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Openly home insurance review Sep 2020
Last updated:
Discover some of the widest protection you can buy for your high-dollar home.
- Get a quote if you need wide home protection or landlord insurance.
- Pick something else if you prefer an established company.
- Those with high-value homes qualify, although some standard homes are accepted.
AZ, IL, KY, PA, TN
Available states
24/7 claims
Online quotes
Details
Pros
- Guarantee your home’s replacement cost up to $5 million
- Opt for cash payment at full replacement cost if relocating elsewhere
- Choose from multiple independent agents to help find the right policy
- Enjoy peace of mind with claims backed by excellent finances
Cons
- Only homeowners with high-value homes qualify, along with a few standard homes
- Available in a handful of states
- Lack of clarity on website details
| New home discount discount | No |
|---|---|
| New homeowner discount | No |
| Home safety features discount | Yes |
| New policy discount | No |
| Bundling discount | No |
| No claims discount | Yes |
| Other discounts | Pay-in-full |
| Personal property coverage | Yes |
|---|---|
| Valuable personal property | Yes |
| Theft coverage | No |
| Fire coverage | Yes |
| Flood coverage | No |
| Identity theft coverage | Yes |
| Homesharing | Yes |
| Dwelling coverage | Yes |
Expert review
Review by
Sarah George
sarah.george@finder.comSarah George is a writer at Finder who unravels complicated topics about insurance, business and finance. She's been wordsmithing for nearly five years, after earning an English education degree. Her insurance know-how has been featured on CarInsurance.com. You can usually find Sarah sipping hot tea and talking through movie plots in her downtime.
Expert review
Openly poses an interesting plan for individuals owning expensive homes who need the fullest protection possible and offers some of the highest limits we’ve seen. It also throws in many free perks like roof-matching and ordinance coverage that takes pressure off when damage happens to your home.
The main downsides are its lack of experience since its new on the market and the limited number of states where you can buy a policy. We hope to see some improvement with clear details on its website so that customers don’t have to spend unnecessary time breaking down which coverage they have. For the details in easy-to-understand language, request a quote by email where you’ll receive a PDF with coverage details.
An Openly policy is worth a quote if you qualify and need robust protection. But if you want to compare multiple offers or don’t qualify, look at quotes from other home insurance companies too.
What home insurance coverage does Openly offer?
Openly’s policies come standard with a myriad of coverage types. You can expect to see this standard coverage, although Openly may offer higher limits than competitors:
| Type of coverage | What it does | Its limits |
|---|---|---|
| Liability | Pay for legal fees and costs of settling if someone sues you for injuries or damage to their belongings. | Up to policy limits |
| Medical payments to others | Pay for medical expenses if someone gets injured on your property. | $10,000 |
| Dwelling | Cover your home from a variety of damage from fire to vandalism. | Up to $5 million |
| Other structures | Protect other buildings on your property separate from your home, like a detached garage, shed or guest house. | Up to 100% of dwelling coverage limit, or the option to remove this coverage |
| Loss assessment | Cover damage to spaces shared with other owners, such as common areas around a condo. | Up to $100,000 |
| Personal contents | Cover items you own for all perils at your house or while traveling or storing them in a unit. Also, cover damage to guests’ belongings while on your property. | Up to 150% of dwelling coverage Property of others – up to $10,000 |
| Additional living expenses | Pay for living expenses above your normal costs if damage to your home forces you to relocate temporarily or permanently. | Not specified |
| Reasonable repairs | This includes temporary repairs you may make to protect your home from further damage. | Up to dwelling limits |
| Financial fraud | Protect yourself from liability or loss from credit card fraud or forgery. | Up to $10,000 |
You won’t find these types of coverage everywhere, and they don’t typically come standard with policies that offer them.
However, this coverage is included on most Openly policies:
| Type of coverage | What it does | Its limits |
|---|---|---|
| Guaranteed replacement cost | Repair or replace your home without worrying about depreciation or inflated construction costs. | Up to $5 million |
| Roof-matching | Make additional roof renovations for a consistent look alongside other covered home repairs. | Up to dwelling limits |
| Land stabilization | Pay to restore or restructure your land if it stabilizes your home. | $10,000 or 10% of the loss amount |
| Ordinance or law | This covers additional upgrades made to your home to meet new building codes or laws in your area. | Up to dwelling coverage limits |
| Water seepage | Pay for damage to your home or belongings from plumbing or HVAC system issues. | $20,000 |
| Mold | Remove mold, fungi, bacteria or dry rot from your property caused by damage covered on the policy. | $10,000 for removal, $50,000 for liability |
| Landscaping | Damage to plants or trees on your property is covered. | $5,000 per item, $50,000 per claim |
| Tree removal | Pay to remove fallen trees that have damaged your home or belongings or are blocking entrances. | $5,000 total for multiple trees or up to $5,000 for one tree |
| Lock replacement | Change out your home’s locks with no deductible after theft. | $2,000 |
| Fire department service charge | Reimburse the fire department’s fee when called for a possible fire. | Up to $5,000 |
| Landlord furnishings | Repair or replace appliances, carpet or furnishings for buildings on the property. This can mean buildings you rent from others or rent out to others. | $10,000 |
| Refrigerated property | Replace spoiled refrigerated items after a loss. | $5,000 with $500 deductible |
| Golf cart damage | Repair or replace damage to golf carts you use. | $7,500 per golf cart |
What additional add-ons does Openly offer?
You can also get extra protection for an additional cost, like coverage for:
- Buried utility lines. Repair damage to service lines on your property.
- Earthquake damage. Repair your own property or shared spaces after damage caused by an earthquake.
- Equipment breakdown. Pay for repairs to major appliances like your HVAC or water heater.
- Homesharing. Get extra coverage if you rent out rooms or buildings on home-sharing sites like Airbnb.
- Homes under construction. Make sure your brand new home stays protected during the building process.
- Landlord insurance. This separate policy covers property you rent out to tenants.
- Personal cyber insurance. Recover from a cyberattack and restore data or computer systems.
- Water backups. Coverage up to the full policy limit to repair damage caused by a water backup.
- Valuable items. Schedule valuables like jewelry or fine art under separate coverage or buy a policy with blanket high-dollar limits for any valuables you own.
What home insurance discounts can I get?
Openly doesn’t list any discounts on its website, but standard discounts include:
- Safety features discounts, for features like video surveillance, fire sprinklers or deadbolt locks
- Claim-free discount
- Pay-in-full discount
Pros and cons of Openly home insurance
Pros
- Broad coverage as standard. Openly promises wide protection and delivers that with robust standard coverage on policies that many competitors charge as add-ons. Also, its limits on most types of coverage are higher than what most of its competitors offer.
- Replacement cost in cash option. For total losses, you can get paid in cash at the current market’s replacement cost for your home if you want to buy or rebuild elsewhere. However, some states have different laws on how this works.
- Ample list of independent agents. You’ll find multiple choices for independent agents in areas where coverage is available. Agents match you with the right policy for you, whether it’s with Openly or not.
- Stable financial footing. It’s backed by an insurance company with an excellent financial rating from AM Best, showing Openly’s ability to pay your claims.
Cons
- Exclusive availability. Openly works through a selective base of independent agents, and not every homeowner qualifies for a policy.
- Limited service area. The company is available in Arizona, Illinois, Kentucky, Pennsylvania and Tennessee. It has plans to branch out to Georgia, Indiana, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Ohio, South Carolina and Wisconsin in the near future.
- Puffy marketing. We felt the company could use less marketing-speak on its website, with an abundance of words like premium or exclusive. Its nonspecific language forces customers to dig for specifics strewn in various places — one of our pet peeves.
- Needs more website explanation. While Openly presents its policies for anyone to see, you might not enjoy sifting through contractual language to find coverage details. We like to see coverage descriptions on a page easily accessible from the site’s homepage.
What’s not covered by this policy?
You’ll find a solid list of exclusions on the base policy that are standard with most insurance companies:
- Animals. You can’t use your policy for injuries to your pets or livestock.
- Buildings rented out and renters’ belongings. You won’t be covered for any separate buildings rented out to someone not living in your home, unless the building is only used as a garage. And, renters need separate insurance to cover their belongings, unless your renters are related.
- Business use. Damage to buildings used for business or to belongings owned by a business aren’t covered, including lost business data and important papers.
- Certain vehicles. Vehicles like cars, motorcycles, RVs or aircraft that require registration to use them on public roads aren’t covered.
- Earth movement or flooding. Damage from earthquakes, sinkholes, rain or storm surges isn’t covered on a standard policy.
- Intentional damage, neglect or wear and tear.
- Land. Damage to the land your home or other structures are built on isn’t covered.
- Mold. Damage caused by mold isn’t covered unless it’s caused by water damage listed on the policy.
- Most government actions, war or nuclear hazards.
- Pollutant testing or cleanup.
- Power outages.
Openly home insurance reviews and complaints
Openly offers policies through Rock Ridge Insurance Company, which holds an A- (Excellent) financial rating with AM Best. Rock Ridge received a 0 on the National Association of Insurance Commissioners complaint index, while the national average rating is 1, showing fewer complaints than average for insurance companies. We checked these ratings on July 9, 2020.
However, Rock Ridge is part of Clear Blue Insurance Group, which holds an F rating with the Better Business Bureau (BBB), as of July 2020. The rating reflects its lack of response to several active customer complaints about customer service, claims and wanting to cancel coverage as a result.
But the complaints don’t show that Rock Ridge Insurance was involved, and only eight customers have complained about Clear Blue in the past three years.
How to apply for Openly home insurance
Apply for coverage through an independent agent, although you can receive a quote by phone or online. For a quote:
- Call. Talk to a representative at 833-467-3659.
- Email. Request a personalized quote at quotes@openly.com.
- Chat. Use Openly’s live chat for a quick answer online.
- Independent agent. Use the agent locator to search for an agent near your home, then call them up or visit in person.
What info do I need to apply?
Get started with this basic information:
- Name
- Address
- Phone number
- Preferred contact method
- Date of birth
- Preferred agency