- Annual premiums are very inexpensive.
- Plenty of coverage and endorsements.
- Only 17 states are served.
- Their website lacks information.
- The financial outlook is negative.
Tower Hill began its journey as a modest insurance agency in Miami, Florida, in 1972. Today, it has established itself as one of the leading residential property insurers in Florida and has ventured into several other states.
Tower Hill continues to operate under the ownership of its founding family, protecting over two million customers for their homes and businesses. Over time, this diminutive firm expanded to encompass an entire conglomerate.
Tower Hill Insurance Group (THIG) consists of four insurance companies: Tower Hill Prime, Tower Hill Preferred, Tower Hill Signature, and Tower Hill Insurance Exchange. With hundreds of staff members and thousands of insurance agents spread across the country, THIG is now a prominent force in the Floridian insurance industry.
Knowing this, we decided to zoom in on Tower Hill and see what makes them tick. In this review, we’ll look at the kind of home insurance policy you can expect with THIG. You’ll find out about their endorsements, policy inclusions, and maybe even find out how much it all would cost you. As a bonus, we’ll see how their customers feel, and where they stand on the financial scale.
Tower Hill home insurance availability
Tower Hill does most of its business in Florida, but its homeowners insurance policies are also available in Arizona, Arkansas, Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Teneessee, Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Michigan, and Wisconsin.
Tower Hill home insurance coverages and premiums
Tower Hill believes that using independent agents is superior for customer service and satisfaction. Therefore, there isn’t an easy way to find out on your own how much coverage you will get with the company.
Tower Hill does explain that they have the type of home insurance a Floridian homeowner can’t go without. They tend to understand how Florida weather can be detrimental to higher-value properties. What they don’t understand, however, is how some information on their website may be very beneficial in lieu of an online quote.
Tower Hill’s standard home insurance policy is known as the basic tier. This plan aligns with most other companies’ home insurance policies.
The standard policy acts as an HO-3 home insurance policy, which outlines protection for your home, outlying structures, and your personal property. It also entails protection against personal liability, plus medical payments for issues that you may not necessarily be liable for. Lastly, if your home becomes unlivable due to extensive repairs, any extra living expenses are covered as well.
The annual cost of your premium will depend greatly on the limits you need to confidently secure your home. We tried using their quote tool using an address in Jacksonville, FL. The tool asked us 3 simple questions which covered how much dwelling coverage we wanted when the home was built, and when the roof was last replaced.
Unfortunately, all the tool could give us was a price without any details. For $750,000 worth of dwelling coverage on a home built in 2020 with a fire-resistant framework and a metal roof, we were quoted at $1,749 a year.
The average cost per year for home insurance in Florida for this much dwelling coverage can be well over $5,000. Even if our quote needs a review before it becomes legitimate, we can still expect our premium to be thousands of dollars less than average. Even customers are chiming in to explain how their premium with Tower Hill is less than half of what it used to be with another company.
Endorsements
THIG offers a couple of endorsements for a policy that can be used to provide more coverage for your home and property. For example, their Emerald endorsement offers a collection of add-ons and increased limits for personal property and replacement cost coverage.
It includes $5,000 worth of water backup coverage, ID Theft protection, and extensive liability coverage for your pets. According to the company, this endorsement is rather inexpensive for the amount of coverage it provides. If you have a $5,000 item, you’ll only have to pay $100 annually.
Your Tower Hill home insurance policy offers you the chance to get Equipment Breakdown coverage for just $50 annually. This coverage will protect you from any potential damage caused due to unexpected equipment breakdowns.
Tower Hill CyberShield is another endorsement available with THIG. It provides a range of cyber protections and amenities against online threats such as cyber-attacks, blackmail, and identity theft. With CyberShield packages, you can obtain endorsements for annual premiums beginning at $25.
THIG is unique among its rivals in the home insurance industry due to its provision of flood insurance. Typically disregarded by most homeowner insurance policies, the only practical choice for homeowners looking to acquire flood insurance is usually the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP).
Tower Hill provides more extensive protection in comparison to the NFIP, with a coverage limit of $5 million for your dwelling and $3.5 million for home contents. THIG also facilitates shorter wait times.
Potential Discounts
Based on the prompts provided to us during the THIG quote process, we can tell what kind of discounts the company offers. While the company has fewer discounts than most other home insurers, there are still a couple of ways to save money on your annual premiums.
For example, THIG will provide customers with a discount if their homes:
- Are newly constructed.
- Have a new roof.
- Were built from fire or wind-resistant materials.
- Contains safety features, like fire or burglar alarms.
- Are part of a bundled policy with a THIG auto or umbrella insurance policy.
Customer reviews
Customers with Tower Hill are very split. They’re either very happy with their insurance due to their rates and customer service, or ready to file lawsuits due to rude and unsupportive staff and claims teams.
For starters, the NAIC registered an incredible 11.38 on the National Complaint Index for Tower Hill Preferred home insurance in 2022. This scale is automatically set at 1.00 as the average score, meaning Tower Hill received complaints equaling over 1000% more than average. State-specific claims handling issues were the biggest gripe of them all, followed by denials and underwriting cancellations.
The BBB has accredited the company since 2013, where they have an A+ and only a mere 53 complaints closed in the last 3 years. From this site and more, customers tell very inspiring stories of lowered premiums, easy service, and simple communication. When customers start taking action, either by filing a claim or canceling policies, that’s when they start having issues with the company’s customer service.
Processing Claims
To file a claim with Tower Hill for your home insurance, you can call 800.342.3407 or go online to submit your claim. There’s an email address where you can send correspondence, and when you log in to your account, you can review and track your claim.
Claims seem to be where THIG lacks, according to customers. For one long-term customer, their first claim was met with disappointment as the company tried to settle for $2,500 on a payout for a damaged roof costing upwards of $35,000. What’s worse is that they waited over 5 months to find a solution.
Even after being assigned a new adjuster, new problems arise, like a lack of communication or understanding. Knowing this, it’s harder to blame just one THIG associate. This is especially the case considering this customer’s rate nearly tripled after the fact.
Financial stability
Tower Hill has seen its fair share of financial instability. As a result, several insurance and financial security rating companies have shared adverse reviews of THIG’s monetary leverage.
In 2009, AM Best withdrew and downgraded Tower Hill’s financial stability rating to “D”, which is a poor rating from the company. Afterward, it was entirely revoked and replaced with an “NR” (not rated) for all parts of the insurance group. This is mainly due to the catastrophic weather events in the state and their inability to mitigate claims thereafter.
Reviews for each part of the group are equally negative for Weiss Ratings. The lowest score for the company is for the Signature group, which has an “E-” for insurance safety.
This means Tower Hill Signature is a part of the lower 3rd of companies that demonstrate significant weaknesses and has also failed some of the basic tests used to identify fiscal stability. As a result, policyholders acquire significant risks with this insurer. These scores only go as high as a “D” for the Preferred and Prime groups.
Demotech has provided an “A” rating for Tower Hill Exchange, which is relatively new and has yet to be rated by AM Best or Weiss. The same rating was provided to Tower Hill Prime from Demotech but has not yet relinquished a rating for Tower Hill Preferred, Select, or Signature.
Final thoughts
Homeowners in Florida have to deal with a lot when safeguarding their homes. Between hurricanes, floods, and other catastrophic events, this state’s home insurance needs to be affordable, comprehensive, and honest. With Tower Hill, you can get at least 2 out of the 3.
Tower Hill has been in the industry long enough to provide the necessary coverages “For Florida, By Florida”. The best part is you can get several endorsements and your policy still won’t break the bank.
The problem with the company seems to lie with its promises. Many customers are upset with great customer service that is almost always followed up with poor claims service. This may tie into their poor financial ratings, which dictate that the company is nearly drowning.
If you can’t get insurance elsewhere in Florida and simply need a cheaper rate, you might consider THIG. If discounts or a promising claims process is what you’re looking for, seek home insurance protection elsewhere.
