Comparing insurance on manufactured homes is harder than comparing site-built quotes because the specialist market's forms genuinely differ: settlement bases, peril breadth, wind terms and exclusion wording vary carrier to carrier in ways a premium column never shows. The fix is a comparison sheet: seven terms, asked identically of every quote, in the order they decide real claims.
Terms one through three: the money terms
One: settlement basis. Actual cash value or replacement cost, asked first because it decides total-loss outcomes; an ACV quote is a different product, not a cheaper one, and the III's two-part policy anatomy, physical damage plus liability, says nothing about which basis a carrier writes. Two: the coverage amount's logic. Stated amount at today's delivered-and-installed price, or a depreciation-driven figure; ask how the carrier would value a total loss tomorrow. Three: the deductible structure, flat and any separate wind or hurricane deductible, converted to dollars, since storm-state manufactured policies increasingly carry percentage wind terms.
Terms four and five: the breadth terms
Four: peril breadth. Named-peril forms cover only what they list, per the III's fire-hail-wind-theft family, while broader forms cover everything not excluded; ask which type each quote is, and read a named-peril list for what is absent. Five: the wind conditions. Tie-down and anchoring requirements, wind-zone matching against the HUD data plate, and any exclusions for older roofs or additions; two quotes at the same premium can carry entirely different wind promises, and in storm states the wind promise is most of the policy. Attached structures, decks, carports, additions, deserve the same question, covered per the III but on each form's own terms.
Terms six and seven, and the sheet's verdict
Six: liability limits and their price steps, since moving from a park-minimum to a real limit usually costs little and the difference is the lawsuit. Seven: the adjacent-coverage posture, whether the carrier writes or brokers the NFIP flood policy the III's flood exclusion makes necessary on low ground, FEMA's FloodSmart noting almost one-third of NFIP claims arise outside high-risk zones, and whether transit coverage exists for a future move. Then read the sheet: the winning quote is the one whose seven answers you would want on claim day, and it is only sometimes the cheapest column. Three specialist quotes through an independent agent fill the sheet in an afternoon.
Questions people ask about insurance on manufactured homes
Why not just compare premiums?
Because manufactured-home forms differ structurally: settlement basis, peril breadth and wind conditions vary carrier to carrier, and the premium column shows none of it.
What is the first question for every quote?
ACV or replacement cost. It decides total-loss outcomes, and it is the single largest difference between apparently similar policies.
How do I compare wind terms?
Ask each carrier its anchoring requirements, wind-zone matching and any percentage wind deductible in dollars. The wind promise is most of a storm-state policy.
How many quotes make a real comparison?
Three from the specialist market, gathered through an independent agent who places manufactured housing routinely, asked the same seven questions.