Best Mobile & Manufactured Home Insurance

Mobile or manufactured homes are a way to buy a home at a lower cost than traditional real estate. However, just because they tend to cost less doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t insure them.

Mobile home insurance can protect you from a number of financial catastrophes, including theft, natural disaster, and liability for injuries on your property, making it essential for any mobile homeowner.

What Mobile Home Insurance Covers

Every insurance policy is different, so it’s important to look at the fine print of your specific plan to see what your mobile home insurance coverage covers.

Typically, a policy will protect the physical structure of your mobile home as well as its contents.

What this means is that you’ll be covered if something, including vandalism, fire, or extreme weather causes damage to the exterior or the interior of your manufactured home. Generally, other structures on the lot your home is placed on, like a patio or garage for your car, will also be covered under this portion of your policy.

One common way to save money on a mobile home policy is to only purchase coverage for specifically named perils. If you go this route, you’ll only be covered for the things named in your policy. For example, you can choose coverage for damage caused by fire or earthquake but not by vandalism. If someone vandalizes your home, you’ll have to pay for the repairs out of pocket.

Mobile home insurance also typically includes liability coverage for things that happen on your property. If someone hurts themselves and tries to sue you, your insurance will cover you up to the limit stated in the policy.

Common exclusions in mobile home policies include flood damages and water damages caused by a lack of maintenance to things like pipes or roofs.

How Much Mobile Insurance Costs

As with any insurance policy, the cost of mobile home insurance can vary widely. Many factors influence how much you’ll pay, including:

Where you live
The cost of your mobile home and the things in it
The coverage options and maximums you choose
The deductible you choose

The typical plan costs somewhere between $250 and $1,300.

Many insurers offer discounts that you can use to reduce the cost of your mobile home insurance. For example, one popular insurer, Allstate, offers the following discounts:

Original owner discount 5%
Multi-policy discount 15%
Protective device discount 15%
55 and retired discount 10%

Where to Buy Mobile Home Insurance

There are many insurers that offer mobile and manufactured home insurance. Here are some of our favorites.

Policygenius

Policygenius isn’t an insurer itself. Instead, it’s an insurance comparison website that makes it easy to compare quotes from multiple insurers.

When you visit Policygenius, you can select the type of insurance you want to purchase. Answer a few questions, such as where you live, the value of your manufactured home, and the level of coverage that you’re looking for and Policygenius will automatically match you with multiple insurance agencies.

You can compare each company’s offer on one page, making it easy to choose the best deal. Once you’ve made your decision, you can click through to the insurer’s site and start your application.

Young Alfred

Like Policygenius, Young Alfred isn’t an insurer, it’s an insurance comparison site. You can use its search engine to compare insurance offers after you enter some details about the policy that you’re looking for.

What sets Young Alfred apart is its free risk reporting tool. Enter your address and Young Alfred will automatically generate a report of common insurance risks and how likely you are to face them at that address. You might find that your mobile home will be at a high risk of fire and vandalism but a low risk of damage from extreme rain or hurricane depending on where you live.

You can use this knowledge to buy only the coverage that you need and avoid the coverages you don’t. That can help you save money on your policy.

Related: 11 Best Insurtech Companies

Allstate

Allstate is a well-known insurer that offers mobile and manufactured home policies.

Every Allstate policy includes the following coverages:

Dwelling: Coverage for the physical structure of your mobile home, like the roof and siding.
Personal property: Coverage for the belongings you keep in the home.
Guest medical protection: Coverage for medical bills incurred by guests who have an incident on your property.
Liability: Protects you if someone is injured on your property or if you damage someone else’s property and they decide to sue.
Other structures: Coverage for other structures, on your property, such as patios.

You can also customize your Allstate policy to add other coverages as needed, including:

Identity theft restoration
Water backup
Scheduled personal property
Business property
Sports equipment
Green improvement reimbursement
Yard and garden
Electronic data recovery
Musical instruments

Progressive

Progressive is another well-known insurer that covers mobile homes.

Like Allstate, Progressive’s basic policies cover your dwelling, personal property, and liability. Its policies also include loss of use coverage, which can pay for things like hotel stays and meals if your mobile home is damaged and you can’t live in it for a period.

There are also additional protections that you can add to your Progressive policy, such as replacement cost coverage rather than actual value coverage. With this protection, Progressive will reimburse you for the cost of replacing something if it’s damaged, rather than just reimbursing you for its current value.

Progressive also offers some benefits for bundling insurance. For example, if you bundle your mobile home and auto insurance, it will only make you pay a single deductible if your home and car are damaged in an accident while you’re transporting them.

Learn More: Progressive Insurance Review

What to Look for in Mobile Home Insurance

When you’re comparing insurance plans, including mobile home insurance plans, there are a few things that you should be looking for.

One is the monthly premium. This is the monthly cost of the insurance. The less you can pay for insurance, the more money that you can keep in your pocket and use for other purposes.

Another is the coverage limit. Each policy has a different coverage limit and if you incur costs over that limit, your insurance will stop reimbursing you. You want to make sure that you purchase enough coverage to cover any potential costs you’ll incur. At the same time, buying more coverage means paying more each month, so make sure you don’t buy too much insurance.

Third, look at the deductible. When you need to use your insurance, the deductible is the amount that you’ll have to pay before your insurance kicks in. Higher deductibles can reduce your monthly premium, but means you’ll have to pay more out of pocket before your insurance reimburses you.

For mobile home insurance, in particular, pay close attention to the things that are included and excluded in the policy. Some policies will exclude common sources of damage, like flood or water damage in your home. If you’re worried about those problems, make sure your policy protects you.

Also, make sure that any coverage you purchase protects your home while it’s in transit. Sometimes, you have to move your mobile home and if it’s damaged while you’re moving it, not every plan will cover that damage.

Why Should You Buy Mobile Home Insurance?

Mobile home insurance is important because it protects you from financial catastrophe if something happens to your mobile home.

While it is possible to self-insure, it can be incredibly expensive to do so. The average mobile home costs about $100,000, which is a lot to pay out of pocket if your mobile home gets damaged and can’t be repaired. Even if you can fix it up so it’s in livable condition, it can cost a lot of money.

That doesn’t include the value of things in the mobile home, like furniture, electronics, and personal belongings. You could be out hundreds of thousands if your mobile home and everything in it is a total loss.

Mobile home insurance also covers your liability if someone gets hurt on your property or if you damage someone else’s property. Depending on the extent of the injury or the damage, you could get sued for large sums. Having insurance to cover the potential cost of litigation can give you a lot of peace of mind.

Mobile home insurance costs a moderate amount each month and saves you from having to spend large quantities of cash out of pocket.

FAQs

These are some of the frequently asked questions about mobile and manufactured home insurance.

Who has the best mobile home insurance?

There are many different companies that provide mobile home insurance. Which provider is best for you will vary with your insurance needs. Some providers offer different types and levels of coverage. The best way to find the right policy for you is to do some comparison shopping. You can get quotes from multiple insurers and view the details of each company’s policy. That makes it easy to compare the details and the price of each policy.

Do you need mobile home insurance?

In most states, mobile home insurance isn’t required, but it’s a good idea. Mobile home insurance usually costs a few hundred to a bit over a thousand dollars per year. Repairing damages to your home or dealing with a lawsuit could cost tens or hundreds of thousands, so mobile home insurance is a good deal to keep yourself financially protected.

Can you insure older mobile homes?

Unlike traditional homes, mobile homes tend to lose value rather than gain value over time. This can make it hard to insure older mobile homes, but it’s still possible. Most insurers that offer mobile home insurance can work with you if you have an older mobile home, though you may need to accept some alterations to the basic policy, such as coverage limits and premiums.

Bottom Line

Mobile home insurance is a good way to protect your mobile home. There are many insurers to choose from and each offers different types and levels of coverage, so take the time to shop around and make sure you find the right insurer for your needs.