A typical mobile home insurance policy covers your home and personal belongings, and pays for medical expenses if someone is hurt on your property. Because mobile and manufactured homes are different from traditional houses, a standard home insurance policy won’t cover a mobile home.
Mobile home insurance generally includes these essential coverage types:
- Property, including your mobile home and possessions.
- Liability, for damages or injuries to others that members of your household are legally responsible for.
- Medical payments to others, for small injuries to guests on your property.
- Loss of use, which reimburses extra living expenses if you can’t live in your mobile home because of a problem covered by the policy, like a tornado or fire.
Mobile home insurance is sometimes called “manufactured home insurance.” A typical policy covers the structure of the mobile home and your personal property from problems known as “perils”:
- Fire or lightning.
- Windstorm or hail.
- Explosion.
- Riot or civil commotion.
- Falling objects.
- Vehicles.
- Smoke.
- Theft.
- Volcanic eruption.
- Vandalism.
- Weight of snow, ice or sleet.
- Freezing of pipes (but not if you turned the heat off and left home).
EverQuote examined several mobile home insurance policies to find common coverage rules. Mobile home insurance also generally covers:
- Other structures (like sheds or stand-alone garages).
- Debris removal for damage covered by the policy.
- Damage during emergency removal of the structure, if it was moved to prevent damage that would also be covered by the policy.
- A loss assessment that you have to pay to a homeowners or residential association, if the problem is covered by the policy.
- Trees, plants, shrubs and lawn if the damage is caused by certain problems, such as fire, explosion, vandalism, aircraft and vehicles owned by other people.
Some belongings could have special limits on coverage. Check your policy for specifics. Here are some common limits we found:
- $250 on cash and coins.
- $500 for food in refrigerators or freezers.
- $1,500 on watercraft.
- $2,500 for theft of jewelry, watches, gems and furs.
- $2,500 for theft of silverware and goldware.
- $2,500 for theft of guns.
- $500 for a fire department service charge, unless you live within the town limits of the fire department providing the service.
Mobile home insurance generally won’t pay for damage or other costs due to problems such as:
- “Ordinance” or law, such as a law that requires you to clean up pollutants.
- Confiscation or destruction of your stuff by a civil authority.
- Nuclear hazard.
- War and military action.
- Neglect, meaning your failure to save property at the time of damage.
- Earth movement such as earthquakes, landslides and erosion.
- Water damage such as floods and storm surge.
- Water that backs up through sewers or drains or overflows from a sump pump.
- Power failure if the cause was not on your property.
- Intentional damage you cause.
- Bacteria, fungi or rot.
- Contact with a transporting vehicle or collision with another vehicle while the mobile home is in transit.
Your insurer might offer add-on coverage, called endorsements, that fills gaps for some of the exclusions listed above. These extras include:
- Mechanical breakdown coverage for appliances.
- Sewer backup coverage.
- Earthquake insurance.
- Extra coverage for computers.
- Identity fraud for the expenses required to restore your identity.
- “Scheduled personal property” coverage, which lets you insure valuable items for their full value, such as artwork, furs, jewelry and musical instruments.
- Various coverage types for business liability and business property.
- Golf cart coverage.
Additional mobile home insurance coverage
| Flood insurance | Flood insurance needs to be purchased as a separate policy. Your insurance agent can help you find a policy. |
|---|---|
| Agreed loss settlement | If your mobile home is destroyed, this coverage will pay the full amount of insurance you’ve purchased on the home, minus the deductible. For example, if you bought $75,000 worth of insurance and the home is destroyed, the policy will pay this amount to cover replacement. |
| Replacement cost for contents | You’ll be reimbursed for brand-new items similar to the ones destroyed, such as furniture and clothes. |
| Trip collision coverage | Covers damage to the mobile home while it’s being moved. |
What's the difference between mobile, manufactured and modular homes?
Generally, both the terms “mobile home” and “manufactured home” refer to factory-built home. The biggest difference is the name itself. A factory-built home prior to June 15, 1976, is a mobile home and one built after that date is considered a manufactured home, according to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.
Mobile and manufactured homes are often:
- Built in a factory and transported to the property where they are set up.
- Built on a metal frame as opposed to a basement or crawlspace.
- Have tie downs instead of a permanent foundation.
Mobile and manufactured homes are not the same as modular homes. While modular homes are also built in factories, they are usually delivered in two or more pieces and built over crawlspaces or basements like traditional houses. Modular homes are typically insured with a traditional homeowners insurance policy.
How much does it cost to insure a mobile home?
The cost to insure a mobile home will depend on several factors, including the value of the mobile home, its age, its location, and the size, materials and safety features in it. The cost to insure a mobile home generally ranges from $300 to $1,000 a year, according to Trusted Choice, a trade group for independent insurance agents.
Does AARP insure mobile homes?
AARP offers mobile home insurance from Foremost, but it’s not available in the District of Columbia, Hawaii or U.S. territories such as Puerto Rico. AARP mobile home insurance from Foremost offers property and liability coverage, along with optional coverage types like additional living expenses, mobile home replacement cost coverage, and trip coverage when you’re moving the mobile home.
Who will insure mobile homes?
Here are some mobile home insurance companies:
- Aegis Security Insurance Co.
- Alfa Insurance Corp.
- Allstate Indemnity Co.
- American Bankers Insurance Co. of Florida
- American Family Home Insurance Co.
- American Modern Select Insurance Co.
- American Reliable Insurance Co.
- Auto-Owners Insurance Co.
- Citizens Property Insurance Corp. (Florida only)
- Erie Insurance Co.
- Foremost Property & Casualty Insurance Co.
- Maison Insurance Co.
- Markel American Insurance Co.
- Metropolitan Property & Casualty Co.
- Mt. Morris Mutual Insurance Co.
- North Star Mutual Insurance Co.
- Shelter Mutual Insurance Co.
- State Farm Fire and Casualty Co.