial safety. It’s not easy to find happy reviews about insurance claims. If you need home insurance in the Northeast, this may be the reassurance you need to give their agents a try and see what the fuss is all about.
