Plymouth Rock Assurance homeowners insurance

Overview

Plymouth Rock Assurance is the brand of The Plymouth Rock Company, a privately held Boston insurer that owns and manages auto and home insurance companies in six Northeastern states. This profile covers the Boston-owned group that writes homeowners insurance in Massachusetts, Connecticut and New Hampshire. Massachusetts and Connecticut policies are underwritten by Plymouth Rock Home Assurance Corporation and its four Bunker Hill subsidiaries, and New Hampshire policies by Mt. Washington Assurance Corporation. Plymouth Rock-branded home policies in New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania are written by a different set of companies, covered in the Plymouth Rock Assurance (New Jersey) profile.

The Plymouth Rock Insurance Group ranked #78 among U.S. homeowners insurance groups by 2025 direct premiums written, with $241.3 million (0.13% of the national market), according to NAIC market share data. Massachusetts accounted for $170.7 million of that, making Plymouth Rock the state's eighth-largest home insurer in 2025 with 4.23% of the market, just behind Arbella Insurance and Chubb.

Plymouth Rock sells home insurance three ways: through independent agents, directly online, and by phone or text. Its "5-second quote," which prices most homes from a name, address and date of birth, is the feature it promotes most in home insurance.

History

James M. Stone founded The Plymouth Rock Company in 1982 with $3 million of capital, and it began doing business in 1984. Stone, who holds a Ph.D. in economics from Harvard, had been Massachusetts Commissioner of Insurance and, from 1979, chairman of the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission. He has been chief executive since the founding. Andrew McElwee, a former Homesite president and Chubb personal lines executive, joined in 2022 as president and chief operating officer.

Auto insurance is still the core of the business: the independent agency group, which writes only auto coverage, produced just under $1.5 billion of volume in 2025. In New Jersey, a Plymouth Rock subsidiary manages the Palisades Safety and Insurance Association, a reciprocal exchange, and its affiliated companies. The Plymouth Rock Company does not own that reciprocal group, though it manages it for fees and its financial statements consolidate it. Together the companies wrote about $2.4 billion in annual premiums at the end of 2025.

Homeowners became a priority after Bill Martin, a former Bankers Insurance president and founder of Neptune Flood, joined in 2016 to run Plymouth Rock Home Assurance. In his February 2026 letter to shareholders, Stone credited Martin with turning what he called a passive $75 million home book into a $450 million operation, but also wrote that the fast growth let loss ratios run away and produced a serious cumulative underwriting loss before results were brought under control.

Homeowners coverage

Plymouth Rock sells its homeowners policy in three base levels, Good, Better and Best. Every level includes the six standard coverages: dwelling, other structures (usually 10% of the dwelling limit), personal property, loss of use (usually 20% of the dwelling limit), personal liability and medical payments (usually $1,000 per person). Depending on the state, the higher levels can automatically include guaranteed rebuild coverage, water backup and sump overflow, credit card coverage, identity monitoring and theft expense reimbursement, and scheduled personal property.

Endorsements include home systems breakdown for equipment such as a furnace or air conditioner, utility service line coverage, cyber and identity protection, and green upgrades. Flood is available through Neptune Flood or the National Flood Insurance Program, and umbrella policies, including coverage for trusts and LLCs, are sold separately. Condo and renters policies are also offered.

The detail most likely to surprise a policyholder is how belongings are paid. Plymouth Rock's coverage page says personal property coverage applies to the actual cash value of an item, its depreciated value, rather than full replacement cost, and its claims page says most claims are settled for actual cash value first. If you buy replacement cost coverage, you can collect the recoverable depreciation after repairs or replacement are done. Say a five-year-old sofa that cost $3,000 is ruined in a covered fire and has depreciated by half: without replacement cost coverage, the check for it is about $1,500 before your deductible. Ask which level and endorsements put your contents, and your house, on a replacement cost or guaranteed replacement cost basis.

Discounts and savings

Four discounts apply automatically when you qualify: new customer, claims free (no homeowners claim in the past five years), age of home (newer homes get more; homes built more than 100 years ago do not qualify) and advanced quote (buying more than seven days before the policy starts). Others include connected home devices that guard against theft, fire or water damage; $25 off for eDocuments; affinity group membership; central-station security monitoring such as ADT or SimpliSafe; central fire monitoring or sprinklers; and bundling with a Plymouth Rock auto or motorcycle policy, which the company says can save up to 20% on the homeowners rate. Discounts vary by state.

Where it sells and recent market moves

This group writes homeowners insurance in Massachusetts, Connecticut and New Hampshire; Plymouth Rock's site also offers home coverage in New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania through the Palisades companies. The Plymouth Rock Company's companies are licensed in more states, but home sales are limited to that six-state footprint.

The recent change has been underwriting, not geography. Stone's letter describes the home group sorting its book into buckets by likelihood of profitability, shedding some of the business with the poorest prospects, raising rates where needed and expanding the most profitable segment. Home group writings rose about 13% in 2025 and the net combined ratio fell below 92%, almost 15 points better than 2024. Stone added two cautions: catastrophes cost the home group only $13 million in 2025 against a $37 million allowance, thanks to an unusually mild run of storms in its states, and staff turnover in the home group was running close to twice the level he considers healthy. For a homeowner, that points to continued selectivity at renewal, and to rate pressure if the Northeast's luck with hurricanes changes.

Claims

Home, condo and renters claims can be reported online through the Claims Center, in the Plymouth Rock mobile app, through your independent agent, or by phone at 844-346-1225. You are assigned a dedicated claims representative, who will contact you by the next business day, and you can choose to communicate by text. For interior losses, photos you upload can be used to build a 3D model of the room to speed the estimate.

Plymouth Rock prefers that you use your own contractor and encourages you to get your own estimate; if it differs from Plymouth Rock's, the company says it will work directly with your contractor. For urgent work such as water removal or board-up, the claims representative can suggest an emergency vendor. Electronic payments by direct deposit or Zelle often arrive within 24 hours, and paper checks take five to seven business days.

Ratings and reputation

On March 3, 2026, AM Best affirmed the A- (Excellent) financial strength rating of Plymouth Rock Home Assurance Corporation and the four Bunker Hill companies, with a stable outlook. AM Best cited very strong risk-adjusted capitalization and steady surplus growth, partly offset by recent volatility in loss reserves and historically higher equity leverage, and said the home group benefits from its close relationship with the larger Plymouth Rock Assurance Group. In the same action AM Best affirmed A- (Excellent) for Mt. Washington Assurance, the New Hampshire home writer, and the other Plymouth Rock Assurance Group companies, and revised their outlook to positive.

Service is the weak spot the company itself acknowledges. Stone wrote in February 2026 that 2025 customer satisfaction rankings from Consumer Reports and J.D. Power showed a number of policyholders finding their experiences disappointing, and that the dissatisfaction traced disproportionately to claim handling in the auto-focused independent agency group. He listed fixes including more methodical training, rewritten customer letters and fewer phone numbers for customers to navigate.

Who it suits

Plymouth Rock suits homeowners in Massachusetts, Connecticut and New Hampshire who want a fast quote online or by phone, the option of an independent agent, and a discount for putting home and auto together. It suits less well someone who assumes a basic policy pays new-for-old on belongings, or who puts claims service reputation ahead of price and convenience.

• Strengths: quick online quoting with agent, phone and text options; Good, Better and Best levels that can include guaranteed rebuild and water backup; up to 20% off for bundling with auto; AM Best A- (Excellent), affirmed March 2026, and much improved home results in 2025.
• Weaknesses: personal property is settled at actual cash value unless you buy replacement cost; its own chairman cites disappointing 2025 customer satisfaction rankings; AM Best notes recent loss reserve volatility in the home group; homeowners sold only in six Northeastern states, through two separate company groups.

How to contact Plymouth Rock Assurance