Renters Insurance

For About $200 or $17 Per Month There Should Be No Question!

It was a long day at the office and after tucking in the kids I could finally answer emails from my couch. It was late and the news was on.  Another breaking story out of New Hampshire splashed on the screen.

Dreary pictures of an apartment building on fire in the dead of winter; an image I swear I’ve seen in the past few months more frequently. The apartment building was in a fiery blaze, its expelled occupants scattered along the road draped in heavy city issued wool blankets trying to stay warm, there faces every few seconds illuminated by the flashing fire engine lights. As I watched the first thing I thought to myself was I hope these people had renters insurance. Fortunately, everyone got out safely. Unfortunately, statistics show almost half probably don’t have renters insurance. I really felt for those people because I knew that for less than a dollar a day they could have replaced everything that they are know watching burn. Shortly, if not already, half the people will start realizing that all they own is on their backs. What will they do tomorrow? Where will they live? How are they going to go to work with no clothes? The furniture, clothes, appliances- all gone. How do you replace all of it when you have no coverage?

As if a plaque questionably started by a failing economy, apartment building fires seem to be happening more frequently. It’s one of many signs of the time. Space heaters, illegal smokers dismantling smoke detectors so they don’t go off while sneaking a cigarette in the hall are just a couple causes of apartment building fires. These and several other scenarios can occur completely out of any renters’ control. These are implied risks you accept knowingly or unknowingly when you share a living space with people you have no control over. For anyone to rent and not insure their belongings or protect their liable actions is taking a huge and unnecessary financial risk.

• 58% renters don’t have insurance
• 70% of renters believe they should have it
• 40% said cost was a prohibiting factor

source: Apartments.com

According to a recent Apartments.com survey, 58% of respondents indicate they do not have renters insurance. 70% surveyed who did not have renters insurance believed it’s important to have it, as it affords them peace of mind. And out of the group of renters surveyed 40% stated cost was the prohibiting factor behind the decision not to purchase renters insurance. However, what concerned me the most was 24% of apartment renters surveyed did not have renters insurance because they were unaware that this type of insurance existed!

If renters realized how cheap renters insurance is they would be scrambling to get it. But what gives me more concern is 24% of the apartment renting public doesn’t even know they can buy coverage to protect their personal property! And it doesn’t matter if you live in a large city like Boston or a small suburb, the price for renters insurance is still very, very affordable. Need an example of how cheap? One company we have offers $50,000 of personal property coverage and $500,000 liability coverage for under $100 dollars a year! Live in Boston? Your premium for renters insurance with the same coverage would be around $130. These premiums are some of the best out there and not all insurance companies offer such a great price. Some companies can be three times as much so it’s best to shop around. You may find most companies in the $300 premium range, but that’s less than a dollar a day and a bargain for protecting thousands of dollars in personal property. In fact, let’s say you have $30,000 in personal property and your renters insurance costs $250 per year. It would still only cost you $2,500 for 10 years of coverage for $30,000 of personal property. That turns out to be 8% investment in protection for $30,000. Look at it this way. If you lost everything and had to get a loan to replace your property I can bet it would cost more than $250 per month to finance the loan.

Whether You Rent Or Own Your Personal Property Still Needs Protection

One of the misconceptions about renting and the thing that worries me most is 24% of renters out there don’t know there’s insurance available. Furthermore, there’s also confusion that the landlord has insurance that protects the renter. This is never the case and only the building itself (and liability) is protected under the landlord’s insurance.

The best way to determine coverage is to conduct a rough inventory of the personal property within your apartment. A computer, clothes, stereo, television and the Degas painting on the wall your Grandmother left you can add up quickly. Once you figure out what you own then you can determine how much personal property protection you need.

Renters Insurance – Other Important Coverage’s

Liability Insurance

Another very important part of a renters policy is the liability coverage. Coverage ranges from $100,000 – $500,000 and protects you from verbal and physical liability within your apartment. Sometimes it even protects you outside of the apartment. So what is liability coverage? Well, the easiest way to explain it is if someone gets hurt in your apartment (maybe by falling and breaking an arm) and they sue you for damages the liability coverage will pay for any lawsuit you are found responsible. We always recommend $500,000 coverage especially since it’s pennies for the coverage on a renters insurance policy.

Loss of Use

Remember those people thrown out of that apartment insurance? A renters policy even provides automatically (might vary per state) ‘Loss of Use’ coverage. This is great coverage to have if you are like the people in New Hampshire who suddenly found themselves homeless. Though not much (usually ) it reimburses you the expense to buy some clothes, get a hotel room, food until you find another place to live. A great benefit when you really need it.

Bundle Your Car Insurance and That Renters Policy Could Be Free!

One of the best deals happening today is the discount available when combining your car and renters insurance with one company. We have an incredible deal on renters insurance that, when we insure your car, the savings of grouping your policies offsets the cost of the renters insurance policy. It’s like getting a renters policy for free! Even if you’re looking at a renters policy costing $300 a year and an auto insurance policy at $1,500 the multi-policy discount, on average, would be around $200 (ie: 10% off car policy and 15% off renters policy). In the end that renters policy could end up only costing $110.

If Anything I hope this article helps some realize, not only that renters insurance is available, but that it’s very affordable. In my mind no one should be renting without it.