11 years of placement experience with the specialty carrier built for landlords, toy collectors, and unconventional properties. If you have a rental property or recreational vehicles, Foremost belongs in the conversation.
Foremost Insurance was founded in 1952 in Caledonia, Michigan — as America's first mobile home insurer. The company was acquired by Farmers Insurance Group in 2000 and today operates as Farmers' specialty property and recreational vehicle carrier, serving more than 3 million customers across all 50 states. AM Best rates Foremost A Excellent, supported by Farmers' broader financial strength. Foremost's NAIC complaint index is below average for their size — a meaningful metric for a specialty carrier writing non-standard and higher-risk properties.
Foremost's value proposition is simple: they insure what other carriers won't or don't prioritize. Rental properties without requiring the owner's primary home or auto. Motorcycles, boats, RVs, UTVs, ice houses. Vacant homes. Short-term rental properties. Seasonal homes. These are coverage needs that fall between the cracks of standard personal lines carriers — and Foremost has built 70+ years of specialty underwriting expertise around exactly these gaps.
We have placed clients with Foremost since 2014 across landlord and rental property coverage, recreational vehicles, and specialty dwelling products. In Minnesota, their owner-occupied homeowners product is currently not open to new business — but their landlord product, recreational vehicle lines, and specialty dwelling products remain fully available and competitively priced. The Platinum landlord package is the product we reach for most often: replacement cost on the dwelling, loss of rents, premises liability, and key endorsements bundled into one account with no requirement to bring other lines.
After 11 years of placing landlords, recreational vehicle owners, and specialty property clients with Foremost, here's what consistently stands out.
Foremost's standout product for Options Insurance clients is their Platinum landlord package. It includes replacement cost on the dwelling, 10% loss of rents, $300,000 premises liability, $1,000 medical payments, landlord personal injury coverage, 10% other structures to $10,000, and a Platinum discount — all bundled without requiring the landlord to bring their personal home or auto to Foremost. Multiple rental properties can be scheduled on a single policy. For busy landlords who have their personal lines elsewhere, Foremost is the answer.
Foremost offers replacement cost coverage on rental dwelling roofs up to 15 years old, converting to actual cash value thereafter. They also offer a repair cost endorsement and extended replacement cost as options on landlord policies. In Minnesota's hail environment, roof coverage terms matter significantly. Foremost's 15-year replacement cost window and available endorsements give landlords meaningful protection through the most common storm damage scenario.
Foremost writes the full recreational vehicle lineup: motorcycles (including AARP program), boats, RVs, travel trailers, UTVs and side-by-sides, and ice houses. These are specialty classes that standard personal lines carriers write as afterthoughts — Foremost has built dedicated products for each. Their UTV/side-by-side policy is particularly well-suited for the southwest metro market where recreational off-road vehicles are common. Ice house coverage is a distinctly Minnesota product and Foremost does it well.
Vacant homes, seasonal cabins, and short-term rental properties are classes that most standard carriers either decline or write with significant limitations. Foremost has dedicated products for each. For clients with a vacant home during a transition, a seasonal lake cabin, or a property listed on Airbnb or VRBO, Foremost fills a gap that would otherwise require a surplus lines solution or leave the client uninsured.
Janel's experience after 11 years of Foremost placement is consistent: easy to quote, easy to issue, and easy to service for busy landlord clients. Their agent-facing platform handles multi-property scheduling, policy issuance, and servicing efficiently. For landlords who own multiple properties and want streamlined management, having them all on one Foremost account is a genuine operational advantage. The 4.5 Google Play app rating supports the same story on the client side.
Foremost is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Farmers Insurance Group — one of the largest personal lines insurers in the United States, backed by Zurich Financial Services Group. That financial depth means Foremost can handle significant property claims without hesitation. The Farmers parent connection also enables Foremost's claims team to draw on Farmers' extensive catastrophe response infrastructure — important in a market like Minnesota where hail and storm events can generate large claim volumes simultaneously.
No carrier is perfect. Here are the honest trade-offs to know before placing with Foremost.
Foremost's owner-occupied homeowners product is currently not open to new business in Minnesota. For clients who want to place their primary home and rental property with one carrier, this is a meaningful limitation. Foremost's landlord, recreational vehicle, and specialty dwelling products remain fully available in Minnesota — this gap is specific to owner-occupied homeowners only.
Foremost's auto product runs through Bristol West — a non-standard carrier for high-risk drivers. This is not a traditional bundler auto product. Clients who want to combine a landlord or home policy with a standard personal auto policy cannot do so through Foremost. For traditional home-and-auto bundlers, we use other carriers. Foremost is the right tool for clients whose needs are on the specialty side, not the bundle side.
Foremost's overall NAIC complaint index is below average for their size, which is positive. However, complaint performance varies by underwriting entity and product line. As a specialty carrier writing non-standard properties and recreational vehicles, some claims complexity is expected. In 11 years of placement with Foremost, our landlord and recreational vehicle clients have not been a source of complaints.
Foremost does not offer bindable self-service online quotes. All quotes go through an independent agent. For clients who want to shop and bind coverage online on their own, Foremost isn't built for that. Clients placed through Options Insurance won't notice this gap — Janel handles quoting and issuance directly, which is faster and more accurate for specialty lines than self-service quoting would be.
After 11 years of placing specialty property and recreational vehicle clients with Foremost, here's an honest picture of who belongs with them — and who we'd place elsewhere.
"We place clients with Foremost when they have a rental property or properties and want good coverage. It's easy to quote and issue policies and easy to service these for my busy landlord customers. The Platinum package covers what landlords actually need — replacement cost, loss of rents, premises liability — without requiring them to move their personal home or auto to Foremost. After 11 years, Foremost remains the first call for any client with a rental property or recreational vehicles to insure."
— Janel Morris, Personal Lines Agent, Options Insurance
Already a Foremost client through Options Insurance? Here are the resources you need.
Available 24/7. You can also file online at foremost.com or through the Foremost mobile app. Foremost's claims team is trained specifically on specialty property — they understand what it takes to repair the properties and vehicles they insure.
Policy changes, billing, and general service. For most policy changes — especially adding properties to a landlord policy — your Options Insurance agent is the fastest route. Janel manages Foremost relationships directly for her landlord clients.
Manage your policy, make payments, view policy documents, and file claims. Note: Foremost does not offer self-service bindable quotes online — all new coverage goes through your Options Insurance agent.
Download on the App Store or Google Play (4.5 stars). Policy management, bill payment, claims filing, and access to policy documents. iOS users generally report a smoother experience than Android users based on current reviews.
Janel is Options Insurance's lead agent for Foremost placements across landlord, recreational vehicle, and specialty dwelling coverage. After 11 years of placing clients with Foremost, she knows the product lineup inside out — and is known for making the process easy for busy landlords managing multiple properties. "It's easy to quote and issue policies and easy to service these for my busy landlord customers!"
Tell us a little about what you need. One of our agents will follow up — usually same business day.
No obligation. We'll compare Foremost against our other top carriers and give you an honest recommendation.
We'll get your landlord property, recreational vehicle, or specialty dwelling properly covered — quickly and without the bundle requirement.
Start Your Free Quote →The opinions expressed on this page reflect the experience of Options Insurance agents based on policies placed and client feedback received over 15 years. Individual results may vary. Options Insurance has a commercial relationship with Foremost Insurance as an appointed independent agent. This review is not sponsored, approved, or endorsed by Foremost Insurance or Farmers Insurance Group. AM Best, J.D. Power, and NAIC data are sourced from publicly available reports and are cited for informational purposes. Ratings are subject to change. Foremost Insurance is a subsidiary of Farmers Insurance Group. Foremost owner-occupied homeowners is not currently open to new business in Minnesota. Bristol West auto is available for non-standard drivers only and is not a standard bundling product. Comparison data is based on publicly available third-party research. Coverage availability and terms vary by state, risk profile, and underwriting criteria. This page does not constitute a coverage guarantee or binding commitment.