If you own property in Montana, you want to be aware of the potential hazards that insurance can cover.
Montana homeowners might have to contend with wildfires, floods, tornadoes and earthquakes. Homeowners insurance is crucial coverage, but it may not be sufficient.
What insurance do you need for these disasters?
- Home insurance covers wildfires and wind, such as tornadoes.
- Flood insurance for floods, such as floods from heavy rain or an overflowing stream.
- Earthquake insurance for quake damage. Western Montana, especially, sees a lot of seismic activity.
How do I get insurance for earthquakes in Montana?
Montana is a very seismically active state, although most quakes are very small and not felt. The Intermountain Seismic Belt is an active earthquake area that runs along the Rocky Mountains.
Earthquake insurance is available from many home insurance companies as an add-on, or endorsement. Ask you home insurance agent if your company offers an earthquake endorsement.
How do I get Montana flood insurance?
In May 2019, heavy rains caused major flooding in Augusta, Montana, and closed roads. Unfortunately that’s the kind of flooding generally not covered by homeowners insurance.
Flood insurance is available through the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP), and any licensed Montana home insurance agent can help you get an NFIP policy.
What does Montana home insurance cover?
A standard Montana home insurance policy has these main coverage types, and you can buy additional options such as sewer back-up coverage, home-based business insurance and more.
- Dwelling: For a house damaged by fire, tornado, wind, falling objects, vandalism and more.
- Other structures: For damaged structures that aren’t attached to a house, such as a garage, storage shed or fence.
- Personal property: For all your belongings that are stolen or damaged, including clothes, TVs and furniture.
- Loss of use: For additional living expenses you have to pay if you can’t live at home due to damage covered by the policy.
- Personal liability: For cases where you’re legally responsible for someone else’s injury or damaged property.
- Medical payments to others: For medical bills of people injured on your property, typically in small amounts such as $1,000 of coverage. (Bigger injury bills can be paid under liability insurance.)
How much is Montana home insurance?
The average Missouri homeowners insurance premium is $1,130 a year for a typical policy, called an HO-3, according to the National Association of Insurance Commissioners. That’s about the same as the nationwide average of $1,192 a year.
20 largest Missouri homeowners insurance companies
| Rank in Montana | Company | Market share % in the state |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | State Farm | 24.31 |
| 2 | Liberty Mutual | 16.73 |
| 3 | Farmers Insurance | 13.19 |
| 4 | Mountain West Farm Bureau Mutual Insurance Co. | 7.63 |
| 5 | USAA | 6.14 |
| 6 | Travelers | 5.07 |
| 7 | Allstate Corp. | 3.29 |
| 8 | Farmers Union Mutual Insurance Co. (MT) | 2.91 |
| 9 | Chubb | 2.47 |
| 10 | The Hartford | 2.4 |
| 11 | Nationwide | 1.57 |
| 12 | CSAA Insurance Exchange | 1.3 |
| 13 | Farmers Alliance Cos. | 1.26 |
| 14 | American Family Insurance | 1.26 |
| 15 | AIG | 1.1 |
| 16 | Munich Re | 0.96 |
| 17 | The Cincinnati Insurance Cos. | 0.83 |
| 18 | MetLife | 0.78 |
| 19 | PURE | 0.74 |
| 20 | QBE | 0.66 |
| Source: S&P Global Market Intelligence, based on homeowners multiple peril insurance market share in 2018. | ||
What if I can’t find Montana home insurance?
The Missouri Fair Plan may be able to provide basic home insurance if you’re unable to find it on the private market. Any licensed Missouri property/casualty insurance agent can help you apply to the Fair Plan if you’ve been turned down by other companies.