Renters Insurance: What is it and what does it cover?
You found it. The perfect apartment with a stellar view in your dream neighborhood. After going back and forth with the landlord over all the details, you’re ready to move in. All you’re thinking about right now is where your favorite worn leather couch is going, and the exact spot you want to hang your dad’s signed Beatles poster. Then you get a call from your landlord… renters insurance!? You think to yourself, “Doesn’t the landlord have insurance on the building already? Why do I need to insure their property?”
What Is Renters Insurance?
Effective Coverage, a national renters insurance provider, offers affordable policies and has the answers you need! Let’s start with what renters insurance isn’t!
It doesn’t duplicate your landlord’s policy.
It doesn’t cover the building.
It isn’t limited to your apartment.
Life happens, and renters insurance is a policy designed to protect you and your family when it does. If something happens to your stuff, your policy pays to replace it. If you accidentally damage someone else’s property or cause them to suffer bodily injury, that can be covered under renters insurance too.
One of the most important, and least understood, parts of renters insurance is that the policy pays to defend you against those bodily injury or property damage claims. Think about what lawyers cost, relative to your household income. That coverage alone makes clear the value of renters insurance, especially when you consider that the policy can defend you even if it’s not yet clear that the loss is covered.
The insurance company is obligated to defend you against the claim or suit, even if it’s not yet clear that they’ll cover the loss. They would send you a “reservation of rights” letter, indicating that they will provide defense coverage until coverage for the loss is determined.
Does Renters Insurance Just Cover Unlikely Events?
That depends on your definition of “unlikely!” While you probably won’t have a kitchen fire tomorrow, and while someone probably won’t steal your laptop next week, it doesn’t mean it can’t happen!
The average American household will suffer at least one significant theft or fire loss at some point. The Insurance Information Institute notes that renters are fifty percent more likely to suffer a burglary than homeowners. Apartment fires are both common and devastating to many households because adjacent units are at risk.
Let’s say you have a grease fire in your kitchen, you’ll need to stay somewhere else while repairs are being made, and loss of use coverage pays for it. The neighbor who was injured by the smoke from your fire and the building owner are both compensated for their respective damages by your liability coverage.
On top of that, the things you lost in the fire are replaced by your personal property coverage. If you have a guest in your home at the time who tripped while escaping the fire and suffered a minor injury, medical payments to others can take care of that.
In short, renters insurance covers the most likely causes of you owing someone money for damages, and of losses to the things you own.
Renters Insurance Must Be Expensive, Right?
Wrong! Renters insurance is one of the cheapest ways available to protect your family! According to the III, the average cost of renters insurance is about $188.00 a year. That’s about fifteen bucks a month, and it’s even less than that in many parts of the country.
Renters insurance isn’t hard to get, either. You can buy renters insurance online in just sixty seconds. That leaves plenty of time for the rest of your plans for the day, like moving into your new apartment!
Post written by Effective Coverage for Renters