6 Things to Know About Kin Insurance

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Kin Insurance is one of several financial technology companies that takes a digital-first approach to the process of shopping for homeowners insurance.

In this article, we’ll take a look at how Kin works, where you can buy a policy and how much a typical policy costs, among other things.

Here’s What You Need to Know About Kin Insurance

Traditional homeowners insurance often relies on your ZIP code as a big factor in what you pay for your premium. But Kin promises to use the power of technology to give you a better — and hopefully cheaper — quote.

Kin is one of a new breed of insurers that has no physical offices. Everything is done online. Doing it that way helps keep overhead low so they can pass the savings along to you.

Here’s what you need to know before getting a quote…

Table of Contents

  1. How Does Kin Insurance Work?
  2. What Kinds of Insurance Policies Does Kin Offer?
  3. Where Is Kin Insurance Available?
  4. What Is Kin’s Financial Stability Rating?
  5. How Much Does Kin Insurance Cost?
  6. What Else Does Kin Offer?

How Does Kin Insurance Work?

Kin Insurance has simplified the process of getting a quote online. You simply go to Kin.com and enter your address. Their system will pull public record data points to generate a quote for you in minutes.

Included in the data deep-dive are things like real estate listings, building records and even satellite and drone photography of your home. All of that means you don’t have to struggle to remember what kind of shingles or siding you have on your home.

Kin Insurance homepage

Put simply, Kin eliminates the need to spend an hour or so filling out a form online or talking to an insurance agent over the phone.

If they can’t immediately pull together a quote when you enter your street address, you’re just asked to enter a few additional fields to get the quote process going.

What Kinds of Insurance Policies Does Kin Offer?

Kin’s main business is selling home insurance policies in coastal states where potentially catastrophic weather is a real possibility.

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In addition to regular home insurance, the company sells several related policies:

  • Flood insurance
  • Hurricane insurance
  • Landlord insurance
  • Mobile home insurance
  • Condo insurance

Where Is Kin Insurance Available?

Kin currently sells insurance policies in a few states:

  1. Alabama
  2. California
  3. Florida
  4. Louisiana
  5. Mississippi
  6. South Carolina

What Is Kin’s Financial Stability Rating?

Kin has a financial stability rating of A from Demotech in Florida, Louisiana and South Carolina. The California policy is backed by Falls Lake Fire and Casualty Company, which is rated A by AM Best.

However, when shopping for homeowners insurance, money expert Clark Howard recommends finding highly-rated companies for customer satisfaction instead of focusing on financial strength and price.

Kin says they rank 4.6 out of 5 stars for customer satisfaction.

How Much Does Kin Insurance Cost?

Kin claims it can save members $700 when switching to its insurance products. The property we quoted for was a single-family home in metro Atlanta:

Kin Homeowners Insurance Coverage and Quote for 12 Month Policy With 2% Deductible

Dwelling$170,000
Personal property$102,000
Loss of use$34,000
Personal liability$300,000
Medical payments to others$5,000
Total premium$740
Kin coverage quote November 2019

The deductible is 2% of dwelling coverage (aka Coverage A). So in this example, you would have a $3,400 deductible. As a reminder, Clark Howard recommends raising your deductible as high as your insurer or your mortgage holder will permit.

Of course, you’ll want to compare Kin’s quote to what you’re currently paying for homeowners coverage. Whenever you’re getting quotes, remember to pay attention to the coverage levels that we’ve listed above — not just the premium in bold. This is especially important when you’re considering making the switch to a new insurer.

When you have a quote like this in hand, review your current policy to make sure you’re purchasing the same level of coverage with the new policy that you were getting with your old policy. That way you can do an apples-to-apples comparison.

What Else Does Kin Offer?

Kin Insurance has partnerships with several providers to offer policyholders deals on hardware and services that keep their homes safe.

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Such partnerships include discounts on home security systems from Brinks Home Security and discounts on wind mitigation inspections from Don Meyler Inspections. The latter could lead to premium discounts, according to Kin.

Final Thought

Insurance is one of those industries that remains tradition-bound. If you’re the kind of person who likes to sit down in your insurance agent’s office should an issue arise, then Kin Insurance probably isn’t for you.

While Kin does make agents available online, there’s no face-to-face interaction. You’ll have to settle for a phone or online chat with a Kin agent.

If that sounds good to you, you may want to give Kin a try. Just be sure to read the online reviews first at sites like Yelp, Trustpilot and Google, among other sites.

Meanwhile, you’ll want to be sure to check out our guide to the Best and Worst Home Insurance Companies before making any decisions.

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