Liberty Mutual Home Protector Plus Review

Liberty Mutual is now offering its “Home Protector Plus™ program” (Liberty Mutual Home Protector Plus form fmho-1183), which, after careful review, is a home insurance policy that offers the same basic types of homeowners insurance as just about every other standard home insurance company in the United States.

Through Home Protector Plus, Liberty Mutual offers expanded coverage, Personal Property Replacement Service, Additional Living Expense coverage, and more. All of which we cover in this Liberty Mutual Home Protector Plus Review.

When it comes to purchasing insurance these days, it is all about marketing. The insurance products are all relatively similar, so you have got to be pretty creative when separating yourself from the “other guys” out there. It looks like the Liberty Mutual Home Protector Plus program is the latest example of advertising that does this well.

All that said, let’s take a look at this program to see whether or not Liberty Mutual stands out in the insurance marketplace as the best option for you and whether or not an affordable Liberty Mutual Home Protector Plus policy is available to you.

Before deciding whether or not to buy Liberty Mutual Home Protector Plus, compare some rates. Simply type your ZIP code into the FREE quote tool to compare home insurance rates in your area.

What is Liberty Mutual Home Protector Plus & what do you get with it?

The purpose of this Liberty Mutual Home Protector Plus review is to focus on the actual coverage benefits and features of the product you are considering for purchase, instead of getting caught up in the gimmicks. What does Liberty Mutual Homeowners Insurance cover? In addition to your standard insurance plan, the Liberty Mutual Home Protector Plus endorsement serves as a rider, providing you extra coverage in the event of an accident.

So, what are we really looking at here? Let’s break down the highlights of a Liberty Mutual standard policy with  Home Protector Plus added on to determine if it is indeed a “plus.”

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Expanded coverage

Replacement cost home insurance policies are typically mandatory if you have a mortgage. While many people feel their home is insured for way too much, the reality is that rebuilding your home and purchasing everything you own is probably much more expensive than you may think. The benefit of having replacement cost vs. actual cash value is that though you pay more for a replacement cost policy, you will get more money out of it in the event of an accident.

Liberty Mutual is offering expanded coverage for your home as part of this program. You may have heard of this referred to as extended replacement cost or increased replacement cost on dwelling.

This coverage basically adds anywhere from 15 percent to 100 percent extra coverage (beyond what your home’s value is listed for on the declarations page) to rebuild your home in the event of a total loss, assuming your expenses to do so are more than what you are covered for.

Personal property replacement service

Replacement cost for your personal possessions, listed as “Contents” on your declarations page, is also offered on this program…as it is on nearly every home insurance policy sold today. In fact, if you don’t already have this on your current policy, you may want to fire your agent.

While this coverage is entirely common, be sure not to give it up when calling your “chain” captive agent to reduce your insurance premium. Removing this coverage and/or increasing your deductible is one of the ways you can reduce a home insurance premium, however, this method is not recommended.

An actual benefit to Liberty Mutual’s Home Protector Plus is its Personal Property Replacement Service, which is a service designed to help you replace your damaged property after a loss.

Of course, just like auto insurers who have preferred vendors to repair cars, Liberty Mutual likely has agreements with several companies to get your replacement items at a much lower cost than if you were to go out and buy them yourself.

However, this is a good thing because the more money Liberty Mutual saves on paying out insurance claims, the cheaper its homeowners insurance rates will be in the future. As long as you get your stuff replaced, you should not really care either way.

Additional living expense

Again, nothing earth-shattering here. Additional Living Expense coverage is a basic piece of the standard homeowners insurance policy. No matter who your insurer is, you will likely see this coverage listed as “Coverage D” on your current declarations page. It may also be referred to as “Loss of Use” coverage.

This is the coverage that provides money to you for the increased cost of living you would incur as a result of a covered property loss.

For example, your mortgage may be $1,000 per month, but if your house burnt down, you may have to spend $1,500 per month to live in a hotel. This coverage pays the difference between the two, or the extra $500.

It is not designed to pay all of your bills, as your insurance company expects you to go on with your life after the loss, and continue working and paying most of your bills as you were.

Most insurers provide anywhere from 15 percent of your Coverage A Dwelling amount for this coverage, up to two full years of additional living expenses on a basic policy form.

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24-hour emergency repairs

Now we are on to something that not every insurer offers. Claims do not typically happen between 9-5 when most companies are open, and when they do occur, you are not likely to be the world’s foremost expert on who to contact to get immediate repairs made.

Enter Home Protector Plus. Liberty Mutual has a 24/7/365 emergency services program you can access to get the immediate help you need in the event of a covered claim. This service is not available in all states, so be sure to ask them if your state participates in this program.

24-hour claims assistance

Believe it or not, not every insurer has a 24-hour claims assistance hotline. Some insurers require you to leave a message on Saturday afternoon if your water heater blows a pipe and dumps 30 gallons of hot water in your utility closet.

While this may seem shocking or appalling to you, keep in mind that your homeowners policy requires you to take the first steps when you have property loss.

And they do not have teleportation devices that allow them to show up at your home at 2:30 am Sunday morning to make repairs or bring you a bag of cash to give to a repair company.

A few well-placed phone calls to the types of companies that fix water heaters will have someone at your home quickly to make repairs. These companies know the drill and will typically only ask to see a copy of your insurance declarations and/or a credit card number to begin fixing whatever went wrong.

Contractor network referral program

That said, Liberty Mutual’s Contractor Network Referral Program may be a massive benefit to you, as it will be able to make some of the arrangements for your repairs with contractors they know and trust.

You certainly do not have to use one of the company’s contractors, but it does sweeten the pot by offering a one-year guarantee of workmanship if you do.

Again, this is not available in all states so be sure to ask when you are on the phone with them.

As with purchasing a standard homeowners insurance policy, we recommend shopping around and researching your top three companies and/or products. This will allow you to not only know that what you are investing in will have a good return, but also that you are not spending more than you what is necessary.

The Insurance Information Institute lists a few additional ways to keep your home insurance premiums to a minimum including staying with the same insurer and seeking out insurance discounts.

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How to make a claim through Liberty Mutual

There are a few ways that you can make a home insurance claim through Liberty Mutual, including online via the company’s website, on the go via the mobile app, over the phone, and in person. It is preferred that you file a home insurance claim through Liberty Mutual’s online claims service. It is open 24/7 and is a very quick and simple process.

Liberty Mutual contact information

If you are interested in more information or would like to take your next steps with purchasing Liberty Mutual Home Protector Plus, here is some of the company’s basic contact information to get you started.

• Liberty Mutual Customer Support phone number: 1.800.290.8711
• Claims phone number: 1.800.225.2467

You can also connect with Liberty Mutual through the company’s website. On their website, you can get a quote, file and track claims, pay your bill, and learn about insurance basics. But if you want to speak with an insurance agent, just enter your ZIP code and find someone near you.

What Liberty Mutual home insurance coverage & discounts are available?

Liberty Mutual offers a variety of home insurance policies in addition to its auto and business insurance policies. Some of the standard policies offered as a part of Liberty Mutual’s home insurance coverage includes:

• Dwelling
• Personal Liability
• Wind/Hail
• Medical payments
• Additional living expenses
• Personal property
• Other structures

You can customize your policy and choose to add on additional coverage such as hurricane, property replacement cost coverage, and water backup coverage to your standard policy if you feel that you need them. Moreover, you can add other types of coverage such as identity theft insurance, blanket jewelry coverage, inflation protection, escape of water coverage.

Liberty Mutual also offers a wide variety of discounts that will help lower your home insurance premiums. Some of the company’s discounts include:

• Claims-Free: having not filed an insurance claim with your previous insurance carrier for 5 or more years
• Safe Homeowner: being claim-free for 3 years after signing with Liberty Mutual
• Early Shopper: quoting with Liberty Mutual prior to the expiration of your old policy
• Multi-Policy
• Paperless Policy,
• Bundling home and auto insurance,
• Insuring the full cost to replace your home,
• Enrolling in auto pay to make automatic payments for your premiums,
• Having a new roof
• and more.

Liberty Mutual makes it easy for you to get home insurance quotes through the company and will work with you to make sure your premiums and coverage fit your needs.

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What are the Liberty Mutual home insurance ratings & rates?

Knowing how an insurance company ranks with reliable ranking organizations is incredibly helpful when deciding on which one to purchase insurance from. Liberty Mutual has an A ranking with AM Best, a credit rating agency for insurance companies in the United States.

Also, in a J.D. Power Home Insurance Study from 2019, Liberty Mutual Home Insurance received 792 points out of 1,000 points for its overall customer satisfaction in homeowners insurance.

Here are a few of the top home insurance companies’ sample yearly rates in Denver, Co for homes valued between $200,000 and $250,000.

Out of this list, Nationwide is the only company that did not have sample rates available for Denver, CO.

What are the benefits of Liberty Mutual home insurance?

One of the best benefits to Liberty Mutual Home Insurance is that it offers a wide variety of discounts that help lower your insurance premiums considerably. The company will work with you to make sure you are getting the right coverage for a decent price.

Liberty Mutual’s online quoting process is quick, easy, and professional. The company’s online claims process is similar, offering 24/7 assistance when filing claims online. The website also includes access to the Liberty Mutual mobile app, online quoting, online bill payments, online claims process, and more.

The mobile app is available for both iOS and Android and lets you sign documents electronically, pay bills, file claims, sign up for autopay, and check policy information.

However, it is important to note that Liberty Mutual does not have great customer reviews and received mediocre overall customer satisfaction rankings from J.D. Power’s 2019 Home Insurance Study.

Liberty Mutual Home Protector Plus Review: In a nutshell

There are definitely a few advantages to Liberty Mutual’s Home Protector Plus program, none of which are unheard of among other insurers.

But be sure to do your due diligence when shopping for home insurance (or any other type of insurance for that matter).

A 24-hour emergency service hotline may not be worth paying an extra $200 per year for home insurance coverage, especially if you never get a chance to use it.

As we learned from the Home Protector Plus, it might just be basic policy coverage advertised to appear like something more.

So at the end of the day, make sure you are actually getting something worthwhile for your money, not just a fancy name.

To help evaluate the bells and whistles each insurer offers, we recommend that you speak to a local independent home insurance agent after gathering several insurance quotes online. To help narrow this process down, Enter your ZIP code into the quote box for a free quote now. Enter your ZIP code into our FREE online tool for instant home insurance quotes in your area.

References:

• https://www.iii.org/article/how-to-save-money-on-your-homeowners-insurance

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