According to the Insurance Information Institute 41% of renters have renters insurance while 95% of homeowners have homeowners insurance. Why the large gap in numbers? In some cases renters assume that the landlord’s policy covers their belongings. Others think that renters insurance is too expensive to be cost effective. What is renters insurance and what does it cover? Renters insurance is coverage to protect you the renter. There are four main components to renters insurance, liability coverage, personal property coverage, loss of use coverage, and medical payments. Medical payments coverage is coverage if someone is injured on your property and seeks medical attention regardless of negligence. Basically if someone gets hurt in your apartment or rental unit this coverage will pay for their medical services regardless of whether you are at fault or not. Personal liability coverage is your financial protection against covered liability claims and lawsuits brought against you by others for accidental bodily injury or damage to property. Personal liability does have a negligence component to it. In most cases for your personal liability to pay out you need to be negligent. Those two cases can seem like small possibilities or unlikely to happen things that most people do not want to think about.
However, what about your stuff? What about your TV and your PlayStation? What about your stereo and your tables? Renter insurance can help your replace your stuff in the event of a covered incident. Let’s say that you come home after a long day of work, as you get closer to your door you see that it is open slightly. Once your reach your place and open the door you see that you have been robbed. Gone are all of your valuable things. How would you pay to replace those things? Renter Insurance can be customized to cover the amount of stuff you have. In most cases Renter Insurance is based on replacement cost, so you can get back the stuff you lost without having to worry about depreciation. This can help take some of the sting out of a robbery or fire.
Another aspect of renters insurance that many people do not think about is loss of use. This coverage is for additional living expenses, it is there for you to make sure your costs are covered when you are displaced from your rental unit while a covered loss is repaired. Let’s say that worst case, your apartment burns down. How would you pay for a hotel or temporary apartment? This coverage would help with those expenses.
The big question though is how much does it cost. Most renter policies are very cost effective. Cost of renter policies could be as little as 100 to 200 dollars for the year. In some cases a majority of this cost could be offset by the multi-policy discount that you would receive on your auto. Have questions about Renter Insurance? Contact us at 412-344-2800 or use the buttons below to reach us on social media.
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