Alberta Home Insurance

Your trusted Alberta-based home insurance broker

If you’re looking for an insurance broker for home insurance in Alberta, you don’t need to look any further than Acera Insurance. We offer the best home insurance because we’re one of Canada’s largest independent insurance brokers. That means that we work with a large number of home and contents insurance providers, giving you true competition and choice with your home insurance quotes.

We’ve been the trusted insurance brokerage for homes and contents for over 60 years. We provide unparalleled customer service, and our insurance brokers are knowledgeable, experienced, and focus on finding you the best home and contents insurance possible.

Protecting your home and personal belongings is what we do.

Homeowners insurance protects your most valuable possession – your home and all of your personal belongings. Whether you’ve purchased a new home or are looking for homeowners insurance quote online for an existing home, Acera Insurance can be your trusted home insurance broker.

We’ve been helping Albertans with their homeowner’s insurance for over 60 years. Our home insurance brokers are experienced, knowledgeable, and have a customer-first, hands-on approach to insurance.

We’re also one of the largest, independent, employee-owned home insurance brokerages in Canada. What does that mean for you as a homeowner? We’re truly independent and work with a large number of the best home insurance companies. This gives you competition and choice for your home insurance quotes and coverage.

Home insurance broker can help you with the following:

• Determine your home insurance needs
• Deliver competitive homeowners insurance quotes
• Advise and act as your personal home insurance resource
• Advocate on your behalf if you have a claim
• Aid in risk management for your home

Purchasing a new home is an exciting process. It can, however, also be complicated – especially when it comes to your home insurance. Having the right protection in case anything happens is important. Our home insurance brokers at Acera Insurance can help make choosing the right homeowners insurance a lot more straightforward.

Request a home insurance quote online, by phone, or in-person.

Understanding Home Contents Insurance in Alberta

What is home and contents insurance?

This can actually be broken up into two separate coverages:

• Home insurance (which includes house and content insurance)
• Content insurance (Also known as home contents insurance, renter insurance, tenant insurance, or condo insurance)

Home insurance includes content insurance coverage. Your home’s structure and your personal belongings, appliances, fixtures, furniture, and anything else within your home is covered from a number of causes of damage up to your policy limit. Your policy options determine the extent of your coverage. An insurance broker can help you figure out the amount and type of coverage you need and find the best home contents insurance quotes for you.

Content insurance refers to the protection of your personal belongings, including any furniture and fixtures that you own. It is also known as home contents insurance. Generally, the insurance terminology is a renter or tenant or condo insurance policy (depending on if you rent or own a condo).

Why do I need home contents insurance?

If you rent or own a condo, you need home contents insurance. As a renter, your landlord’s insurance will not protect any of your belongings. If you own a condo, the condo master policy will similarly only cover the structure of your condo – your furniture, clothing, and other items will not be protected. You’re also not covered when it comes to liability.

What does this all mean? It means that you’d be financially responsible for repairing or replacing all of your personal belongings if there was a fire. It also means that you’d be paying out of pocket if someone slipped in your apartment, broker their wrist, and then sued you for damages.

But with content insurance, your personal belongings and liability would be covered for a wide variety of scenarios. Convinced? Our insurance brokers can provide competitive content insurance quotes and help you make the right choice.

Why choose Acera insurance for your Alberta home and contents insurance?

As one of the largest independent insurance brokerages in Canada, Acera Insurance has been trusted by many Albertans with home and content insurance for decades. We work with many different insurance companies to offer you competitive home contents insurance quotes and the best choice in coverage. Our insurance brokers have the expertise to help you get the coverage you need and are here to answer your questions and advocate for you if you have a claim. We believe in a hands-on, human approach to insurance – it’s one of many reasons our customers have been so happy with our service over the past few decades.

Let us help find you the best insurance solution for your home. Get a home and contents insurance quote today. Request a content insurance quote online, by phone, or stop by to see us in person.

What does content insurance cover in Alberta?

The best home contents insurance covers your personal property and liability. This includes repairing or replacing your belongings if they are damaged or destroyed by a covered peril such as a fire. As for your liability, your legal expenses can be covered if someone has their property damaged or suffers an injury while visiting your home.

Content insurance also covers additional living expenses in the event of a mandatory evacuation or an insured claim. This means that in certain situations where you’re forced to temporarily relocate from your home, the additional expenses you incur can be covered. This includes the difference in accommodation, transportation and food costs, up to your policy limit.

There are also optional add on coverages like cyber insurance, identity theft coverage and more.

Generally, the following causes of damage are covered by content insurance:

• Fire
• Smoke
• Explosion
• Vandalism
• Theft
• Wind
• Hail
• Lightning
• Water damage – as an optional add-on for sewer backup and overland water
• Earthquake – as an optional add-on, often with a separate deductible

Many content insurance providers offer optional coverages to extend your protection or have special benefits.

Your home contents insurance options don’t stop there. You’ll also need to choose the following:

• Policy Limits (the maximum amount your content insurance will payout in the event of a claim)
• Deductible (the amount you pay when you have a covered claim before your insurance kicks in)
• Replacement cost versus actual cash value (the way your contents are valued and how a covered claim will payout)

Your policy limit should be high enough to allow you to protect all of your personal belongings. For example, $30,000 may be enough if it’s just you and some Ikea furniture in a rental unit. However, if you’re a family of 5 renting a higher-end house, this isn’t nearly enough.

Your deductible impacts your content insurance premiums. The lower your deductible, the higher your insurance rates.

The decision between replacement cost and actual cash value also impacts your insurance premiums. Replacement cost values items as if you were buying a new one of similar kind and quality today. Actual cash value values items at market value today. For example, if a fire destroyed your television you originally paid $4000 for, replacement cost would give you enough to get a television of equivalent features today, whereas actual cash value will give you what the television would be worth on the market today (purchase price minus depreciation).

If this is a bit confusing, don’t worry. An Acera Insurance broker can help you figure out what you need. They’re insurance experts and can help you understand your home contents insurance. Quotes are just one part of the services provided by an insurance broker.

Home Insurance Coverages in Alberta

Alberta home insurance liability coverage

This helps cover your legal expenses in the event you’re sued after someone is injured or has their property damaged on your property.

Alberta home insurance for physical damage

Your homeowner’s insurance covers physical damage to your home and other structures such as decks, fences, garages, and sheds. It also includes protection for your personal belongings and furniture. Here are just some of the causes of physical damage often covered by home insurance:

• Fire (including wildfire)
• Explosion
• Lightning
• Hail
• Wind and tornadoes
• Theft
• Vandalism
• Burst pipes
• Sewer backup*
• Overland water*
• Ground water*
• Earthquakes*

The causes of damage marked with an asterisk generally require the purchase of add-on coverage to your comprehensive home insurance policy.

Exactly what’s covered varies by policy and home insurance company. That’s why it’s important to talk to a knowledgeable home insurance broker.

Home insurance additional living expenses

If you’re forced from your home due to a mandatory evacuation or insured claim, you’re eligible for a certain amount of funds to help with additional living expenses. This helps make up the additional expenses you absorb when you’re not living at home, including accommodation, transportation and food.

Home Insurance Costs and Quotes

What affects the cost of my home insurance?

All of the above information matters when it comes to the cost of home insurance. Your home insurance premiums are affected by the following factors:

• Your home’s location. This determines how far you are from fire services, how far you are from risks such as bodies of water, the crime rate, and the severity and frequency of bad weather and natural disasters.
• Your coverage options. You choose your policy limits, add-on coverage, and deductible. These all contribute to your final home insurance costs.
• Your home and home’s systems ages, types, and construction. This can determine how likely it is that your home will be damaged.
• Damage prevention or detection systems. This can include backup valves, sump pumps, water alarms, burglar alarms, security cameras and lightings, and other systems which can help you prevent or detect damage. They can get you discounts on your home insurance.
• Your insurance history. How long you’ve been insured and your claims history impacts your homeowner insurance costs.

Every home insurance company may calculate home insurance rates differently. Your home insurance broker

What to consider when getting home contents insurance quotes in Alberta

A home and content insurance quote is best found by an insurance broker as they can do the price shopping and research for you.

Here’s what can impact your home contents insurance quote prices and premiums:

• Your insurance history (how long you’ve been consistently insured and your payment track record, especially)
• Your claims history (how many claims you’ve made)
• Your credit rating (some insurers give a discount if you allow a credit check)
• Your coverage options, including your deductible
• Where you live:
  • the distance from fire services
  • frequency and severity of bad weather or natural disasters
  • crime rates
  • the claim frequency of your neighbourhood
  • distance from risks such as rivers

You can also be eligible for discounts for your home and contents insurance if you’re claims-free or if you bundle all of your insurance with one insurance company. Your Acera Insurance broker is your best resource on content insurance discounts and how to lower your premiums. Fortunately, home contents insurance is typically very affordable.

Alberta homeowners insurance quote – online with the best home insurance brokers

If you’re shopping around for home insurance online, you might find yourself bombarded by all the information out there. What are some of the best home insurance companies? Where can I find the most affordable home insurance quotes? You might even be tempted to settle for the cheapest coverage you can find. Our home insurance brokers can help you navigate the tidal wave of insurance information and make sense of it all.

When you want the best home insurance coverage possible, Acera Insurance is here to help. If you are looking for homeowner’s insurance quotes, our experts can secure you with competitive quotes from Alberta’s best homeowner insurance companies. We’ll help you protect your home and your financial security.

Get started with a home insurance quote today.