Allstate Home Insurance Review: Pros & Cons, Ratings & More

Founded as an automobile insurance company in 1931, Allstate quickly established itself as an innovator: It introduced a system to rate driver safety, opened the first drive-in claims office, created a grant program to train educators to teach driver's ed, offered the first discounts to small-car owners and worked to pass landmark auto safety legislation. It has grown to offer insurance for auto, home, renters, motorcycle, business and life to some 16 million households, and it continues to innovate, offering a wide range of unique technological tools to its customers. Today, it's the second largest homeowners insurance company, with a market share above 8 percent (in 2019).

Effective Date: January 2020

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Allstate Home Insurance is one of the country's largest insurers, but this doesn't translate into anything that really stands out above the crowd in terms of policy features or benefits. In fact, some coverages, such as personal property and loss of use, are lower than average and not up to the level that one would expect from such a leader in the industry. However, Allstate's online quoting system is worth noting. It works to make everything as simple as possible by using graphics and pictures to explain home insurance terms and by offering home policy packages with tiers of coverage based on the price a client is willing to pay. This is in addition to allowing you to customize your quote with a la carte coverage options.

Allstate's home insurance policies include dwelling coverage with adjustable deductibles for all perils and for windstorm or hail; coverage for your other structures, such as detached garage; personal property coverage; an additional living expense or loss-of-use coverage in case you have to move out of your home while it is being repaired; liability protection for you and your family; and guest medical coverage, which is also known as a no-fault coverage.

There are a number of optional coverages that are offered with most insurance company's home policies, and Allstate does make these available. But this company includes a number of additional, less-common coverages that people can elect to include in the policy as well, such as a protection against rate increases due to claims, or an extended coverage for the roof.

Allstate offers a number of methods to lower your home insurance premium. Some will remain for the life of the policy, such as the preferred payment method discount, while you can expect others to roll off over the first few years of the policy.

Allstate utilizes a multi-channel approach for claims, making it as easy as possible to start the process. It suggests that you gather as much information about the incident as you can but to not wait too long: The sooner you file the claim, the sooner Allstate can start work on it, so you don't have to have everything in hand before contacting the company. You can file a claim online, whether or not you have established an Allstate account, or you can use the Allstate Mobile app, call the 24-hour claims line or contact your agent directly.