Progressive Renters Insurance Review

Does Progressive offer renters insurance?
Evaluating Progressive’s renters insurance – the 7 factors to consider
How expensive is Progressive renters insurance?
What does Progressive renters insurance cover?
Can you bundle Progressive renters insurance with other policies?
How easy is it to buy a policy and file a claim?
What are Progressive’s consumer satisfaction ratings?
Is Progressive financially stable?
Does Progressive operate in your state?
Recap: Should you choose Progressive renters insurance?
Progressive renters insurance: Our final rating
A note on Progressive’s underwriting partners

Before we begin our review of Progressive’s renters insurance, we need to get something out of the way:

Does Progressive offer renters insurance?

No, Progressive doesn’t actually offer renters insurance. They’re mainly an auto insurance provider, and they don’t directly write renters insurance policies.

However, they do sell renters insurance policies provided by other insurers for a commission. In insurance jargon, these other companies underwrite Progressive’s renters insurance.

We explain exactly how this impacts you further along in this review. You can find a full list of Progressive’s underwriting partners at the end.

Evaluating Progressive’s renters insurance – the 7 factors to consider

Progressive is one of the largest insurers in the country, but they’re mainly known for auto insurance. When you evaluate their renters insurance policies, you have to ask seven questions:

How expensive is Progressive renters insurance?
What does Progressive renters insurance cover?
Can you bundle Progressive renters insurance with any other policies?
How easy is it to buy a policy and file a claim?
What are Progressive’s consumer satisfaction ratings?
Is Progressive financially stable?
Does Progressive provide renters insurance in your state?

Unfortunately, Progressive doesn’t measure up very well against their competitors in most of these categories. Their policies are a bit more expensive than their competitors’, despite providing similar coverage. Furthermore, one of their main underwriting partners, Homesite, has a reputation for poor customer service, which makes it hard for us to recommend them.

How expensive is Progressive renters insurance?

We conducted a survey of renters insurance providers across the country and found that Progressive’s policies cost about $24.77 per month on average, which makes them significantly more expensive than the industry average of $20 per month. Progressive is more expensive than their main competitors, which include State Farm, Allstate, and Liberty Mutual, in all but a few states.

The price of renters insurance is low enough that the difference doesn’t mean much in absolute terms. When you buy renters insurance, it’s usually more important to get adequate coverage than to save an extra $5 per month. However, there’s no denying that if you’re looking for your most affordable option, it probably isn’t Progressive.

Takeaway: Overall, we found Progressive’s pricing to be worse than average.

What does Progressive renters insurance cover?

Most insurers write their policies from similar templates, which means that renters insurance always provides the same four kinds of coverage. Progressive’s policies provide:

Personal property coverage: If something you own is damaged or destroyed by a covered peril, like a fire, Progressive will compensate you for the value of the lost object. However, they won’t pay out the full value — you’ll have to pay a fixed portion of the cost yourself, called your renters insurance deductible.
Personal liability coverage: If you break someone’s property or physically hurt them, Progressive will pay for your legal defense and find an attorney for you. They’ll also cover any damages that you’re ultimately ordered to pay the victim.
Guest medical coverage: If someone gets sick or is injured in your home, Progressive will pay some of their medical bills. Unlike the previous type of coverage, the victim doesn’t have to sue you for this to kick in.
Loss-of-use coverage: If a covered peril damages your home and you have to move out for a while (think of a tornado that hits your home and renders it completely unlivable), Progressive will pay for your additional living expenses, which might include restaurant bills and a hotel stay.

Again, virtually all providers offer these four types of coverage. However, Progressive has several small but notable differences from their competitors:

Progressive offers slander and libel coverage

Generally speaking, renters insurance only covers your personal liability (your legal expenses) if you hurt someone or damage their property.

This means that it excludes several relatively common types of lawsuits. For instance, it doesn’t cover lawsuits over defamation of character, i.e. libel or slander.

Progressive’s standard policies don’t cover defamation of character either, but they sell a renters insurance rider that provides “enhanced coverage” for libel and slander lawsuits.

Is Progressive’s enhanced coverage worth it?

Libel protection isn’t as niche as it sounds. Plenty of unreasonable libel lawsuits are filed every year, and businesses have even been known to sue their customers for leaving unfavorable reviews. While the odds of being sued might seem remote, this coverage is worth having if you’re a relatively outspoken person.

The “enhanced protection” endorsement from Progressive also includes several other types of coverage, including:

Coverage for lawsuits over false arrest, detention or imprisonment
Coverage for wrongful/malicious lawsuits against you
Wrongful eviction coverage
Water backup damage coverage
$5,000 in water backup damage coverage
An additional $5,000 in coverage for bicycles
Another additional $5,000 for computers

The downside: you can’t pick and choose

Most insurers allow you to pick and choose what kinds of additional coverage you want, but for some reason, Progressive offers them in one big bundle. This means that if you’re interested in water backup coverage, you can’t get it unless you also buy additional bicycle coverage, which you might not want or need.

Although Progressive’s add-ons are interesting and potentially useful, it’s odd (and annoying) that they give you so little control over your policy, which we factored into our score.

Takeaway: Overall, we found Progressive’s coverage options to be about average.

Can you bundle Progressive renters insurance with other policies?

Most insurance companies will give you a discount if you buy more than one type of insurance policy. This is called bundling, and it’s usually the best way to save on renters insurance.

Progressive is a major auto insurer, and unsurprisingly, they offer a bundling discount on renters and car insurance. Their website notes that this discount averages about 3%, which frankly isn’t great.

If you don’t mind shopping around, you’ll probably be able to get a higher discount from another insurer. For instance, GEICO offered us a 5% discount on car insurance in Virginia, and State Farm offered us an impressive 9% discount in California.

If you already have Progressive’s auto insurance and you’re satisfied with it, bundling your renters insurance policy with it is a reasonable choice. However, if you don’t have either type of policy yet and you’re looking to buy them together, you can probably save more money by picking a different insurer.

On the plus side, Progressive also offers bundling discounts when you purchase motorcycle or boat insurance, although these are fairly niche policies that fewer people need.

Takeaway: Overall, we found that Progressive’s renters insurance bundling options were slightly worse than average.

How easy is it to buy a policy and file a claim?

Buying renters insurance from Progressive is simple. You can do so online or over the phone.

Buying a policy over the phone

Progressive is a large insurer, so you’ll easily be able to find an insurance agent in your area. You can also buy a policy by calling their customer service line, which offers 24/7 service. To verify this, we called Progressive after midnight (EST) and asked a few questions about their renters insurance policies, and we received a prompt and polite response despite the odd hour.

Buying a policy online

As mentioned, you can also buy a policy via Progressive’s website. Doing so is easy, although unlike their competitors, Progressive asks for your social security number very early in the process, which you might not want to provide if you’re just shopping around.

Progressive also asks a few weird questions that you might not know the answer to. For example, at one point, Progressive lists several breeds of dogs (including pit bulls) that they refuse to cover. They ask whether you own one of those breeds, or “any other dog that underwriting deems ineligible.”

Obviously, as a customer, you have no way of knowing what Progressive (or their partners) will deem “ineligible.” If you have a large dog that’s not on the list that Progressive provides, such as a German Shepherd, we recommend purchasing your policy over the phone so that you can confirm with an agent that your dog will be covered.

Filing a claim

As we mentioned at the top of this review, although you can buy renters insurance from Progressive, your policy won’t actually be provided by Progressive themselves. Progressive’s policies are written by other insurers, most commonly American Strategic Insurance (ASI) and Homesite.

If you have to file a renters insurance claim, you’ll have to contact one of those companies, not Progressive. Although the actual filing process isn’t too complicated — both companies allow you to file claims online — there are a lot of reports that Homesite handles claims poorly, which we’ll get to in a moment.

Takeaway: Progressive’s 24-hour hotline is convenient, but their website is a bit lacking. Overall, we rate their user experience about average.

What are Progressive’s consumer satisfaction ratings?

Because Progressive’s renters insurance policies are usually provided by ASI and Homesite, we looked at several metrics that measure how satisfied customers are with those companies, including their Better Business Bureau (BBB) score and the number of complaints that their customers have filed with the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC).

We found there was a significant difference in how customers rated these companies.

ASI’s consumer satisfaction ratings: slightly above average

ASI is technically a subsidiary of Progressive, not a separate insurance company, which is why their renters insurance policies are sometimes sold under the brand name “Progressive Home.” However, they still operate independently (they used to be an entirely separate company until Progressive bought a controlling interest in them in 2014) and they have their own consumer satisfaction ratings.

Their scores are reasonably high. On the Better Business Bureau’s website, ASI has an average customer review score of 1.29 stars, which — believe it or not — is slightly better than average. (Insurance companies tend to have very low scores.)

In 2020, ASI had an NAIC complaint index of 0.95 for their homeowners and renters insurance, which means that they received slightly fewer complaints than average. They also received a consumer satisfaction score of 835/1000 from the firm J.D. Power, which is almost exactly average for a renters insurance provider.

ASI’s scores aren’t exemplary, but they’re good enough that you don’t need to worry about buying a policy from them.

Homesite’s consumer satisfaction ratings: worse than average

Progressive also sells a lot of policies for Homesite, which is a third-party insurer and not a subsidiary. (Oddly enough, when we called Progressive, one of their agents claimed that Homesite was a subsidiary, which isn’t true — Homesite is owned by American Family Insurance. Negative points to Progressive for providing incorrect information.)

So how is Homesite’s renters insurance? Unfortunately, it gets consistently bad reviews. The NAIC complaint index for their homeowners and renters insurance is 1.60, which is worse than average, and their customer score on BBB.org is 1.14, substantially lower than ASI’s.

J.D. Power didn’t evaluate their renters insurance in 2020, but their homeowners insurance received a score of 771/1000 — the third-lowest score out of a field of 24.

Homesite actually has a respectable score of 3.9/5 on ConsumerAffairs.org, but virtually all of the people that bought a policy through Progressive left one-star reviews. This is a consistent theme; it’s easy to find anecdotes from people who bought renters insurance from Progressive because they already had auto insurance and were unpleasantly surprised by Homesite’s claims handling and customer service.

Takeaway: ASI Progressive’s scores are slightly better than average, but Homesite’s scores are below average. Pay attention to which company will actually write your policy.

Is Progressive financially stable?

As we’ve noted in our other articles, many renters insurance reviews go into detail about the insurance company’s finances. It’s true that if your insurer is struggling, it can affect your experience as a customer, but in Progressive’s case, this isn’t something you need to worry about.

As their subsidiary, ASI has the financial backing of one of the largest insurance companies in the country. Homesite doesn’t have that advantage, but it also has an A.M. Best rating of “A,” which signifies that it’s in good shape to meet all of its financial obligations.

Takeaway: No matter which company underwrites your policy, your insurer’s finances are no cause for concern.

Does Progressive operate in your state?

Not all insurers operate on a nationwide scale, and obviously if your chosen company doesn’t sell policies in your state, you’ll have to pick someone else. Fortunately, Progressive operates in all 50 states as well as Washington, D.C., so you can get a renters insurance policy from them wherever you live.

Recap: Should you choose Progressive renters insurance?

Progressive isn’t really a renters insurance company, and it shows. If you get insurance from their subsidiary, ASI, you’re probably in decent shape (although we did read several reports suggesting that ASI’s prices tend to be on the high side). On the other hand, if they match you with Homesite, you may receive sub-par coverage.

Unfortunately, Progressive doesn’t let you pick between the two insurers — they’ll assign one to you based on your zip code. (That’s also the situation with GEICO’s renters insurance, which is why we weren’t able to rate them very highly, either.)

Progressive’s underwriting partners have better reputations than GEICO’s main partner, Assurant. However, the fact remains that when you buy a policy from Progressive, you don’t have any control over who your insurer will be. Between this and Progressive’s higher-than-average prices, we’re not able to recommend them very highly.

Progressive: Advantages

Progressive is a large auto insurance provider, so a lot of their customers will be able to bundle their renters and auto insurance together for a discount.
Progressive offers a handful of interesting coverage options, including defamation liability coverage, which protects against libel and slander lawsuits.

Progressive: Disadvantages

Progressive doesn’t write their own renters insurance policies. When you apply for a policy, they’ll assign you to one of their underwriting partners based on your location. Furthermore, one of their main partners has a bad reputation.
Progressive offers relatively lackluster bundling discounts. If you’re willing to shop around a little, you’ll probably be able to find a 5–10% discount, as compared with Progressive’s 3–4% average.

Why should you choose Progressive’s renters insurance?

You have Progressive’s auto insurance: If you have an auto insurance policy from Progressive and you aren’t interested in switching, bundling it with renters insurance might still be your most convenient (although not necessarily your cheapest) option.
You really need libel and slander coverage: If it’s really important for your renters insurance policy to cover defamation lawsuits, you should consider Progressive. However, it’s worth noting that other insurers offer a separate type of liability insurance called umbrella insurance, which also provides libel and slander protection, so Progressive isn’t your only option.

Why shouldn’t you choose Progressive’s renters insurance?

Progressive pairs you with Homesite: If Progressive tries to sell you a policy from Homesite, we recommend declining and finding an insurer with a better reputation for customer service.
Another provider offers you a better deal: Progressive’s prices aren’t very good, and there’s nothing particularly special about their coverage. If you don’t have a clear reason to buy renters insurance from them, you can probably get a better deal elsewhere.

Progressive renters insurance: Our final rating

Overall, we rate Progressive’s renters insurance two and a half stars out of five. (2.5/5)

A note on Progressive’s underwriting partners

Progressive places their renters insurance policies through Progressive Specialty Insurance Agency, Inc (PSIA).

Their website notes that they work with the following insurers:

All Risks, LTD
American Modern
American Strategic Insurance Corp (ASI)
Assurant
First American Property and Casualty Insurance Group
Foremost Insurance Group Homesite Insurance Group
IDS Property Casualty Insurance Company
National General Insurance
Nationwide
Occidental Fire and Casualty Company of North Carolina
Plymouth Rock
QBE Insurance Corporation

This means that any one of those companies might issue your policy. However, as we mentioned, Progressive primarily works with ASI and Homesite. Your policy will probably be written by one of them or one of their own affiliates.

(Many “insurance companies” are actually groups of closely related companies which operate in different states, which is the case for both ASI and Homesite. This has very little impact on you, the consumer.)