Virginia homeowners have to cope with a wide range of potential disasters, including hurricanes, floods, tornadoes and severe winter storms.
How do I get hurricane insurance in Virginia?
You’ll need two kinds of policies if you want to cover hurricane damage in Virginia:
Wind: Wind damage is covered under typical Virginia home insurance policies. But a policy might have a special wind and/or hurricane deductible, which is an amount deducted from any wind or hurricane-related home insurance claim. Check your policy to see what triggers the special deductible
Water: Homeowners insurance generally policies do not have coverage for water damage due to floods, including hurricane heavy rain and storm surges. Flood insurance is available from the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP).
What does Virginia home insurance cover?
A typical home insurance policy in Virginia includes six important coverage types:
- Dwelling coverage pays when a house damaged or destroyed by a problem covered by the policy, such as wind, lightning, fire or the weight of snow and ice.
- Other structures coverage pays for things not attached to a house, such as garages, fences and sheds.
- Personal property coverage pays for belongings that are damaged, stolen or destroyed.
- Loss of use coverage pays for additional living expenses if you can’t live at home due to damage, such as fire damage.
- Personal liability coverage pays if you are legally responsible for the property damage or injury of someone else. It also covers legal defense costs for liability lawsuits.
- Medical payments to others coverage pays the smaller medical bills of people injured on your property. It’s often in small coverage amounts such as $1,000 to $5,000.
How much is Virginia home insurance?
Virginia homeowners insurance costs an average of $966 a year for a typical policy, according to the National Association of Insurance Commissioners. The nationwide average is $1,192 a year.
20 largest Virginia homeowners insurance companies
| Rank in Virginia | Company | Market share % in the state |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | USAA | 17.87 |
| 2 | State Farm | 17.62 |
| 3 | Allstate Corp. | 8.69 |
| 4 | Travelers | 8.68 |
| 5 | Nationwide | 7.42 |
| 6 | Liberty Mutual | 5.82 |
| 7 | Erie Insurance | 5.62 |
| 8 | American Family Insurance | 3.37 |
| 9 | Farmers Insurance | 2.13 |
| 10 | VA Farm Bureau Federation | 2.08 |
| 11 | Chubb | 1.87 |
| 12 | Northern Neck Insurance Co. | 1.5 |
| 13 | Loudoun Mutual Insurance Co. | 1.48 |
| 14 | Assurant | 1.13 |
| 15 | Progressive | 0.99 |
| 16 | The Hartford | 0.91 |
| 17 | IAT Insurance | 0.77 |
| 18 | Donegal | 0.77 |
| 19 | QBE | 0.74 |
| 20 | Rockingham Insurance | 0.71 |
| Source: S&P Global Market Intelligence, based on homeowners multiple peril insurance market share in 2018. | ||
What if I can’t find Virginia home insurance?
Virginia residents who can’t find a company that will sell them home insurance can turn to the Virginia Property Insurance Association. Any licensed Virginia property/casualty insurance agent can help you apply for a policy through the association.