Read this guide for help choosing the best insurance policy for your mobile or manufactured home based on your specific needs.
6 Best Mobile Home Insurance Companies of April 2024
via our trusted partner QuoteWizard
A mobile home, also known as a manufactured home, can have unique advantages over a traditional home or condo, such as lower purchase prices and flexibility in your home’s location. However, it usually requires a unique form of insurance rather than a standard homeowners insurance policy since it has significant structural differences.
At the Guides Home Team, we have analyzed the top homeowners insurance companies on the market and compared their mobile home insurance policies to help you find the best one for you and your manufactured home.
Top 6 Best Mobile Home Insurance Companies
After in-depth research, we found the following to be the best mobile home insurance providers:
- Allstate: Our overall pick
- State Farm: Our pick for new homeowners
- Liberty Mutual: Our pick for discounts
- American Family: Offers helpful online resources
- Farmers: Most customizable
- Progressive: Our pick for bundling
*AM Best Ratings accurate as of April 2024
Is Manufactured Home Insurance Worth It?
You may find buying mobile home insurance worth the price for protection against damage from various events, including fires, storms, theft, vandalism and more. A policy also provides coverage for personal liability and loss of personal items.
If you own your mobile home, you do not have to buy mobile home insurance. However, if you finance your mobile home, your mortgage lender will likely require you to carry coverage. Some mobile home communities also mandate that residents have insurance in place.
What Does Mobile Home Insurance Cover?
Mobile home insurance is most similar to a regular homeowners insurance policy, which has dwelling, personal property and liability coverage. Mobile or manufactured home insurance typically has adjusted coverage levels to match the value of the mobile home. A standard home insurance policy is not the same as a manufactured home policy. A traditional home insurance policy is considered an HO-3 while a manufactured home is considered an HO-7.
Here are those common types of coverage and what they each mean:
- Dwelling coverage: This is the amount the provider will pay for your mobile home’s structural repairs or replacements. It’s typically equal to the total replacement cost of the home so that it can be fully rebuilt if a covered peril ever damages it.
- Personal property coverage: This is the amount dedicated to paying for your personal belongings, such as your furniture, clothes and electronics, if they’re ever damaged, ruined, lost or stolen during a covered event.
- Liability coverage: This coverage pays for legal fees or medical costs you could be held responsible for if someone visiting your mobile home gets injured.
- Medical payments to others: This helps pay for the medical bills of guests in your home that get injured even when it’s not your responsibility.
- Loss of use coverage: This coverage is commonly known as additional living expenses (ALE) coverage. It covers expenses you could incur if your mobile or manufactured home is deemed uninhabitable after a covered peril. Your provider will pay these expenses while your home is being repaired or rebuilt.
- Other structures coverage: You can purchase this coverage type if your property has structures you’d like covered under your policy that aren’t connected to your mobile home, such as a fence or a backyard shed.
These coverages can be accessed during a claim from a wide range of covered events or perils, such as a fire, snowstorm, severe thunderstorm, burglary or theft. You can also typically add coverage from most providers for identity theft protection and replacement cost coverage, but each provider offers its own unique array of endorsement options.
Mobile home insurance, also called an HO-7 policy, will typically not cover the home while it is in transit. We recommend looking for endorsements to enhance the coverage of your policy or temporary trip insurance if you plan to relocate.
How Much Does Mobile Home Insurance Cost?
The average mobile home insurance cost ranges between $700 and $1,600 per year, based on our research. The exact cost of your policy will differ by company, so we recommend comparing quotes from multiple insurers. Generally, insurers determine your rates by looking at several factors:
- Your location: The ZIP code of your mobile home’s primary location affects your premium based on related environmental hazards, such as storm risks. Location also determines average materials and labor costs for repairs in your area.
- Model year: The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) enacted the Manufactured Home Construction and Safety Standards in 1976, establishing regulations for manufactured homes. Your insurer may charge more for mobile homes built before 1976 due to looser construction regulations during earlier eras. While insurers can charge more for mobile homes built before 1976, there are no age restrictions for insurance coverage. However, newer manufactured homes are usually cheaper to insure because they are less likely to need repairs after a covered peril.
- Claims history: If you filed a homeowners insurance claim within the past five years, your mobile home insurance policy will likely be more expensive than someone with a clean claims history.
- Credit score: When getting a quote for your mobile home, the insurance company may ask you for your Social Security number to run a credit check. Your resulting credit score may affect your rate.
- Discounts: Many insurers offer discounts to homeowners with home security systems, smoke, alarms, fire alarms, paperless billing, annual billing and more.
- Policy customization: You can often customize your policy to fit your budget. This can include adjusting your liability coverage limits and deductible, which can lower your premium depending on your selections.
Frequently Asked Questions about Mobile Home Insurance
The insurance policy you purchase for a mobile home is the same for a manufactured home. Mobile homes are often referred to as manufactured homes interchangeably, but the primary difference relates to which year they were made.
Mobile homes are manufactured homes built before June 15, 1976. All homes constructed in a factory and transported to their primary location after that date are officially referred to as manufactured homes.
According to home insurance data sourced in partnership with Quadrant Information Services, home insurance costs around $2,511 annually. However, you can expect your mobile home insurance policy to be lower since it usually requires significantly lower dwelling coverage limits than regular homeowners insurance.
Mobile home insurance policies are not legally mandated, but if you currently have a loan on the property, you may be required by your lender to have some insurance coverage. Check your loan agreement or speak with your lender to determine how much coverage may be required before purchasing a home insurance policy on your mobile or manufactured home.
Like regular homeowners insurance, standard mobile home insurance policies from any provider don’t cover damage from floods. However, some providers, such as Allstate and State Farm, may be able to provide policies from the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) through their agents if you wish to purchase extra coverage.
No, modular homes can typically qualify for standard homeowners insurance since they’re put together at the home site and built on a permanent foundation rather than built in a factory, like a manufactured or mobile home.
While there is no holistic cut off for the oldest mobile homes that can be insured, there are more costs associated with homes that are older than the 1976 cut off date due to safety reasons set up by The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).
Methodology: How We Chose the Best Homeowners Insurance Companies
If you have questions about this page, please reach out to our editors at editors@marketwatchguides.com.