Amelia Buckley is an insurance editor for Bankrate.com and an insurance agent with a personal lines license. She emphasizes creating informative, engaging and nuanced content to support readers in making personalized insurance decisions with confidence.
Amelia Buckley is an insurance editor for Bankrate.com and an insurance agent with a personal lines license. She emphasizes creating informative, engaging and nuanced content to support readers in making personalized insurance decisions with confidence.
At Bankrate, we strive to help you make smarter financial decisions. To help readers understand how insurance affects their finances, we have 9 licensed insurance agents on staff who have spent a combined 78 years in the insurance industry. While we adhere to strict
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At a glance
3.9
Rating: 3.9 stars out of 5
Bankrate Score
Score breakdown
Home
Rating: 3.9 stars out of 5
3.9
Cost & ratings
Rating: 4 stars out of 5
4.0
Coverage
Rating: 3.67 stars out of 5
3.7
Support
Rating: 4 stars out of 5
4.0
Auto
Rating: 0 stars out of 5
0.0
Life
Rating: 0 stars out of 5
0.0
Bankrate scores are objectively determined by our editorial team. Our scoring formula weighs several factors consumers should consider when choosing financial products and services.
About Bankrate Score
Bankrate's take
United Property & Casualty Insurance Company, better known as UPC Insurance, may have been a good option for homeowners in some risk-prone areas who also preferred working with in-person agents. However, the company has been declared insolvent and new policies are no longer available.
Declared insolvent February 2023 and no longer writing new policies
Previously offered home insurance in high-risk coastal areas
High NAIC complaint index
New
What’s new with UPC?
Effective March 29, 2023, UPC Insurance home policies are no longer active.
On Feb. 10, 2023, United Insurance Holdings Corp. — the parent company of UPC — filed a notice with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) that UPC, due to its incurred losses from Hurricane Ian, was expected to be declared insolvent.
In December 2022, Florida state regulators placed UPC under administrative supervision. The company is still solvent but its policies, at least in Florida, will all be canceled by May 31, 2023.
In August 2022, UPC announced plans to withdraw its personal lines business in Florida, Louisiana, New York and Texas. The company previously also sold coverage in Georgia, North Carolina and South Carolina, but quotes are currently unavailable in those states and UPC has sold its renewal rights to those policies. This effectively means that UPC will soon no longer write personal home insurance policies in any state.
UPC home insurance review
UPC home insurance is no longer available. The company was declared insolvent on Feb. 16, 2023 by the Florida OIR. In Florida, some policies were transferred to the state while others were transferred to Slide Insurance. Louisiana UPC policyholders were transferred to Louisiana Citizens. If you had a UPC policy, be on the lookout for communications from the company about how to handle your policy going forward. It may be transferred to another company or you may need to seek new coverage yourself.
UPC previously helped to provide coverage availability for homes in high-risk, coastal areas where home insurance options were harder to find. While UPC's policies were fairly basic, you may have been able to add a few optional coverage types to bolster your policy, like service line coverage and home systems protection.
Pros and cons of UPC home insurance
Pros
Offered home insurance in some risk-prone states
Products were offered through local independent agents
Offered a few optional coverage types
Cons
Company is insolvent and policies may no longer be available
Had limited state availability
Had an above-average NAIC Complaint Index
UPC customer satisfaction
When shopping for the best home insurance company, it may be helpful to look at more than just quoted premiums. Analyzing customer service and financial strength ratings could help you discern how satisfied you might be with your interactions with the company.
Bankrate analyzed financial strength ratings from companies like AM Best and Demotech, as these evaluate a company's historical ability to pay claims. While UPC is unrated by AM Best, it used to be rated as A (Exceptional) by Demotech. In August 2022, however, Demotech downgraded UPC to an M (Moderate) rating and has since withdrawn its rating altogether. This was likely an early sign of the financial instability within UPC, which has now erupted into full-blown insolvency.
To review customer satisfaction from a historical perspective — remember that UPC is now insolvent, so it will no longer have any policies or customers once the process has been completed — Bankrate looked at third-party data from companies like J.D. Power and the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) Complaint Index.
UPC was not included in the 2023 J.D. Power Home Insurance or the 2024 Property Claims Satisfaction Study. That said, it was ranked second-lowest out of 23 providers in the 2020 Home Insurance Study.
UPC customer complaints
The NAIC records complaints about insurance companies and assigns a complaint index to each carrier. A baseline index is 1.00. Scores above 1.00 indicate more complaints than average for a company of that size and vice versa.
UPC home insurance customer complaints
NAIC data was not favorable regarding UPC's customer satisfaction; its score from 2021 indicates that over three times more complaints were filed with the NAIC about UPC than expected for a company of its size. The carrier no longer receives a complaint index as it is insolvent.
UPC home insurance cost
The national average cost of home insurance for $250,000 in dwelling coverage is $2,242 per year. UPC home insurance rates are not available due to the company’s discontinuation of personal home insurance policies.
UPC home insurance discounts
If you are shopping for the cheapest home insurance, most insurance professionals recommend shopping around to compare home insurance quotes from several companies. Discounts may help you save on home insurance, so choosing a company that offers several discounts you are eligible for might help you find a more affordable policy.
UPC home insurance discounts likely varied by state when the company was still solvent, and its advertised discounts were not very extensive or unique. If you’re looking for a new home insurance policy due to UPC’s insolvency, you may want to consider bundling your auto and home insurance, updating your home’s roof or installing a home security device, as these measures are among the most common ways to get a home insurance discount.
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Coverage.com, LLC is a licensed insurance producer (NPN: 19966249). Coverage.com services are only available in states where it is licensed. Coverage.com may not offer insurance coverage in all states or scenarios. All insurance products are governed by the terms in the applicable insurance policy, and all related decisions (such as approval for coverage, premiums, commissions and fees) and policy obligations are the sole responsibility of the underwriting insurer. The information on this site does not modify any insurance policy terms in any way.
Get personalized home insurance quotes
Answering a few quick questions to check your availability with UPC
This advertisement is powered by Coverage.com, LLC, a licensed insurance producer (NPN: 19966249) and a corporate affiliate of Bankrate. The offers and links that appear on this advertisement are from companies that compensate Coverage.com in different ways. The compensation received and other factors, such as your location, may impact what offers and links appear, and how, where and in what order they appear. While we seek to provide a wide range of offers, we do not include every product or service that may be available. Our goal is to keep information accurate and timely, but some information may not be current. Your actual offer from an advertiser may be different from the offer on this advertisement. All offers are subject to additional terms and conditions.
Coverage.com, LLC is a licensed insurance producer (NPN: 19966249). Coverage.com services are only available in states where it is licensed. Coverage.com may not offer insurance coverage in all states or scenarios. All insurance products are governed by the terms in the applicable insurance policy, and all related decisions (such as approval for coverage, premiums, commissions and fees) and policy obligations are the sole responsibility of the underwriting insurer. The information on this site does not modify any insurance policy terms in any way.
Compare UPC with other insurers
If you were reading UPC Insurance reviews but found it no longer provides homeowners insurance, you may want to consider getting quotes from other home insurance companies. There are several home insurance companies that provide comparable rates and homeowners insurance options to UPC, such as State Farm, USAA, and Lemonade.
UPC vs. State Farm
State Farm offers a full range of product lines and is consistently highly rated by third-party rating services such as AM Best and J.D. Power. If you like that UPC was sold by local agents, State Farm's agency network might appeal to you. State Farm is also available in a broader range of states than UPC was. If you are looking to manage multiple policies in one place, State Farm car insurance may be worth looking into as it regularly makes Bankrate’s list of the best car insurance companies.
USAA only offers insurance policies to active-duty members of the U.S. Military, veterans and qualifying family members. If you qualify, you may appreciate USAA's highly-rated customer service and policy features that are tailored to the needs of military families. Unlike UPC, USAA is available nationwide. Qualifying applicants might also look into USAA car insurance, which typically offers cheap rates.
If you're looking for a highly-rated home insurance company that operates fully online, you may want to research Lemonade. Lemonade also offers car insurance, so it might be a good option if you want to bundle your policies and prefer a digital platform. Lemonade isn’t available nationwide, but it does offer coverage in a wider range of states than UPC did.
The insurance market can be complicated, but Bankrate's insurance editorial team used our unique perspective to bring readers the information they need to make educated decisions when shopping for a policy.
78
years of industry experience
9
licensed staff
34.5K
ZIP codes examined
120
carriers reviewed
Is UPC a good insurance company?
UPC isn’t an option for home insurance. The company isn’t offering quotes online anymore, and it has been declared insolvent in Florida. UPC's high NAIC Complaint Index and the withdrawal of its Demotech financial strength rating may have been indications of the company's service level and financial stability. If you were considering a quote from UPC, you’ll need to research and compare quotes from other companies for more information on relevant rates, coverage offerings, discounts, and third-party scores and ratings.
What are real-life customers saying about UPC?
One of the best ways to gauge the general consensus about a home insurance company is to see what actual customers have to say. To give deeper insight into the company, Bankrate’s insurance editorial team looked for UPC insurance reviews on sites like Reddit.
Reddit
UPC customers on Reddit primarily asked questions in forums pertaining to insurance and personal finance about what will happen to their UPC policies now that the company is going out of business.
Reddit user 1
Mar 21, 2023
My homeowners insurance went bankrupt. Can I trust I'll get my refund?
“I had UPC insurance (I'm in Texas). The letter I got said my coverage will end 4/1/23. I called and they said finance will process them in May. Can I trust I'll get a check for the unused coverage? I had read previous posts with similar issues and everyone said they ghost you or something.”
“Since UPC Homeowners Insurance went bankrupt, we are supposed to get refunds for any unused insurance premium. Example, if you renewed in December and they stopped your policy in March, you should get ~8 months worth of your premium back. Anyone know when the refunds will be processed?”
For policies beginning with letters: (800) 295-8016
For policies beginning with 90: (866) 515-4428
Georgia: (866) 515-4428
Louisiana: (866) 515-4428
North Carolina: (800) 295-8016
New York: (866) 515-4428 for policies beginning with 32 or 80
South Carolina:
For policies beginning with letters: (800) 295-8016
For policies beginning with 80: (866) 515-4428
Texas: (866) 515-4428
State availability
When UPC Insurance was in business, it wrote policies in Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Louisiana, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Rhode Island, South Carolina and Texas. It is no longer issuing new insurance policies.
UPC tools and benefits
Due to its insolvency and subsequent receivership, UPC Insurance's additional tools and benefits are no longer available. Here's a retrospective look at some of the features it once offered:
Water backup insurance: Previously, UPC provided coverage for damages arising from water backup issues, such as those from bathtubs or sinks.
Valuable items insurance: This coverage catered to specific valuable items like jewelry and silverware, offering additional protection beyond standard home insurance.
Golf cart insurance: Reflecting Florida's lifestyle, UPC offered an option for adding golf cart coverage to home insurance policies, covering both physical damage and liability.
Home self-inspection program: UPC had implemented a Home-Self Inspection program where policyholders could use their smartphones to conduct and submit a home inspection, streamlining the process and reducing the need for in-person inspections.
As UPC Insurance has ceased its operations, these benefits are no longer accessible. Policyholders affected by UPC's insolvency should have received guidance on their policy transitions, as various arrangements were made to handle the existing policies and claims.
Frequently asked questions about UPC
If you were a UPC customer and need to file a claim, you can do so in one of two ways:
After your claim is filed, you'll work with an adjuster to explain the details of your claim. The adjuster will review the damage and your policy to check for coverage. If you do have the proper coverage for the loss situation, your adjuster will work to pay the claim. Any claims filed before the insolvency date should be paid for by either UPC’s available funds or by the state of Florida. Make sure you watch for information from UPC regarding its contact information, as it could be in flux as the company winds down.
If your UPC policy was one that was transferred to Slide, you can file a claim by:
Slide offers a helpful online claims center, and you can even get help from a pre-approved contractor by calling 1-833-854-3440.
Bankrate's UPC Insurance review would not be complete without looking at the company's social responsibility. According to UPC, the company was reducing its environmental impact by investing in clean energy initiatives, promoting waste reduction strategies and employing energy-efficient technologies.
In terms of social responsibility, the company supported community nonprofits for education, medical care, research, domestic violence prevention and more. The company also created a corporate governance guideline structure to promote accountability among executives.
UPC Insurance was declared financially insolvent. This means that it did not have enough money in reserve to pay out potential future claims, and could not sustain its business model. UPC home insurance policies were canceled in early 2023 and some eligible policyholders were transferred to other insurers.
As of March 29, 2023, UPC Insurance home policies were canceled. Some of UPC’s Florida policyholders were transferred to Slide Insurance. UPC Insurance had around 146,000 active policies at the time it was declared financially insolvent and ordered into receivership by the Secord Judicial Circuit Court in Leon County, Florida.
As of March 29, 2023 you can no longer purchase home insurance policies from UPC. In addition, all previous UPC insurance policies have been canceled from this date.
We strive to assign a Bankrate Score to every insurance company we review. However, because UPC is no longer writing new policies and average rates are not available, we were unable to score it with our proprietary scoring method.
Amelia Buckley is an insurance editor for Bankrate.com and an insurance agent with a personal lines license. She emphasizes creating informative, engaging and nuanced content to support readers in making personalized insurance decisions with confidence.
