Estimate Your Home Insurance Cost

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Get an estimated quote for your home insurance with this calculator. Currently, this calculator only covers detached properties located in Ontario.

Inputs

Your Home's Address

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Your Annual Property Tax

$

/year

Number of Mortgages

Zero One Two

Burglar Alarm

Centrally Monitored Locally Monitored

Distance from Fire Hydrant & Fire Station

0-300m & within 13 km 0-300m & outside 13 km >300m & within 13 km >300m & outside 13 km

Year Built

1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022

Fire Alarm

Centrally Monitored Locally Monitored

Past Claims

Zero One Two

Personal Liability

$1,000,000 $2,000,000

Calculate

Results

Your Home Insurance Quote

$0/year

Home Insurance is the transfer of risk of damage to your home. When you and many others buy insurance, you’re paying into a fund to protect yourself from the unexpected.

Insurance companies consider various factors to estimate the probability of getting a claim, and what that claim will cost. The parameters can vary from company to company. In fact, what you pay depends on quite a few different factors. From your location to the age of the roof and how many claims you have had, lots of things can impact how much your home insurance costs.

The best way to get an accurate idea is to get a quote online. You can also estimate a quote using the instant home insurance calculator on this page. The calculator takes into account the multiple parameters that cater to your home. It then quantifies those parameters, and the multiples make up your home insurance premium.

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Have you ever thought about what makes your insurance different from your neighbour's or what causes your insurance to go up or down? Insurers consider a huge number of factors when determining the insurance premium rate. The following are some key elements that will affect your home insurance quote:

Replacement Cost: Replacement cost is based on the estimated rebuilding costs should your home be destroyed and need to be rebuilt from scratch. This amount can vary depending on the size, age, and construction of your home, as well as the materials used in its construction.

Unfortunately, unforeseen events like water damage, severe weather and natural disasters are happening with increasing frequency. With the increasing cost of building materials needed to rebuild and repair homes, payouts are becoming higher and more frequent, which affects the insurance premium.

Location: The location of the house makes a huge difference. Insurance companies use the postal code to determine the likelihood of claim occurrence by tracking the claims in that region. If you live in a neighbourhood with high crime rates or a high frequency of natural disasters, you are likely to have a higher insurance premium as compared to areas which do not experience these events a lot.

Fire Station and Fire Hydrant: The distance between your home and the nearest fire station or fire hydrant can impact your premium rate. Homes located closer to a fire station and/or fire hydrant are considered less of a risk, so insurers tend to consider them more favourably when determining premiums. The closer you are, the safer you are. This, in turn, can reduce your premium adjustment.

Age of House: The age of the structure of your house is another factor of premium adjustment. As the house gets older, it depreciates in value as well as quality. This increases the risks associated with pipelines, air ducts, and roof strength. Older homes are charged higher premiums than newer homes.

Past Claims: The more claims you have made on your home insurance policy, the higher your premium rate is likely to be. Insurance companies view past claims as a sign of increased risk.

Heating System: Oil and wood-burning heat come with an increased risk of fire, so you may pay more for insurance if your home has one of these systems.

Size: If you live in a three-storey house, chances are you have more stuff than someone who lives in a small townhouse – which means it would cost more to rebuild, replace or repair in the event of, say, a fire or flood.

Usage: If you run a home-based business, it’s a good idea to connect with your insurance advisor who can discuss whether adding a home business floater to your policy is appropriate. This floater includes coverage for office equipment and inventory pertaining to a business. Home insurance includes personal liability coverage, and when this floater is added to a policy, it extends that liability coverage to a business, too. This added coverage means you'll pay more for your insurance.

Claims, Coverage and Deductible: The higher your deductible – the amount you agree to pay upfront in the event of a claim – the lower your insurance rate.

Special Discounts: There are a few other ways you may be able to reduce your home insurance premiums. Installing centrally monitored systems that detect fire and/or break-ins can usually net discounts.

Overall, your location, past claims, and distance from a fire station and hydrant have a huge impact on your insurance. Factors like fire alarms, type of roof, and heating systems do not impact the insurance quote quite as much.

For the same house, every insurance company will provide a different insurance quote. This is because of the unique rating algorithms that make their insurance rates vary based on the particular insurer’s historical data. While some home insurance calculators use only the above-mentioned factors for their insurance calculation, others use more comprehensive factors in addition to these. Those factors can be your credit rating, roof type, heat source, and the presence of any home business, pets, pools, fireplaces and many more. These factors impact the insurance rate and can be helpful in providing an accurate quote.

Many online home insurance calculators do not account for these factors and end up providing inaccurate or ballpark figures as to what your actual home insurance quote will be. On the bright side, online home insurance calculators are extremely fast and provide an estimated figure for your insurance premium within a few minutes as opposed to hours on call waiting for an agent.

Online insurance calculators try to curate all the general factors that could apply to everyone and leave the parameters that pertain to someone’s personal insurance history aside. This is the main reason for getting inaccurate but not completely unreliable results.

An online home insurance calculator is a tool that can help in getting the results for you to budget for your insurance, but should only be used as a rough estimate.

When trying to decide which insurance company to go with, be sure to check the following:

Financial Strength: Check for the financial strength of the insurer. Insurance companies need financial stability to be able to pay out large claims.

Customer Reviews: Word-of-mouth marketing has always worked in the past, and today the internet helps in spreading the word using customer reviews or recommendations. Be sure to check those out before choosing the right insurer for yourself.

Market Share: Compare the market share and industry rankings of your chosen insurer with other competitors in the market to get a better understanding of which insurer meets your needs.

Deals and Discounts: Insurance companies offer discounts from time to time. It is best to check the deals they offer on their insurance products, what kind of savings you may earn by bundling with them, how they accept payments, and how quickly they respond to queries.

Coverages Offered: Another important tip is to understand that you get fair coverage for the amount you are paying. Each insurer can have different coverages with different deductible options. Once you are clear on what kind of coverage you want, it will be easier to compare the insurers that will suit your needs.

Your insurance consists of multiple coverages, liabilities and endorsements. Home Insurance typically provides coverage for rebuilding the same property (up to the policy limit). The overall property coverage limit may be either dependent upon the actual cash value or the replacement value of the home.

This includes four basic Coverages, namely Coverage A, Coverage B, Coverage C, and Coverage D.

• Coverage A includes dwelling such as foundation, flooring, windows and doors.
• Coverage B includes detached structures such as a shed or outhouse.
• Coverage C includes home contents such as furniture, computers, appliances, and clothing.
• Coverage D includes additional expenses such as bad debt on rent for landlords, and expenses of tenants or homeowners.

Learn about other components of home insurance, such as endorsements, at WOWA's guide to home insurance.

Will I get home insurance if I have a pet dog? Dogs are considered a part of the property, and you will be provided coverage against personal liability in case your dog bites someone in your house. Keep in mind that this coverage is not the same as pet insurance. Some insurance companies might increase your insurance if you have a large breed dog, for example, a pit bull, rottweiler, cane corso etc. It is important to check with your insurance before you finalize your policy.

Does my home insurance cover natural disasters? It is a myth that natural disasters are not covered by a home insurance policy. A typical insurance policy covers “named-perils” and contains a clause for “unpredictable weather conditions”. For example, most insurance policies in Alberta cover hailstorms.

Will having a swimming pool or hot tub increase my home insurance? Open water sources in the house can increase your home insurance. This is because it can increase the risk of personal liability, and adds an additional layer of repair cost if it were to be rebuilt. There is also a risk of the pool leaking and water entering the foundation of the house. The insurance companies account for such risks and charge accordingly.

Will regular repair or renovation affect my home insurance? Major renovations in the house can reduce the insurance risk. For example, if you repaired a 10-year-old roof, this can help reduce the risk. On the other hand, if you make structural changes like adding a bedroom without a permit, this can lead to increased insurance rates.