If you own a prefabricated home — mobile or manufactured — you can get special homeowners insurance that helps cover the risks unique to your home. In disasters like windstorms or fires, this type of insurance could help you protect yourself against loss if your home, your belongings or other structures on your property are damaged or destroyed.
What does mobile and manufactured home insurance typically cover?
Homeowners coverage for mobile homes — those built in a factory and moved to their site — is similar to coverage for site-built homes, typically providing coverage for the physical structure, personal belongings and other structures on your property. This coverage may also include liability insurance, which helps you protect your finances if you’re responsible for damage or injury to someone else or their property.
Typical mobile home insurance policies offer coverage for damage caused by:
- An aircraft, car or other vehicle
- Explosions
- Falling objects
- Fire and smoke
- Lightning strikes
- Theft
- Vandalism and malicious mischief
- Some types of water damage
- Windstorms and hail
But policies for mobile or manufactured homes vary in the details. For example, although most mobile and manufactured homes stay in the same place for their lifetime, they’re designed to be movable. So some manufactured home policies can include coverage for damage incurred during a move.
Because manufactured homes may be more likely to suffer damage from incidents like fire and wind, mobile and manufactured home insurance policies are designed specifically for these types of structures. In addition, some insurers may require that a mobile or manufactured home be placed on a concrete or cinderblock foundation to be insured.
What are the different types of insurance coverage for mobile and manufactured homes?
Insurance for mobile and manufactured homes is much like regular homeowners insurance and can provide the same main types of coverage:
- Dwelling coverage helps you pay to repair or rebuild your manufactured home when it’s damaged or destroyed in an insurance-covered event, like a windstorm or fire.
- Personal property coverage helps you pay to fix your belongings if they’re damaged or buy new ones if they’re ruined or stolen.
- Liability coverage helps you protect your financial assets if you’re at fault for someone’s injury or property damage.
How much insurance do I need for my manufactured or mobile home?
If you have a mortgage, your lender will likely require you to carry enough mobile and manufactured home insurance to cover at least the mortgage’s remaining balance. This may not be enough to cover other losses. When deciding how much coverage you want, you may want to consider other factors, including:
- The cost of rebuilding your home
- The value of your belongings, like clothing, appliances and furniture
- The total value of your assets
- The cost to live elsewhere if damages make your home unlivable
If you live in an area prone to earthquakes or floods, you may want to consider adding additional coverage, because your standard policy may not cover these hazards. Talk to a Farmers® agent about your coverage options.
How much does mobile and manufactured home insurance cost?
Characteristics of your home, hazards in your area and how much coverage you want are the main factors that will influence how much you pay for mobile or manufactured home insurance — just as with regular homeowners insurance. Among the relevant factors:
- Your home’s age, size and how it’s built
- The risks inherent in its location — things like extreme weather, flooding, high winds, crime
- How much your possessions are worth
- Whether you rent or own your home’s lot
- Security and safety features
- The coverage limits and deductible that you choose
- Your mobile home’s claims history
Keep in mind, insurance premiums for a mobile or manufactured home may be more expensive than regular homeowners insurance, because of their increased vulnerability to common risks, such as fire and wind.
What is the difference between mobile and modular home insurance?
Modular homes are similar to mobile and manufactured homes in that they’re built inside factories. But modular homes are built in pieces, transported to a building site and assembled on a permanent foundation. Their construction must follow all state and local building and safety codes, and they typically can be insured with a standard homeowners insurance policy.
Note that while the term mobile home is sometimes used interchangeably with the term RV, recreational vehicles need their own kind of insurance because they are motorized vehicles with homes attached. Mobile homes are technically factory-built homes built before June 15, 1976. After that date, new federal building and safety standards kicked in and the name shifted to manufactured homes. The standards require manufactured homes to be constructed on a permanent chassis.
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