It’s important to have the right insurance on property in North Carolina, whether it’s for fire or a flood or hurricane winds.
What does North Carolina homeowners insurance cover?
A typical homeowners insurance policy in North Carolina will have these six components:
- Dwelling coverage pays if your house is damaged or destroyed by a problem covered by the homeowners policy.
- Personal property coverage pays if belongings (such as furniture, clothing and decorations) are damaged, stolen or destroyed.
- Other structures coverage pays for destroyed or damaged structures that are not attached to the house, such as detached garages, storage sheds and fences.
- Loss of use coverage pays additional living expenses (costs over the normal expenses) such as hotel and restaurant bills if you must temporarily move out because of damage to the house.
- Personal liability coverage pays to defend you in court against liability lawsuits and pays if you are legally responsible for someone else’s injury or property damage.
- Medical payments to others pays medical bills of people injured on your property. It can also pay for injuries that happen away from home that you’re legally responsible for.
If you have trouble finding insurance in a non-coastal area, you can buy a basic policy for windstorms, fire, lightning, vandalism and malicious mischief through the North Carolina Fair Plan. This is also called the “insurer of last resort.” It’s coverage for people who have been declined elsewhere.
Insurance for hurricanes in North Carolina
In non-coastal areas of North Carolina, homeowners insurance covers wind damage.
North Carolinians in all parts of the state need to buy a separate flood insurance policy for flood coverage. Your home insurance agent can help you find flood insurance either through the National Flood Insurance Program (federal flood insurance) or a private insurer. In fact, North Carolina insurance agents must complete flood education courses every four years.
Buying home insurance can get complicated along the coast and beach areas, where homeowners might have trouble finding insurance. An entity called the Coastal Property Insurance Pool (formerly the Beach Plan), helps these homeowners.
It sells coverage for commercial properties and also these policies for homeowners:
- Dwelling Fire (Beach Territories only).
- Homeowner (Beach and Coastal Territories).
- Dwelling Windstorm and Hail (Beach and Coastal Territories).
- Homeowner Windstorm and Hail (Beach and Coastal Territories).
- Crime (Beach Territories only).
See more information at the North Carolina Joint Underwriting Association website.
25 largest homeowners insurance companies in North Carolina
| Rank in North Carolina | Company | Market share % in North Carolina |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | State Farm | 17.85 |
| 2 | North Carolina Farm Bureau Insurance | 12.23 |
| 3 | Nationwide | 10.19 |
| 4 | USAA | 8.3 |
| 5 | Allstate Corp. | 6.63 |
| 6 | Erie Insurance | 5.61 |
| 7 | Liberty Mutual | 3.64 |
| 8 | Travelers | 3.11 |
| 9 | Auto-Owners Insurance | 3.02 |
| 10 | Farmers Insurance | 2.02 |
| 11 | American Family Insurance | 1.85 |
| 12 | MetLife | 1.62 |
| 13 | Universal Insurance Holdings Inc. | 1.57 |
| 14 | Assurant | 1.45 |
| 15 | Amica | 1.36 |
| 16 | UPC Insurance | 1.29 |
| 17 | The Cincinnati Insurance Cos. | 1.27 |
| 18 | Progressive | 1.23 |
| 19 | Chubb | 1.11 |
| 20 | Lighthouse Property Insurance Corp. | 1.08 |
| 21 | Penn National Insurance | 1.03 |
| 22 | Kemper | 0.98 |
| 23 | Munich Re | 0.96 |
| 24 | QBE | 0.84 |
| 25 | Central Insurance Cos. | 0.84 |
| Source: S&P Global Market Intelligence, bases on homeowners multi-peril insurance market share in 2018. | ||