- Many cite quality customer service.
- Essential coverages are available.
- Homeowners are satisfied with their claims experiences.
- There’s no online quote tool.
- Insurance is not available in all 50 states.
- Maximum dwelling coverage limit is only $500,000
The inception of the United Home Insurance Company dates to 1914 in Paragould, Arkansas. It began its operations as a farmers’ insurance company, which was commonly known as the Farmers Tri-County Mutual Fire Association.
Throughout its lifetime, United Home has primarily focused on providing insurance services in Arkansas, specializing in home and farm insurance. Today, this insurer is licensed in 8 extra states, including Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Missouri, Oklahoma, Tennessee, and Texas.
UHIC seems to keep much of its inner workings quiet. They’ve been in business for over 100 years, and their reviews and noise in the industry are scarce. Nevertheless, with $70 million in total written premiums, UHIC is carefully continuing to protect its customers, one peril at a time.
In this review, we’ll shine a light on UHIC to get a feel for their home insurance products. Keep reading if you want to know more about United Home Insurance, from their claims process to their customer reviews.
United Home homeowners insurance coverages
United Home claims to provide dwelling coverage that efficiently protects a home against fire, hail, windstorms, and other select forms of loss. Unfortunately, they don’t have an online quote tool so we can see this for ourselves.
Furthermore, their website lacks sufficient information necessary for a person to decide on their own. Instead, they insist on finding an agent to work with. Once you get in contact with a local agent capable of selling UHIC’s level of insurance coverage, you can get access to more of the ins and outs of their packages.
In the search for more details, we found that United has HO-3 and HO-5 policies available, each with protective coverages A, B, C, D, E, and F. To put it simply, United will cover your standard or highly valuable home and property as they pertain to:
- Your dwelling: In case of a covered loss, the amount of money granted for renovating or rebuilding the framework of your house is covered under the dwelling coverage.
- Detached structures: This covers expenses related to the reconstruction or repair of structures that are located within your property but aren’t part of your residential dwelling. These may include outbuildings, garages, fences, or storage sheds, among others.
- Personal belongings: This provides you with the peace of mind of knowing that if your clothing, furniture, or technological gadgets are lost or damaged due to a covered loss, they can be restored or replaced.
- Liability: One’s personal liability coverage provides financial assistance in covering legal and medical fees if a guest sustains injuries or property damage while on one’s property, for which they hold legal responsibility.
- Loss of use: Provides reimbursement for expenses resulting from a covered loss, such as the cost of temporary hotel stays, dining expenditures, fees for pet accommodations, and other expenses related to living temporarily elsewhere during the rebuilding of your home.
- Medical payments to others: The medical payment clause can provide coverage for medical expenses, even if the visitor’s injury is not your fault. It may cover minor medical expenses such as X-rays or outpatient visits.
Additional coverages
It turns out UHIC also has a collection of endorsements you can add to your policy.
- At the beginning of 2023, United launched its version of utility line and identity fraud coverages for all of its covered states. Each provides limits of up to $10,000 to safeguard your home and property.
- As for their Underground Utility Line coverage, this endorsement will take care of the loss of underground systems in your home. These could include leaks, tears, breaks, or collapses of wires or pipes underground caused by rust, freezing, breakdowns, or general wear and tear.
- An inflation guard is available for homeowners in every state as well. This endorsement is only available for those with dwelling limits above $175,000.
- For an additional premium, UHIC offers Solar Panel Replacement coverage. With this endorsement, you can save on the cost of replacing or reattaching your solar panels in case they become damaged by a covered peril.
United Home homeowners insurance premiums & discounts
In 2019, UHIC announced a company-wide rate increase. We can’t say for sure, but it’s safe to assume these hikes lasted through the pandemic and global economic turmoil that followed. Base rate increases were at least 1%, meaning currently insured homeowners recently began paying a bit more for their premiums.
According to customers, many believe they are paying a competitive price with UHIC. Eventually, though, some customers reported to have found similar coverage with other insurers at a lower cost. This is despite the few discounts we discovered.
With the right qualifications, you could be eligible for a 5% Auto Companion discount. If your home is less than 10 years old, you could receive potential discounts as well.
As mentioned before, we don’t have a quick and easy way to find out what a home insurance policy would look like, let alone what it would cost. United’s highest dwelling coverage limit available is $550,000. Knowing this, it may be a little easier to predict how much an annual premium could cost you.
Let’s look at the states UHIC is licensed in. Here are the average rates across all insurers you could expect from a standard homeowner’s insurance policy worth $500,000 in dwelling coverage:
| State | Average Annual Premium |
| Arkansas | $2,855 |
| Illinois | $1,837 |
| Indiana | $1,794 |
| Kansas | $3,359 |
| Kentucky | $3,044 |
| Missouri | $2,264 |
| Oklahoma | $4,967 |
| Tennessee | $2,232 |
| Texas | $3,383 |
So, for the most coverage possible, you could probably expect your annual premium to reflect the prices above. If you need drastically less coverage like many other homeowners, you could probably get away with taking a few hundred dollars off the limits here.
What customers have to say about United Home
With a score of 0.43, UHIC received a less-than-average number of complaints for a company of its size in 2022. This is according to the NAIC, where the National Complaint Index registers the “average” level at 1.00. These complaints were largely directed at the insurer’s inability to provide satisfactory settlements in a timely manner.
Although not accredited by the BBB, UHIC does have an A+ rating for its ability to respond to customer complaints. This shouldn’t be any trouble for the company, considering they’ve only had one complaint closed in the last 3 years through the Bureau.
Customers online can back this up. Many cite exceptional claims service and an overall positive experience using the company. Vetted customers of over 17 years are chiming in to talk about how UHIC has provided them with quality home protection and customer service. More reviews can be found on Google, with only 6 people providing an average of 3.7 stars.
Claims process
To file a claim with United Home Insurance, you have a few options. You can go the old-fashioned route and contact your agent. Otherwise, you can call 800-467-0723, or email claims@unitedhomeins.com. Since 2017, UHIC allows claims to be filed and tracked with a mobile app as well.
The way UHIC goes about claims processing may seem intimidating. On the bright side, customer reviews regarding claims are overwhelmingly positive. Several customers recall being helped through devastating fire claims with knowledgeable UHIC-appointed staff.
Contrarily, one of the most recent customer reviews on the BBB site dictates how United doesn’t pay out as much as a policy outlines. Similar reviews left here outline how their adjusters were hard to contact during the process.
Financial stability ratings
The financial outlook for UHIC is incredibly underwhelming. For one, they are not yet rated by AM Best. When the company merged with Farmers Home Fire Insurance in 2007, AM Best withdrew its previous ratings with this subsidiary. These ratings were B++ (Good) for financial stability, and an issuer credit rating of “bbb”.
Weiss Ratings provided UHIC with a solid “C” for financial stability. In this case, it means United is currently stable and displays fair financial security. As you can expect, it’s their opinion that during an economic downturn, United’s ability to stay afloat will deteriorate.
On the other hand, an “Exceptional – A” rating was issued to UHIC from Demotech just in January this year.
Final verdict
United Home Insurance Company keeps its values close to home. With that, you can rest assured you’ll receive southern hospitality and relevant protection from this insurer. That is if you live in one of the few states that UHIC services.
Your coverage with UHIC should be enough to safeguard your home and belongings with limits to spare. Moreover, your claims process has a better chance of being eased by professional and knowledgeable agents.
You’d think by now this insurance senior would have a better financial outlook, or maybe some more convenient features or technology. Nevertheless, they excel in customer satisfaction, quality coverages, and competitive prices that match.
