It’s important to have the right insurance in if you own property in South Carolina. While homeowners insurance covers many potential problems, such as fire and theft, it likely won’t be enough if your home is damaged by floods or hurricane winds. Here’s how to get the right coverage.
How do I get hurricane insurance in South Carolina?
You’ll need two types of policies if you want to cover hurricanes:
Wind: Wind damage is covered under South Carolina home insurance policies for people who don’t live on the coast. But policies for coastal homeowners often exclude wind and hail damage. Coastal homeowners who can’t find insurance on the private market can turn to the South Carolina Wind and Hail Underwriting Association, also called the “Wind Pool.”
The Wind Pool serves homeowners who live along the “Beach,” which is an area officially defined by state law.
Water: Homeowners insurance policies typically do not provide coverage for water damage due to floods, including hurricane storm surges and heavy rain. Instead, you can find flood insurance from the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP).
What does South Carolina homeowners insurance cover?
A standard homeowners policy in South Carolina has six main coverage types, with additional options available:
- Dwelling: Coverage for a house damaged or destroyed by a problem covered by the policy, such as a fire, lightning, explosion or vandalism.
- Other structures: Coverage that pays for damaged garages, storage sheds, fences and other structures not attached to the house.
- Personal property: Coverage for all belongings such as furniture, clothing and toys, due to damage or theft.
- Loss of use: Coverage for additional living expenses if you can’t live at home due to damage.
- Personal liability: Coverage if you’re legally responsible for someone else’s injury or property damage. It also covers defense costs if you’re sued.
- Medical payments to others: For medical bills of people hurt on your property.
Who has the cheapest home insurance in South Carolina?
Chubb has the cheapest home insurance in South Carolina, based on data from the South Carolina insurance department. We analyzed the department’s survey of home insurance premiums to find the averages below. Among the companies in the rate survey, here are the 10 cheapest, on average.
| Rank | Company | Average annual premium |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Chubb National Insurance Co. | $874 |
| 2 | American Strategic Insurance (Progressive) | $904 |
| 3 | United Property & Casualty | $953 |
| 4 | Trumbull Insurance | $1,060 |
| 5 | Universal Property & Casualty | $1,137 |
| 6 | AIG Property Casualty | $1,178 |
| 7 | Amica Mutual insurance | $1,195 |
| 8 | Allstate Vehicle and Property Insurance | $1,265 |
| 9 | South Carolina Farm Bureau Mutual | $1,423 |
| 10 | United Services Automobile Association | $1,455 |
| Source: South Carolina Department of Insurance, based on rates for a frame house that’s one to 34 years old, insured for $200,000, for a homeowner with good credit and no claims. Averages for other types of houses and homeowners will be different. We chose 10 counties at random and averaged rates from the companies in the survey that had rates for a majority of the counties we chose. | ||
20 largest South Carolina homeowners insurance companies
| Rank in South Carolina | Company | Market share % in the state |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | State Farm | 20.35 |
| 2 | Allstate Corp. | 9.81 |
| 3 | USAA | 9.08 |
| 4 | Travelers | 5.58 |
| 5 | Liberty Mutual | 4.83 |
| 6 | Nationwide | 4.76 |
| 7 | SC Farm Bureau Federation | 3.72 |
| 8 | Auto-Owners Insurance | 2.84 |
| 9 | UPC Insurance | 2.7 |
| 10 | Farmers Insurance | 2.69 |
| 11 | AIG | 2.18 |
| 12 | Progressive | 1.98 |
| 13 | Assurant | 1.74 |
| 14 | PURE | 1.63 |
| 15 | Munich Re | 1.55 |
| 16 | American Family Insurance | 1.5 |
| 17 | Chubb | 1.48 |
| 18 | IAT Insurance | 1.39 |
| 19 | Universal Group Inc. | 1.36 |
| 20 | Southern Fidelity Insurance Co | 1.3 |
| Source: S&P Global Market Intelligence, based on homeowners multiple peril insurance market share in 2018. | ||