Compare cheap home insurance quotes for free.

For many Canadians, their home makes up a big portion of their net worth. A homeowners insurance policy that protects your house, its contents and your other assets in the event of a fire, storm, liability claim or other unexpected peril is a must.

Without a good house insurance policy, any damage caused to your home by one (or more) of the aforementioned events will be up to you to pay for.

While home insurance is not a legal requirement in Canada if the home is paid in full, most mortgage lenders will require you to obtain home insurance.

Since many lenders make house insurance a mortgage requirement, you may as well use LowestRates.ca to compare quotes and secure the best home insurance rate, right?

It’s hard to say exactly how much home insurance will cost, because every home insurance provider underwrites risk differently. The cost of your premiums depends on a number of factors, including the size and the quality of their insurance pool, as well as several external factors such as extreme weather risks.

One way to get a sense of how much home insurance costs in your area is to get a quote through a comparison site like LowestRates.ca. By using our comparison tool, you’ll automatically be shown the cheapest quotes from the best house insurance providers in your area.

Home insurance is customized to your individual circumstances, which is why it can be difficult to estimate how much your premium will cost. Generally however, your premiums are calculated based on the risk factors associated with obtaining home insurance. Some of these might include:

• The square footage of your home.
• Contents and quality of construction.
• The location of your home.
• Distance to a fire hydrant.
• Your claims history.
• The age of your roof.
• Plumbing.
• Your home’s electrical system.

Here are some things you can do to lower the cost of your house insurance premium:

• Increase your deductible, if you can afford to.
• Install a theft alarm system and smoke detector.
• Upgrade your electrical, heating and plumbing systems.
• Protect your home from severe weather and water damage.
• Ask your broker or agent for discounts.
• Pay your premium annually instead of monthly.
• Quit smoking for a lower risk of fires.
• Insure your home for the cost to rebuild it, don’t overinsure it.
• Bundle with your car insurance provider.
• Compare home insurance quotes from various providers.

While finding cheap home insurance can be a great way to save money, it’s important to remember that getting cheap quotes shouldn’t take precedence over securing the coverage you need in case something bad happens. Furthermore, while increasing your deductible may seem like a great way to save on home insurance in the short term, you should ensure it won’t be too much for you to handle when it comes time to pay.

When starting the process, it’s important to shop around and compare quotes to make sure you’re getting the best home insurance rate. LowestRates.ca compares quotes from Canada’s leading home insurance providers so you can get the best policy at the cheapest price.

We know from experience. Home insurance quotes can vary significantly from one home insurance provider to another, depending on what kind of home you own and which province you live in. That’s why comparing quotes from the best providers is an important first step.

When we say it takes less than three minutes to compare quotes on LowestRates.ca, we aren’t exaggerating. All you have to do is fill out the form in our home insurance section, provide a few details about you and your property, and voila! We take it from there.

Together with our partners, we fill out the details of your property that you might not know off-hand, such as square footage, when the roof was last replaced, distance to the nearest fire hydrant, etc. Depending on where you live, you’ll soon get to choose from 15+ quotes.

Once you’ve selected the quote you want, the broker offering that quote will get in touch with you to lock in your rate and help you set up your home insurance policy. Just like that.

While a credit check is optional, it can definitely help you get a cheaper home insurance rate. A good credit score can help demonstrate to providers that you’re reliable, which may reduce the level of risk they associate with insuring you. While all insurance companies underwrite risk differently, a good credit score can help reduce the price of your plan.

The benefit of using LowestRates.ca is that we only do one credit check per application, meaning that your credit score will remain unharmed. Homeowners who search for an insurance plan on their own will often have to submit to credit checks for each provider they get a quote from, which can actually lower their credit score. If you’re worried about your score, you can check it ahead of submitting a home insurance application using our credit score checker .

Generally, home insurance will cover the following expenses:

• Your personal belongings (e.g., appliances, furniture, some electronics).
• Additional living expenses (should you need to live somewhere else for a period of time).
• Personal liability, should you be sued for an injury sustained on your property.

Generally speaking, home insurance will account for the following risks:

• Fire.
• Lightning.
• Smoke damage (excluding fireplaces).
• Theft.
• Wind and hail.
• Electrical current.
• Explosion.
• Vandalism.
• Water damage.
• Broken windows.
• Falling objects (unless propelled by a landslide, avalanche, or earthquake).

Most house insurance policies don’t cover high-value items like jewelry, rare art, etc. You can, however, add individual items to your policy if you want them included in your home insurance coverage. You may need to buy additional coverage for items like these.

When it comes to home insurance, most people opt for a replacement cost plan. This type of plan pays for the full replacement value of the items or repairs you claim. For example, if someone were to steal your TV, your house insurance provider would pay for a new one of similar make and quality.

An actual cash value (ACV) plan, however, reimburses you for the value of the items you claim at the time they were damaged. This type of plan accounts for depreciation. For example, if someone steals your 5-year-old TV, your home insurance provider would only pay what they deemed it to be worth at the time of the theft, but that valuation will likely be much less than what you paid for it.

This means that the amount of money you get from a successful claim generally won’t cover the cost of replacing damaged or stolen items.

The bottom line is, if your house sustains major damage or is subject to a serious theft, a replacement cost plan will allow you to replace everything you lost. This may not be the case with an ACV plan, which is why most Canadians prefer replacement cost plans even though they’re a little more expensive.

While the answer varies for everyone, the amount of home insurance coverage you take should reflect the value of your home and the contents inside it, so keep stock of what everything is worth. We think it’s best to play it safe and buy more coverage.

Home insurance providers use variables like square footage, structure type and your postal code to calculate your quote. It’s up to you to make sure your coverage matches the value of your home and your possessions.

Suggestion: "Submitting a claim is stressful — after all, your house has been damaged and needs repair. We hope you'll never need to submit a claim, but you need to be prepared for it. Your future self will thank you if you do a little prep work. To have a hassle-free experience, be properly prepared by taking a yearly inventory of your home’s upgrades and its contents.

Policyholders need to be judicious about filing claims and need to prove that they kept their home in a state of good repair prior to the incident.

When you do need to make a claim, make sure all your documents are organized and ready before you contact your insurer. Here’s what you’ll need:

• A list of the items lost, damaged, or stolen.
• Receipts for said items and any photographs or other supporting documentation.
• Any relevant medical records or police reports if available.

A home insurance deductible refers to the amount of money you’re responsible for paying before your insurance company will cover the rest of your loss.

Your monthly home insurance premiums are directly related to how high or low you set your deductible. When you set your deductible, it’s important to consider the following:

• Look at your monthly income. How much can you afford to pay in monthly insurance payments?
• Look at your savings. How much can you afford to pay out of pocket if you do need to make a claim? While a high deductible might mean a cheaper house insurance premium, it may also be too high an amount for you to pay out of pocket if something happens .

The insurer that’s right for you will depend on a variety of factors because insurance is such a personalized product. However, we’ve compiled customer satisfaction rates to give you an idea of where each company stands. Here’s how Canadians review their home insurance providers: