Ocean Harbor Insurance Review: Is Cheap Car Insurance a Smart Move? [2024]

If you’re trying to save money on insurance, you may consider smaller companies like Ocean Harbor Insurance. While I fully support shopping around to get the cheapest quotes, I highly encourage you to read reviews from real customers on sites like the Better Business Bureau to see how this company operates. I don’t recommend them for many reasons including their poor customer service, lack of payouts on claims, and overall dissatisfaction from current customers.

While Ocean Harbor offers home and auto insurance, their claims process leaves a lot to be desired and may leave you without the funds you’re entitled to receive, or you may even be left stranded mid-claim with no one returning your calls.

How we evaluate products

FinanceBuzz researches a number of factors in each auto insurance provider to create our reviews. These factors include cost and discounts, complaints and customer satisfaction, coverage, and ease of use. We also gather information from sources such as J.D. Power, AM Best, the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC), and the Better Business Bureau to ensure we provide the most useful information to our readers.

Ocean Harbor Insurance pros and cons

What is Ocean Harbor Insurance?

The Ocean Harbor Casualty Insurance Company was founded in 1986 as an insurance company focused on providing coverage to people in primarily coastal areas along the Mid-Atlantic, Southeast, Northeast, and Gulf States. This includes New York, South Carolina, Texas, Mississippi, Florida, and California. Ocean Harbor offers both home and auto insurance policies, but only offers auto insurance in Florida and California.

As a whole, the Ocean Harbor Insurance Group consists of five insurance companies that do business in more than a dozen states. The group writes over $300 million of combined premiums and is a top 100 U.S. writer of homeowners insurance.

If you apply for auto insurance in Florida, you’ll work with Pearl Holding Group. This company represents Ocean Harbor Casualty Insurance in Florida and has been operating in the Sunshine State since 1991. It advertises competitive insurance rates and excellent customer service.

Year founded	1986
Types of coverage	Bodily injury liability Property damage liability Personal injury protection (PIP) Uninsured motorist Collision Comprehensive
Discounts available	Ocean Harbor Insurance does not list available discounts on its website, but the agents who represent Ocean Harbor Insurance may offer discounts when providing a quote.
How to get a quote	You can view Ocean Harbor Insurances’ product offerings on their website, but you must contact one of their agents to get a quote.
Availability	Auto insurance is only available in California and Florida, but homeowner’s insurance is available in Hawaii, New York, Texas, South Carolina, Mississippi, the Pacific Northwest and Midwest.

Why we don’t recommend Ocean Harbor Insurance

I rely heavily on the Better Business Bureau’s ratings and customer reviews before deciding whether to give a company a chance. The BBB gave Ocean Harbor Insurance an “F” rating, and they’ve had 122 complaints in the last 12 months, which is enough for me not to consider them.

Most of the complaints have to do with the claims process, which is why you purchase insurance in the first place. No one wants to be left stranded in their time of need. Numerous customers complain about Ocean Harbor ghosting them after they file a claim or taking months to address the claim itself. One customer even had her car sold at auction because the claims adjuster never showed up to evaluate the vehicle, leaving the customer on the hook for the repossession and storage fees and, more importantly, without a car.

No matter how stable A.M. Best may consider this company to be financially, I am uncomfortable giving them a chance given the issues current customers have experienced and the lack of response by Ocean Harbor representatives on a majority of the BBB complaints.

While I don’t recommend this insurance company, I’ve included more information about it below if you’re still interested or need more information.

Ocean Harbor Insurance coverage options

Ocean Harbor Insurance offers multiple types of insurance coverage, including car and homeowner’s insurance. However, they currently only offer auto insurance through independent insurance agents in Florida and California.

Here are the types of car insurance Ocean Harbor offers:

• Collision: Collision insurance covers damage to your vehicle due to car accidents involving another object. This could include a collision with another vehicle or an object like a tree or telephone pole.
• Comprehensive: Covers damage to your vehicle that is not related to collisions. Comprehensive insurance often includes coverage from storm damage and other natural disasters, vandalism, theft, and damage caused by animals. However, Ocean Harbor excludes things like electronics, radar detectors, customized equipment, and camper bodies that were not disclosed when you applied for the insurance.
• Liability coverage: Includes bodily injury liability and property damage liability coverage. Bodily injury liability covers medical and funeral expenses. Property damage liability covers damages to structures and vehicle repairs or replacement. Most states require minimum liability coverage to ensure you can pay for what you damage.
• Personal injury protection: This coverage is similar to liability coverage, except it covers bodily injuries resulting from car accidents for you, family members, and other passengers.
• Uninsured motorists coverage: Covers bodily injuries for you, family members, and certain other people when you’re not at fault for a car accident, and the at-fault party doesn’t have liability insurance or doesn’t have enough insurance to pay fully for damages.

Other Ocean Harbor insurance products

• Homeowners policy: The HO3 policy covers your home and personal belongings from natural disasters, fire, theft, and vandalism. It may also provide personal liability and medical payment coverage in certain situations.
• Condominium insurance: The HO6 policy covers your condo and personal items inside that suffer damage or loss due to natural disasters, fire, theft, or vandalism. Some policies may also include personal liability and medical payment coverage. This coverage is in addition to coverage the association may carry to cover common areas.
• Dwelling fire policy: This policy is for second or vacation homes that don’t require as much coverage for personal belongings, but need coverage in the event of a disaster.
• Manufactured homeowners insurance: This insurance is the equivalent of a homeowner’s insurance policy, but for manufactured properties.

Ocean Harbor Insurance costs

Ocean Harbor doesn’t offer online insurance quotes. Instead, you must contact a local agent to get a customized quote for your insurance needs. Before you do, it’s important to know how to find discounts and maximize your savings on car or home insurance from Ocean Harbor.

Ocean Harbor discounts

Part of figuring out how to get car insurance that fits your needs is finding the best coverage at the best price.

No two customers will get the same insurance quotes or even discounts, but here are some popular discounts you can ask your agent about:

• Proof of prior insurance: Having continuous car insurance coverage is a good sign for your new insurance company because it can mean you pose less of a risk. If you have proof of previous car insurance, Ocean Harbor may offer you this discount.
• Bundling policies: Insurance companies often provide a discount for bundling insurance policies, like home and auto insurance. You may save money by getting both policies through Ocean Harbor.
• Anti-theft devices: Anti-theft devices like a GPS locator, wheel locks, or an alarm system can help you save money on car insurance since they either make your car harder to steal or easier to locate if it has been stolen.
• Safe vehicles: Having safety devices installed in your vehicle can help keep your car insurance costs down. Airbags, seat belts, anti-lock brakes, and traction control features in your car can help reduce how much you pay for insurance.
• Good driver: Similarly, avoiding accidents and moving violations can help you save money on car insurance. Many companies offer discounts to accident-free drivers.

How to get an insurance quote from Ocean Harbor Insurance

Ocean Harbor Insurance works with independent insurance agents to offer insurance quotes in your local area.

This means you can’t get a quote online, but you can click on the “Find an Agent” button on the website to get a list of Ocean Harbor agents.

You can usually get a quote over the phone and it takes around 10 minutes. You’ll need some information on hand to ensure you receive an accurate rate including:

• Personal information including your full name, address, phone number, marital status, email, and driver’s license number
• Year, make, and model of your vehicle
• Information about your driving history
• What you use the car for (commuting, pleasure, driving for a rideshare company, etc.)
• Vehicle identification number (VIN) (usually located on the base of your vehicle’s windshield on the driver’s side or the driver's side door jamb)

Find the Program Administrator responsible for your state to get an accurate quote.

Ocean Harbor customer service

Auto claim support	Florida Mail: Pearl Holding Group, P.O. Box 452799, Sunrise, FL 33345 Phone: (954) 587-2299 Ext 203 Fax: (954) 905-2005 Website: pearlholding.com California Mail: AFA Claim Services, P.O. Box 25329, Anaheim, CA 92825 Phone: (714) 912-2484 Fax: (714) 509-5606 Email: claims@afaclaims.com Website: afaclaims.com
Homeowners claim support	Ocean Harbor Claims Department (Property Claims Only) Mail: 2549 Barrington Circle, Tallahassee, FL 32308 Phone: (855) 585-0500 Email: claims@oceanharbor-ins.com

FAQs

Bottom line

Ocean Harbor Insurance may offer car or homeowner’s insurance at affordable rates, but this may not be the case for everyone and I do not recommend using this company, even to get a quote. I recommend exploring other options from more stable insurance companies, paying close attention to current customer experiences to understand what you should expect.

If Ocean Harbor Insurance doesn’t offer what you need, consider one of the other top-rated insurance companies available to ensure you have proper protection.