Openly Home Insurance Review 2024

Openly home insurance review

Openly homeowners insurance earned 4.5 out of 5 stars for overall performance. Openly sells premium coverage primarily to owners of high-value homes. Its policies include features that typically cost extra from other insurers, if they’re available at all. The company sells insurance exclusively through independent agents.

Where Openly home insurance stands out

Generous coverage. Not all insurance companies offer guaranteed replacement cost coverage for your dwelling, and having it included in a standard policy is even more rare.

No dog breed restrictions. While some companies refuse to insure certain breeds such as pit bulls or Dobermans, Openly will provide liability coverage for any dog as long as it doesn’t have a history of aggression. Learn more about homeowners insurance and dog bites.

Where Openly home insurance falls short

Limited online presence. With no mobile app and no online quote feature, Openly doesn’t offer as extensive a digital experience as many larger insurers.

» MORE: The best homeowners insurance companies

State availability

Openly insurance is currently available in 24 states.

Openly home insurance coverage

Openly’s default homeowners policy goes significantly beyond these basic coverage types. Most notably, it typically offers guaranteed replacement cost coverage for the structure of your home. That means if your house is destroyed by a covered disaster, Openly will pay whatever it takes to rebuild it the way it was before, up to $5 million.

Openly also offers generous coverage for your personal belongings. Most homeowners policies cover your stuff on a “named perils” basis, meaning that they’ll pay for damage only from causes specifically named in your policy. Openly covers your belongings on an “open perils” basis instead, paying for damage from anything except perils your policy excludes.

If your things are stolen or destroyed, Openly will pay enough for you to buy brand-new replacements, rather than paying less for older items that have lost value over time.

Openly policies also include the following:

• Ordinance or law coverage, which pays to bring your home up to current building codes during covered repairs.

• Water seepage coverage, which pays for rot or other damage due to hidden water leaks.

• Coverage for refrigerated property, such as food that goes bad when lightning knocks out your electricity.

• Landscaping coverage to replace damaged trees or other plants.

Depending on where you live, you may be able to add the following optional types of coverage:

• Water backup, which pays for damage due to sump pump failure or backed-up sewers or drains.

• Home-sharing coverage for people who occasionally rent out all or part of their house.

• Buried service lines, which pays to fix damage to underground utility lines you’re responsible for.

• Equipment breakdown, which covers appliances if they have a mechanical or electrical failure.

• Blanket or scheduled property for valuable items.

• Personal cyber, which can help you recover from hacks and other online threats.

• Earthquake, sinkhole or mine subsidence for homeowners who live in areas where these are a risk.

• Under construction for theft of building supplies from a home being renovated.

» MORE: Does homeowners insurance cover water damage?

Discounts

The company offers a bundling discount if you buy your Openly policy and an auto insurance policy from the same agent.

You may also be able to save by strengthening your home against windstorm damage, getting an advance quote at least eight days before your policy takes effect or choosing to have documents delivered electronically.

Discounts vary by state.

Consumer complaints

Openly received far fewer than the expected number of home insurance complaints to state regulators relative to its size, according to three years’ worth of data from the National Association of Insurance Commissioners. (NAIC home insurance complaints also cover other home policy types, including mobile home, renters and condo insurance.)

What Reddit users say about Openly

Reddit is an online forum where users share their thoughts in “threads” on various topics. The popular site includes plenty of discussion on financial subjects like home insurance, so we sifted through Reddit forums to get a pulse check on how users feel about insurers. People post anonymously, so we cannot confirm their individual experiences or circumstances.

Reddit comments about Openly are mixed, especially when it comes to claim handling. Some posters share positive experiences, while others complain about poor communication or unsatisfactory claim resolution. Comments about the company’s premiums are also split, with some Redditors finding that Openly had surprisingly affordable rates and others reporting dramatic price hikes at renewal.

Questions from Reddit: Our experts answer

Can I trust a new insurance company like Openly?

You want to make sure the insurance company you choose for your home will be around if a disaster happens. While there are no guarantees, you can look up the financial standing of an insurance company by checking the websites of credit rating firms such as AM Best and Demotech. Note that the company itself may not have a rating, but the carriers that underwrite its policies might. For example, both of Openly’s underwriters — Rock Ridge and MS Transverse — have strong financial strength ratings on the AM Best website.

Why did Openly raise my home insurance rates?

While small annual premium increases are fairly standard, many homeowners have been hit by big rate hikes in recent years. Inflation has made it more expensive to repair or rebuild houses, so insurance companies are paying out more in claims. Another issue is the growing frequency and severity of hurricanes, hailstorms, wildfires and other disasters, which have caused billions of dollars in damage in recent years.

Consumer experience

Website: The Openly website has a sleek, elegant design, but it’s short on coverage details and lacks an online quote function. Instead, you can submit your details in an online form and the company will match you with a local agent.

Claims: You can file an Openly claim online, by calling your agent or by calling the company at 888-808-4842. Learn more about how to file a home insurance claim.

Customer service: You can contact Openly by submitting a request form on its website, calling 888-808-4842 or using the website’s live chat function.

» MORE: 6 essential terms to understand in your homeowners policy

Other insurance companies to consider

Here’s how Openly home insurance stacks up against policies from other popular companies:

How we rate homeowners insurance

NerdWallet’s star ratings reward companies for consumer-first features and practices. We evaluate factors such as financial strength, consumer complaints, coverage, discounts and customer experience.

In our research, we analyzed:

• More than 270 million homeowners insurance rates.

• More than 50 insurance companies.

• Nearly 200 homeowner profiles.

View our complete homeowners insurance rating methodology.

Methodology