MetLife may be best known for using Snoopy and the Peanuts gang to advertise its services for over 30 years, but the company also has a decent homeowners insurance policy to help secure your most valuable investment. Founded in 1868 by William P. Stewart, the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company had its beginnings selling life and limb insurance policies to Civil War soldiers. Today, it is the largest provider of investment products, employee benefits and insurance in sixty countries, with over 90 million customers worldwide. The New York-based Fortune 500 company offers competitive rates, discounts and features that make insuring your house a simplified process.
For this MetLife home insurance review, we compared the company’s coverage, discounts, support, accessibility, customer satisfaction and support using the SimpleScore methodology to determine if this is a reliable insurer for those on a budget during the global pandemic.
Best for replacement cost coverage – Metlife
True to the company slogan ‘Navigating Life Together,’ MetLife covers all areas of life with their extensive range of insurance policies, offering reliability that has stood the test of time.
- Robust website and educational resources
- Wide range of policies and bundling options
- Excellent financial stability
- No online claims file
In the News
- In November 2020, Switzerland’s Zurich Insurance Group AG released a statement confirming that it is in the process of acquiring MetLife’s US property and casualty auto and home insurance business for $ 4 billion. The deal is being executed through Zurich Insurance’s Farmer’s Group subsidiary and will mark MetLife’s exit from P&C insurance.
- In April 2020, amid the COVID-19 crisis, MetLife announced its decision to reward existing auto insurance policyholders by refunding part of their premiums. The P&C unit also moved to not cancel policies upon failure to pay premiums until July 1, 2020.
- In December 2019, MetLife started offering pet insurance after acquiring PetFirst Healthcare, a pet health insurance administrator. Speaking on the acquisition, Ramy Tadros, president of US Business for MetLife, said that the deal would help employers support their employees by covering sudden pet health expectations.
What we like about MetLife
As a long-standing company with success and experience on its side, MetLife has several reasons to be one of the top 15 insurance companies in the United States.
We follow a rigorous editorial policy designed to keep our writers and editors independent. Articles may reference products from our partners, so here’s more information on
How we make money
The Simple Dollar is an independent, advertising-supported publisher and comparison service. The Simple Dollar is compensated in exchange for featured placement of sponsored products and services, or your clicking on links posted on this website. This compensation may impact how, where and in what order products appear. The Simple Dollar does not include all companies or all available products.
Robust website and educational resources
Customer education is at the heart of MetLife’s philosophy and to make this possible, the company has a highly informative website laden with tools and resources about insurance. Whether you are a newbie trying to learn more about how insurance works or a homeowner seeking answers to queries about your policy, the Metlife website doesn’t let you down.
Wide range of policies and bundling options
MetLife offers all major policies, ranging from home and auto to health and dental to life insurance. This paves the way for customers to purchase all their policies from the same company and save on premiums.
Excellent financial stability
Having been around for 150 years, MetLife has established a solid financial position that enables it to charge affordable rates and pay claims efficiently. Unlike newer insurers yet to achieve such longevity, MetLife is a seasoned player with a firm foundation.
Who should get this policy?
Homeowners looking for a reliable, time-tested insurance company with great value and customer service cannot go wrong with MetLife. If you already have one policy from this company, adding a homeowner’s insurance coverage could get you bundle discounts.
Things to consider
Compared to its more modern contenders, MetLife often leaves a lot to desire in some areas, and that includes their online tools.
No online quote or claims file
Many insurance companies today offer customers the option to file claims online or through a mobile app. MetLife does not, but it has a fax number and an email address for filing claims. It doesn’t have an online tool for quotes either, so people need to call an agent to get an estimate.
Who shouldn’t get this policy?
People who want online home insurance claim filing and instantaneous solutions to queries are going to find MetLife lacking in those areas. The company still chooses to have customers talk to real people for support than offering online tools.
[ Read: The Average Cost of Home Insurance ]
What we analyzed
To find out how MetLife compares to major home insurance providers, our team analyzed the discounts, coverage, customer satisfaction, support and accessibility offered by this company.
Discounts
One of the easiest ways to reduce the cost of home insurance is by taking advantage of various discounts offered by the insurer. MetLife’s homeowners insurance discounts are not earth-shattering but they can help you save hundreds of dollars annually.
- Home safety discount: If a house is equipped with safety devices such as fire alarms, sprinklers and burglar alarms.
- Multi-policy discount: If you combine your home and auto insurance policies.
- Superior home discount: If a house is under a year old.
- Mature homeowners discount: If you are a retired person above the age of 55.
Coverage
The coverage options included in your homeowners insurance policy depend on factors such as the size and construction of the house, location and susceptibility to inclement weather, among others. Having said that, MetLife’s impressive range of coverage options has something for everyone.
- Basic coverage: MetLife’s standard home insurance plan includes all basic features, including dwelling, liability, personal property, medical payments and loss of use coverage options.
- Identity theft protection: All homeowners insurance policies by MetLife comes with identity theft protection at no added cost.
- Guaranteed replacement cost coverage: If your house is damaged, MetLife pays the entire cost to rebuild it, even if the amount exceeds your coverage limit.
- Scheduled personal property protection: For valuable possessions such as art and jewelry not protected by the basic coverage, you are covered by the scheduled personal property protection at an extra cost.
Customer Satisfaction
One area where MetLife falters is the customer satisfaction rating. In the 2019 home insurance study, J.D. Power rated it a 2 out of 5, which is below average based on the experience the customers have had with the company. On the NAIC’s national complaint index, MetLife scores 1.64, where 1 is the average score. Although this may seem high, do bear in mind that MetLife has the largest customer base in the world.
Support
Homeowners can manage their policy and pay bills through the MetLife website or the mobile app. However, the only ways to reach customer support are via phone and email. MetLife does not have an online chat service or round-the-clock support, unlike many of its competitors.
Accessibility
You cannot apply for a policy, get quotes or file claims online or on the mobile app. For any of these concerns, you need to call the phone number listed on MetLife’s website to talk to an agent, which may be time-consuming for busy people.
[ Read: 3 Reasons Why You Should Get Flood Insurance ]
MetLife vs. the competition
To provide you with a better sense of MetLife’s performance compared to its competitors, here is a list of three major insurance companies that offer homeowners insurance policies. Each of these providers has been evaluated for discounts, coverage options, accessibility, customer satisfaction and support to measure how they fare in comparison to MetLife.
As promised by the friendly gecko, Geico’s comprehensive policies at discount rates make homeowners happy
Geico is famous for offering the cheapest rates, and even though it lacks some coverage options, people on a budget always find affordable home insurance policies with this Maryland-based company. There is also a wide range of online tools and a mobile app for filing claims, getting quotes and reaching support.
Read our full Geico review.
To keep you smiling like Flo, Progressive offers massive discounts, convenient online tools and standout customer service
Not only does Progressive charge reasonable premiums, but it also makes the deal sweeter with several available discounts, online tools, and recommendations for a contractor if your house is in need of repair. However, Progressive doesn’t underwrite most of its policies and heavily relies on middlemen.
Read our full Progressive review.
For people looking for simple home insurance products, State Farm is there with consistent customer satisfaction and ease of access.
State Farm might be known for its auto insurance policies, but it also sells homeowners insurance with the ease of online support and claims file, over 19,000 agents for quotes and answers, and discounted standard coverage.
Read our full State Farm review.
MetLife’s rates
Although MetLife doesn’t have the cheapest rates on the market, its annual premiums are on a par with some of the major insurance providers today. The price of home insurance depends on a number of factors, including location, age of house, replacement cost, deductible amount, claims history and inclement weather conditions. MetLife doesn’t provide quotes online, so the best way to find out how much it might cost to insure your house is to talk to a representative.
[ Read: Home Insurance Terms You Should Know ]
MetLife online and mobile app
While MetLife has a dedicated website and highly-rated mobile app offering educational resources for first-time buyers and tools to easily pay bills and view policy documents, they lack some of the most essential functions such as filing claims, getting estimates and reaching customer support. Those who find it more convenient to use instant online services over phone calls might be at a disadvantage with MetLife.
MetLife renters, auto and life insurance
MetLife is one of those providers that carry most types of insurance products, such as auto, boat, life, renters, health, dental, vision, pet, accident, disability and long-term care insurance, among others. Some of its most popular offerings are detailed below.
Renters insurance
MetLife’s renter’s insurance policy is meant for tenants who want to be covered against sudden and unforeseen expenses, from temporary living to personal property damage. Customers can customize their policies to suit their coverage needs, choose add-ons for valuable belongings and have Identity Protection Services included at no extra cost.
Life insurance
Over the years, MetLife has become known for its employer-sponsored policies. If your workplace has provisions for MetLife life insurance policies, it might make sense to get one. Some of the benefits included in each life insurance policy are acceleration of death, accidental death, critical illness, disability waiver of premium and term rider.
Auto insurance
MetLife’s auto insurance policies include coverage options that are not always available with other providers. If you’re a new car owner or have excellent credit score, MetLife offers some of the most competitive rates and benefits like Gap insurance, new car replacement, legal fee coverage, usage-based insurance, rideshare coverage and special parts replacement.
Bundling options
Under MetLife’s Bundle and Save program, you could save up to $ 855 annually by combining policies. The company offers bundling options only for car owners who are also homeowners and vice versa.
[ Read: The Best Home and Auto Insurance Bundles 2020 ]
Too long, didn’t read?
As one of the longest-standing insurance companies, MetLife comes with the promise of financial stability and offers standard homeowners insurance, with the option to customize policies and take advantage of bundling discounts. What it lacks in online tools, it makes up with valuable add-ons and competitive rates.
We welcome your feedback on this article and would love to hear about your experience with the insurers we recommend. Contact us at inquiries@thesimpledollar.com with comments or questions.
