Erie Review: Home Insurance Companies

Erie's history dates back to 1925. It was started with a vision by founders Henry Hirt and Oliver Crawford, to create an insurance company that placed customer service above all else. Erie is now a Fortune 500 company with over 6,500 employees and almost 7 million policies in force. A tagline Erie uses is "The proof is in the policy" and a notable company quote about the company's purpose from Hirt says, "To provide our policyholders with as near perfect protection, as near perfect service, as is humanly possible, and to do so at the lowest possible cost." Sounds pretty good to us! But are they living up to it?

Limited service area

Erie boasts that they have over 14,000 agents dedicated to helping customers find coverage. These agents hopefully live close to your local neighborhood and are part of the community. They are there to help you make good decisions about which policy to choose and guide you through the claims process as well. Unfortunately, when we went to get a quote and put in our address to be connected to an agent, we received an error message saying that there were no agencies representing Erie in our local area. Just for fun, we tried other areas to see if we'd run into the same problem. We checked for an agent near San Jose, Houston, and Orlando. Finally we tried Nashville and Brooklyn and had some hits. It seems this company primarily operates in the East, so you are likely out of luck if you live outside of this area. It's definitely not as widespread of a company as many of their competitors.

No online quotes

Since Erie connects you with an agent to get a quote, this means you can't get any sort of estimated costs from their website. This is a sales tactic to try and reel you in rather than letting you easily compare quotes among other companies. As a consumer, it's kind of a pain. On their website, Erie does list a few ways you can save money and has a side-by-side comparison to show you why their policies are better than everyone else's. It's not quantitative, but it shows where they try to place their priorities.

Discount potential

The company has three "featured ways to save" on their site. The first is if you install smoke alarms, a burglary alarm system, and an automatic sprinkler system in your home, you'll get a discount on your policy. The next is an advanced quote discount. This states that if you get a quote from them between 7 and 60 days from when your policy would renew, you could end up with savings (although the details and math on this aren't entirely clear). Lastly, if you sign up for multiple policies through Erie, specifically life insurance, you could save on your home and auto insurance. Bundle and save!

Efforts to be superior

Some ways Erie claims that their base policies are superior to others include the following:

• 100% guaranteed replacement costs
• Extensive coverage, few exclusions
• Better theft coverage for lost or misplaced items
• Ample limits for jewelry, watches, stones, and firearms
• Reimbursements for gift cards purchased at local businesses that have closed
• Animals, fish, and birds covered to $500
• Cash and precious metals covered to $500
• Coverage for hard-to-replace items like passports, bills, deeds, and accounts

Although this list does not prove that Erie is better than another company and most of this isn't any sort of quantitative data showing that you'll save money or get better coverage, Erie does aim to beat out their competitors in these areas.

Recognized for customer service

J.D. Power ranked Erie Insurance as #1 in customer satisfaction among homeowner and rental insurance providers recently. Erie boasts that their customer service team is available 24/7 to assist their policyholders whenever they need it. They have a phone number listed on their website you can use to get a hold of them. Aside from this, your login to Erie's online portal will grant you access to view, send, and share all your policy information, make online payments and view billing activity, view your claim status, and go paperless with billing.

Well-regarded company

The Better Business Bureau gives Erie an "A+" rating and there are quite a few stories from customers who have had a great experience with the company, which is reassuring. The most positive thing we've found is that people agree Erie is actually significantly cheaper than some bigger-named insurance companies. They're generally well-regarded in the industry and seem to quickly follow through on claims and take care of issues without any problems. We've read about people who have been in car accidents, needed total roof replacements, and had other major homeowner claims and said they were really pleased with the coverage from Erie and how quickly their problems were resolved.

Reach out if you can

Erie also has their fair share of negative customer reviews, as do all insurance companies. However, overall we like what this company stands for and that they aim to put the customer first. Since they don't seem to be in very many areas, this is the reason they haven't earned a higher rating from us. However, give Erie a try and if they have coverage for you, we recommend reaching out to an agent for a quote.

Learn More  ➜

On the Erie website