Home and Auto Insurance in Colorado

Most Colorado households buy their home insurance and their auto insurance at different times, from different companies, for different reasons, and then never look at the two of them side by side again. That is how a family ends up carrying a $2,500 deductible on a roof, state minimum liability on two cars, and no umbrella at all, without anyone ever having made that decision on purpose.

Premier Mountain Insurance represents more than 30 carriers, and we read both declarations pages together. Sometimes the answer is to move everything to one company. Sometimes it is not, and we will tell you so.

Colorado is the state where this actually matters

In most of the country, home and auto are separate problems. Here they are frequently the same problem, and the reason is hail.

A Front Range hailstorm does not choose between the roof and the driveway. It takes both in the same fifteen minutes. When that happens, a household with two carriers files two claims, meets two deductibles, works with two adjusters on two schedules, and finds out the hard way that the roof was on a percentage deductible while the cars were not. A household with one carrier has one claim conversation.

Many carriers will apply a single deductible when one storm damages both the home and a vehicle, though on some policies it takes an endorsement to add it. It is worth asking about before the storm rather than after it. More on the roof side of this is in our explanation of the roof payment schedule and wind and hail deductibles in Colorado.

What writing them together changes, beyond the discount

The multi-policy credit is real, and it is usually the smallest part of the story. The parts that matter more:

Gaps close. Liability claims have a habit of landing in the seam between two policies. A dog bite, an accident in a vehicle a neighbor was borrowing, a teenage driver who lives at home but is titled elsewhere, a golf cart, a trailer. When one company holds both policies, the seam is theirs to sort out. When two companies hold them, the seam is yours.

The umbrella gets simpler. An umbrella sits on top of underlying limits and will not issue unless those limits are high enough. Carriers write umbrellas over their own underlying policies readily. Over somebody else’s, it is a longer conversation, the underlying requirements are stricter, and it costs more. Premier Mountain Insurance does write stand-alone umbrellas when the underlying policies sit elsewhere, and we use them regularly, but a household that already has both policies in one place gets the cleanest version of this.

One review a year instead of none. Two carriers means two renewal dates, and in practice it means neither policy gets looked at. One renewal date is one appointment, and that is the appointment where somebody notices the dwelling limit has not moved since 2019.

One place to call. Which sounds like a small thing until the week you need it.

Where the savings come from, and what to expect

Carriers discount multi-policy households because those households leave less often and file differently, not because the coverage is worth less. That distinction matters, because the cheapest bundle on the market is frequently cheap for reasons that show up at claim time: a percentage wind and hail deductible, actual cash value on the roof, or liability limits set where nobody would set them on purpose.

We quote the household as a whole across our carriers and show what each one is actually offering, not just the annual figure. If the lowest number is also the weakest policy, we will say that out loud.

Review My Home and Auto

The limits conversation nobody starts

Colorado’s minimum liability limits are 25/50/15. That is $25,000 for any one injured person, $50,000 as a ceiling on the entire accident regardless of how many people are hurt, and $15,000 for property damage. The $25,000 is a cap that lives inside the $50,000, not money stacked on top of it, so the most that policy will ever pay in one accident is $65,000 including the property damage. One hospital stay can use up the $25,000 available to a single injured person before anybody has talked about lost wages.

Nobody should be carrying state minimum limits. A household reviewing home and auto together is in the one conversation where fixing it is easy, because raising auto liability to 250/500 and adding a million dollars of umbrella above it is a smaller change than most people expect once both policies are with the same company. Our explanation of split limits versus a combined single limit covers how the numbers are structured.

When bundling is the wrong answer

It is not always the answer, and an agency that tells you it always is has one company to sell.

When the home has to go to the surplus lines market. A home in a high wildfire area frequently cannot be written by an admitted carrier at all. When the home goes to a non-admitted market, the auto stays where it is priced best, and the two simply do not travel together. This is a large part of what we do, and it is covered on getting homeowners insurance in wildfire zones.

When the auto has a problem the home carrier will not price around. A recent at-fault accident, a young driver with a violation, or an SR-22 can make the auto side expensive at a carrier that is excellent on the home. Splitting is sometimes the right call for a few years, and then worth revisiting.

When a vehicle needs agreed value. Collector and specialty vehicles belong on a policy built for them. Our page on agreed value versus actual cash value covers why.

When the home has claims history. A home with three claims in five years is placed with the carriers that will still write it, and that shortlist is short. Here the order reverses: bringing the auto along often helps the home get written at all, which is covered on our page about three claims in five years.

Common questions

Do I have to move both policies at once?

No. Policies can be moved at their own renewal dates, and the multi-policy credit applies once the second one lands. We will tell you which order costs less.

Will I be charged a fee to cancel mid-term?

Most Colorado personal lines carriers refund unearned premium pro rata rather than short rate, but this varies and it is worth confirming on your specific policy before anything is cancelled. We check it before we move anything.

Does renters insurance count?

Yes, at most carriers. Renters plus auto earns the same multi-policy credit, and it is the least expensive liability coverage a household can buy.

Can you quote this without me calling?

Send both declarations pages and we will come back with the comparison. Most of the work happens before anyone picks up the phone.

What if my home is in a high fire risk area?

Then the home is a separate project and the auto is a separate project, and we do both. See wildfire zone coverage.

For the coverages themselves, see Colorado home insurance and Colorado auto insurance.