Shelter Insurance review 2023

Shelter car insurance

Shelter earned a Bankrate Score of 3.7, which is a bit lower than some top companies due to its higher-than-average rates and limited availability. Still, our Shelter Insurance review shows that it could be a solid choice for drivers who value customer service over cheap rates. In the 2022 J.D. Power U.S. Auto Insurance Study, Shelter earned the top official rank of car insurance companies in the Central region. According to the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC), it also has fewer complaints than the national baseline.

Shelter car insurance is unique in that roadside assistance and new car replacement are included in every policy. Meanwhile, coverage types like collision and comprehensive, rental reimbursement, disability income, gap insurance and loss of use are optional.

Shelter car insurance is sold through a network of local agents and is only available in 15 states. Although the company typically has higher-than-average rates, it offers a wide range of discounts to help policyholders save money.

Pros and cons of Shelter car insurance

It’s important to look at the big picture when shopping for the best car insurance. If you’re considering Shelter auto insurance and unsure of how it stacks up to your priorities, an easy way to evaluate it is to list out the company’s pros and cons.

Shelter car insurance cost

According to proprietary rate data from Quadrant Information Services, Shelter’s average annual premium for a full coverage policy is $2,225. Its rate for a minimum coverage policy is $682 per year, on average. Nationally, the average annual cost of car insurance for full and minimum coverage is $2,014 and $622, respectively. This data shows that Shelter may not be the cheapest car insurance company available to most drivers.

Shelter car insurance rates by driving history

Car insurance companies consider several rating factors to determine your premium, and your driving history may be one of the most significant. Some types of driving activity can be weighed more heavily than others, as demonstrated in the tables below. Not all companies will offer a policy to a driver with a DUI on their record, so these rates have been omitted. You may want to contact a local agent for more information regarding DUI premiums.

Shelter car insurance quotes by age

According to the Insurance Information Institute (Triple-I), nearly 39 percent of all fatal crashes had drivers aged 16 to 20 behind the wheel in 2022. Due to their heightened accident risk, younger drivers typically pay the highest premiums. However, how much these drivers cost to insure will also be impacted by if they are listed on their parents' policy or if they have a policy of their own.

Average cost of car insurance for drivers on their own policy

Shelter car insurance discounts

If you’re wondering how to lower your car insurance premiums, Shelter advertises 13 car insurance discounts on its website. Some of Shelter’s car insurance discounts include:

Shelter car tools and benefits

Shelter Insurance offers a few benefits and coverage options that you might not find when requesting car insurance quotes with other carriers. For instance, Shelter includes free roadside assistance with every auto policy that can help you if you have a flat tire, lock yourself out of your vehicle or need a jump start.

Policyholders with new cars may want to consider purchasing Shelter’s gap insurance. This option can pay your loan balance if your new vehicle is deemed a total loss after a covered accident and you owe more on your loan than the car is worth.

Drivers that use their vehicles for business purposes may want to learn more about Shelter’s business auto insurance, which can provide specialized coverage for this type of risk.

Shelter home insurance

Shelter home insurance may be a good choice for homeowners looking for standard coverage types such as dwelling coverage, coverage for other structures, personal property and personal liability. Like many of the best homeowners insurance companies, Shelter also offers optional add-ons, like sewer back-up, coverage for docks and piers, increased computer protection, farm insurance and earthquake damage.

Our team calculated a Bankrate Score of 3.0 out of 5 possible points for Shelter’s home insurance. Shelter fell short in its lack of nationwide availability, and it was not included in the 2022 J.D. Power U.S. Home Insurance Study. However, this score also reflects Shelter’s high AM Best score for financial strength, fewer than average complaints from the NAIC and wide range of home insurance coverage options. However, Shelter fell short in its lack of nationwide availability, and it was not included in the 2022 J.D. Power U.S. Home Insurance Study.

Pros and cons of Shelter homeowners insurance

These pros and cons could help you better understand what you may expect from a Shelter homeowners policy when comparing quotes with other companies:

Shelter home insurance cost

The national average cost for homeowners insurance in 2023 is $1,428 per year. However, your rate will vary based on your individual rating factors, such as your location, claims history and credit (depending on your state). While average rate data for Shelter home insurance is not available, knowing the national average can be a helpful point of comparison when reviewing your quote. If you’re looking for the cheapest homeowners insurance company, you can contact a Shelter insurance agent and walk through policy and discount options.

Shelter home insurance discounts

Shelter’s advertises a few home insurance discounts to help you save on your premium. Shelter’s homeowners insurance discounts include:

Shelter home tools and benefits

In addition to standard homeowners policies, Shelter provides a wide range of other types of property coverage such as renters, mobile home, condo, and apartment owners (landlord’s) insurance. Homeowners with expensive collections may want to consider Shelter’s scheduled personal articles insurance, which can provide extra protection for things like jewelry, guns, musical instruments, art and sports equipment.

Additionally, homeowners may want to learn more about Shelter’s inflation protection coverage add-on. In Bankrate’s 2022 economic survey, 53 percent of the experts we polled stated that inflation will be higher than they previously anticipated. With this in mind, inflation protection could help bridge the gap between your home’s value and its cost to restore.

Shelter life insurance

Shelter life insurance offers term life and permanent life insurance, as well as low-cost life insurance for children. The company’s permanent life insurance options include several types of whole life insurance and one type of universal life insurance. The company also offers several endorsements that could help you personalize your policy. If you’re looking for a life insurance provider with several policy options and life insurance for children, you may want to consider a quote from Shelter.

Pros and cons of Shelter life insurance

Here are some things to you may want to consider when requesting a life insurance quote with Shelter:

Shelter life insurance endorsements

Policyholders have the option to add Shelter life insurance endorsements to their policies for personalized financial protection. While these riders may not provide you with the cheapest life insurance policy, their benefits could outweigh the additional cost.

Shelter life tools and benefits

Shelter includes a helpful learning center on its website. On it, readers can learn more about life insurance and other types of insurance policies. It also includes several helpful conveniences such as:

• Safety tips
• Life planning tools
• A video hub
• Exclusive recipes

Shelter customer satisfaction

Affordable rates are important when looking for the best insurance company, but it isn’t the only consideration. In fact, some shoppers may value customer service above all else. To evaluate Shelter’s customer satisfaction, Bankrate analyzed available third-party scores from J.D. Power and the company’s NAIC Complaint Index score. 

Shelter is unrated by Standard & Poor’s (S&P), but it received a financial strength rating of A (Excellent) from AM Best.

Shelter auto satisfaction

Out of all the companies assessed, Shelter was number one in customer satisfaction for the Central region in the 2022 J.D. Power U.S. Auto Insurance Study, with a score of 866 out of 1,000 points. This could indicate that many of Shelter’s auto policyholders are satisfied with the level of service Shelter provides. 

Regarding customer complaints, Shelter lands at a .39 on the NAIC’s customer complaint index for its private passenger product line. The NAIC complaint baseline is 1.0, so an index of .39 means that Shelter receives fewer customer complaints than average.

Shelter homeowners satisfaction

Although J.D. Power did not include Shelter’s property insurance product line in its 2022 homeowner insurance studies, the company’s low level of NAIC complaints regarding its homeowners policies could mean that customer satisfaction is high. 

Shelter life satisfaction

J.D. Power did not include Shelter life insurance in its 2022 U.S. Individual Life Insurance Study. However, its NAIC Complaint Index shows that while the company has written almost $140,000,000 in life insurance premiums, it has yet to receive a complaint about its individual life product. This data could indicate that Shelter life insurance policyholders are overall satisfied with the company's service. 

How to file a claim with Shelter

Shelter will ask you for some basic information when you file a claim. For instance, the agent will ask for the vehicle and driver information of everyone involved when you report a car accident. Once you have the information you need, you can file a claim with Shelter by:

• Visiting Shelter’s online claims portal
• Calling 1-800-743-5837

Shelter availability

Shelter is a smaller insurance company that is only available in 15 states, including:

• Arkansas
• Colorado
• Illinois
• Indiana
• Iowa
• Kansas
• Kentucky
• Louisiana
• Mississippi
• Missouri
• Nebraska
• Nevada
• Ohio
• Oklahoma
• Tennessee

Other Shelter perks worth considering

When comparing quotes from different insurance companies, it can be helpful to look at a company’s perks to see if it stands out from the crowd. In Shelter’s case, it offers a wide range of coverage types and features, including:

• Umbrella insurance: An umbrella policy can offer formidable liability protection above and beyond what you carry on your home and auto policies.
• Farm insurance: Shelter offers policies that can protect your farm property, livestock, farm equipment and more through its suite of farm insurance.
• Flood insurance: Shelter Insurance offers flood insurance written through the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) and the Wright Flood Insurance company.
• Mobile app: Not all regional carriers offer a mobile app, but Shelter does. With it, you can access your ID cards, view your agent’s contact information, schedule a payment and see your policy details.
• Shelter Insurance Gardens: Policyholders in the Columbia, Missouri, area may want to visit the Shelter Insurance Gardens located at the company’s corporate headquarters. Among the garden’s many features, you will find more than 300 types of trees, a waterfall, a Vietnam veterans’ memorial, a garden for the blind and more.

Shelter corporate sustainability

Shelter’s nonprofit arm, the Shelter Foundation, sponsors a range of scholarships throughout its operating region. It also helps raise money for the Heart of Missouri United Way every year. Over the years, Shelter has donated funds to veterans, Ronald McDonald House and food banks.

In terms of diversity, Shelter operates through a Principles of Community statement designed to promote inclusivity. The company also encourages employees to participate in internal support networks such as the Multicultural Group (MCG) and the Shelter Women’s Advocacy Group (SWAG).

Not sure if Shelter is right for you?

After considering points from our Shelter Insurance review, you may still be uncertain if this company is the right choice for you. To round out your insurance shopping experience, this list of car insurance providers may also be worth exploring in your research:

Shelter vs. First Chicago Insurance Company

If you are an HVAC technician, photographer, landscaper or another type of artisan contractor, First Chicago Insurance could be a good choice because of the specialized coverage this company offers. It also boasts 10 discounts that you could earn on your personal auto policy.

Shelter vs. Electric Insurance

If Shelter Insurance’s limited availability is an issue, you may want to check out Electric Insurance, which writes policies in all 50 states and Puerto Rico. Electric’s auto insurance coverage options are robust, and like Shelter, it also offers homeowners insurance.

Learn more: Electric Insurance review

Shelter vs. Encompass

Owned by Allstate, Encompass offers a staggering number of discounts. If you’re looking for ways to lower your premium, this could be a good company for you. Encompass also operates in 40 states and offers accident forgiveness, a perk that Shelter lacks.

Learn more: Encompass Insurance review

Is Shelter a good insurance company?

Our insurance editorial team has decades' worth of combined experience, and we have three licensed agents on staff to ensure that the information we provide is accurate, honest and helpful. We dedicate hundreds of hours each year to conducting comprehensive insurance company reviews to help guide our readers in choosing the best carrier to fit their personalized needs. 

With that in mind, Shelter could be a good insurance company, depending on your priorities. According to third-party scores, Shelter policyholders are generally happy with its service. Its policies are also highly-customizable because of its robust coverage and rider options. However, you may pay a little more than average for these benefits, and depending on where you live, Shelter may not be available to you. You can contact an agent to request a quote to find out if Shelter Insurance best fits your individual needs. 

Methodology

Bankrate utilizes Quadrant Information Services to analyze 2023 rates for ZIP codes and carriers in all 50 states and Washington, D.C. Rates are weighted based on the population density in each geographic region. Quoted rates are based on 40-year-old male and female homeowners with a clean claim history, good credit and the following coverage limits:

Auto

• $100,000 bodily injury liability per person
• $300,000 bodily injury liability per accident
• $50,000 property damage liability per accident
• $100,000 uninsured motorist bodily injury per person
• $300,000 uninsured motorist bodily injury per accident
• $500 collision deductible
• $500 comprehensive deductible

To determine minimum coverage limits, Bankrate used minimum coverage that meets each state’s requirements. Our sample drivers own a 2020 Toyota Camry, commute five days a week and drive 12,000 miles annually.

Age: Rates were calculated by evaluating our base profile with the ages 16-60 (base: 40 years) applied. Depending on age, drivers may be a renter or homeowner. Age is not a contributing rating factor in Hawaii and Massachusetts.

The rates for drivers ages 16–20 added to their parent's policy reflect the good student and driver's training discounts applied. The rates for drivers aged 18-20 on their own policy do not include the good student and driver's training discounts. Additionally, 25-year-old rates are based on the driver as a renter and 30+ on the driver as a homeowner. 

Incidents: Rates were calculated by evaluating our base profile with the following incidents applied: clean record (base), single speeding ticket and single at-fault accident. 

Bankrate Scores

Our 2023 Bankrate Score considers variables our insurance editorial team determined impacts policyholders’ experiences with an insurance company. These rating factors include a robust assessment of each company’s product availability, financial strength ratings, online capabilities and customer and claims support accessibility. Each factor was added to a category, and these categories were weighted in a tiered approach to analyze how companies perform in key customer-impacting categories. 

Like our previous Bankrate Scores, each category was assigned a metric to determine performance, and the weighted sum adds up to a company’s total Bankrate Score — out of 5 points. This year, our 2023 scoring model provides a more comprehensive view, indicating when companies excel across several key areas and better highlighting where they fall short.

• Tier 1 (Cost & ratings): To determine how well auto and home insurance companies satisfy these priorities, 2023 quoted premiums from Quadrant Information Services (if available), as well as any of the latest third-party agency ratings from J.D. Power, AM Best and the NAIC, were analyzed.
• Tier 2 (Coverage & savings): We assessed companies’ coverage options and availability to help policyholders find a provider that balances cost with coverage. Additionally, we evaluated each company’s discount options listed on its website.
• Tier 3 (Support): To encompass the many ways an auto and home insurance company can support policyholders, we analyzed avenues of customer accessibility along with community support. This analysis incorporated additional financial strength ratings from S&P and Moody’s and factored a company’s corporate sustainability efforts.

Tier scores are unweighted to show the company's true score in each category out of a possible five points.