USAA Home Insurance Review: A+ Coverage for Military Families – Policygenius (2024)

The bottom line

USAA is the best home insurance option on the market for active duty military members, veterans, and their families, consistently scoring the best in J.D. Power’s customer and claims satisfaction studies, and scoring near the top of its digital experience study.

A couple reasons why USAA is so highly rated by its customers? It offers numerous high-quality coverages at a rate that doesn’t break the bank. A few coverage highlights include extended dwelling coverage, coverage for military uniforms, higher limits on valuable items, and replacement cost reimbursem*nts for personal property loss which comes standard on USAA policies.

Pros

• Affordable rates

• Over a dozen additional coverage options

• Industry-best customer service and claims satisfaction ratings

Cons

• Limited to people affiliated with the U.S. military

Basic coverages offered

USAA home insurance policies include these six basic coverages to safeguard your home, belongings, and personal liability:

• Dwelling: Pays to rebuild or repair the structure of your home, such as the roof, floors, walls, built-in appliances, and any structures attached to the home.

• Other structures: Pays to rebuild or repair additional structures on your property that aren’t attached to your home, like a detached garage or gardening shed.

• Personal property: Covers the costs of repairing or replacing your personal belongings, such as furniture, clothes, electronics, and any other possessions you own.

• Loss of use: Helps cover the cost of hotel stays, restaurant meals, pet boarding costs, and other temporary living expenses while your house is being rebuilt or repaired after a covered loss.

• Personal liability: Covers medical and legal expenses in the event you’re legally responsible for an accidental injury or property damage.

• Medical payments: Pays for guests’ medical expenses if they’re injured in your home, regardless of who is at fault.

Additional coverages offered

The following additional coverages are either included or can be added to your USAA homeowners insurance policy for an additional cost:

• Extended replacement cost: As part of USAA’s Home Protector coverage endorsem*nt, this increases the coverage on your home an additional 25% in the event your house is destroyed and the cost to rebuild exceeds the dwelling coverage in your policy.

• Increased ordinance or law: While most standard policies come with a limited amount of ordinance or law coverage to cover the costs of higher rebuild costs due to changes to the building code, USAA’s Home Protector endorsem*nt increases these limits an additional amount.

• Additional debris removal expenses: Debris removal costs are generally covered as part of your policy’s dwelling coverage, but these costs come with a relatively low limit — usually 5% of your home’s insured value. With USAA Home Protector, this coverage is extended an additional amount.

• Replacement cost personal property: Covers the cost of replacing stolen or damaged personal belongings without deducting depreciation from your claim reimbursem*nt. This coverage is standard on USAA home insurance policies, meaning you don’t need to pay extra for it.

• Home-sharing: If you rent out a home or room in your house on a short-term rental website like Airbnb, a basic home insurance policy likely won’t cover the costs if a guest destroys or steals your property. With USAA’s home-sharing coverage, losses related to your short-term rental are covered.

• Identity fraud: If your identity is used fraudulently, this provides up to $5,000 in coverage for legal expenses, lost wages, and other costs you incur while restoring your identity.

• Military uniform: If you’re an active-duty member of the military, USAA won’t charge you a deductible for covered losses to your military uniform or equipment while you’re on active duty.

• Computer: If you spill something on or drop your laptop, desktop computer, or tablet, this coverage will cover the cost of replacement or repairs after you meet the $250 deductible.

• Cell phone: Provides additional coverage if you lose your smartphone, drop it, or someone steals it.

• Flood insurance: USAA offers flood insurance through the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP), the main provider of flood insurance in the U.S.

• Umbrella insurance: If you have a liability claim that’s higher than your liability coverage limit, this kicks in to cover the rest of the costs. If you have assets valued at more than $500,000 (the maximum liability coverage limit on most home insurance policies), you’ll want to consider a personal umbrella policy.

• Valuable personal property insurance: A separate insurance policy offered by USAA that provides higher coverage limits for your valuables worth $100 or more. Additionally, it extends coverage on these items to cover lost and accidentally damaged or broken property anywhere in the world — with no out-of-pocket deductible.

• Earthquake insurance: Residents of high-risk areas in California can purchase separate California Earthquake Authority (CEA) earthquake insurance through USAA.

Ratings methodology

USAA vs. other home insurance companies

Compare USAA to similar homeowners insurance companies using the table below.

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