Renters Insurance protects your personal property against any damage or loss, while also insuring you in the event that someone is injured on your property. Renters insurance will usually cover items such as:
- Cameras
- Laptops
- Mp3 players
- Musical instruments
- Furniture
- Cell phones
- Many other items
From events such as:
- Fire
- Vandalism
- Weather damage
- Water damage
- Electrical damage
- Explosion
- Riots and civil commotion
- Falling objects
- Personal property off premises ( i.e. items stolen from your car)
Why Should I Purchase Renters Insurance?
“Children take a significant amount of personal property with them to college, and the likelihood of theft or fire loss is increased while they are away at college,” says David Thompson, a staff instructor for the Florida Association of Insurance Agents in Tallahassee, Fl. If you live in any type of rented building, a house, an apartment, or a condominium, personal property is not covered by your landlord’s insurance in the event that it is stolen or damaged. Neither are the losses covered by the school and, in many cases, even if a student is a dependent under his/her parent’s insurance policy, the personal property lost is not covered either.
Among the many reasons why renters insurance is so important in ensuring the safety of your child away at school, some simple facts remain. Annually, there are over 50,000 property crimes reported on college campuses in the US, which is accompanied by over 1,800 fires, leaving one out of every 10 college students a victim of theft. This does not include the vast amount of students that suffer damages from accidents from ordinary spills to major floods which destroy their computers, clothes, phones, and other important personal property.
If you took an estimate of the price of your personal possessions, this number would be the amount of insurance that you would need to replace your personal property if it were all destroyed. Although this number may be high, the price that you pay is actually quite low, ranging from about $15 to $30 a month. The only thing that could be expensive and even dangerous would be to ignore insuring your child’s property while he/she is away at school. Not only do students directly benefit from having the peace of mind that their possessions are completely safe, but when purchasing renters insurance, they also develop a history of maintaining property insurance before purchasing their first home, thus potentially qualifying for reduced rates on their own homeowner’s policy in the future.
About Renters Insurance
Typically, renters insurance policies provide two basic types of coverage, liability and personal property. However there are two other types of less common coverage, additional living expenses and flood/hurricane coverage.
- Liability: Provides coverage against a claim or lawsuit resulting from an injury or property damage caused by an accident on your property.
- Personal Property: Covers personal belongings if they are lost, damaged, or stolen.
- Additional Living Expenses: This pays for you to live at another location if you are forced to move because of a covered loss.
- Flood and Hurricane Coverage: Usually insurance companies do not cover damage due to flooding and hurricanes, however if you live in an area that is prone to such weather problems, you should discuss this coverage with the insurance company.
Another important factor to consider when shopping for insurance is “actual cash value” vs. “replacement cost” coverage.
- Actual Cash Value Coverage: This type of coverage will reimburse you for the cost of the property at the time of the claim, minus the deductible. While considering this coverage option, be sure to consider depreciation. For example, if a television was stolen from your home six years after it was purchased, you would be reimbursed for the current value of the television (which would be significantly less then what you had originally paid).
- Replacement Cost Coverage: This type of coverage will reimburse you the full value of the personal property, after the purchase and the submittal of the appropriate receipts. Although the upfront cost of this type of coverage is usually higher, you are much more likely to receive a better compensation for the personal property.
The best way to determine how much renters insurance you or your son/daughter should purchase would be to estimate the value of all of your personal possessions. This would be the amount of insurance you will need to replace all of your possessions if they were all destroyed. If a student is living with one or several other roommates, they may be able to combine their renters insurance policies together into one policy for the home, however you would need to discuss this with your insurance agent.
Some Extra Tips When Purchasing Renters Insurance
- It is a great idea to take photos or video of any personal possessions that you wish to be insured. This way when a claim is reported and the insurance company asks you for proof of purchase for the items reported on the claim, you will easily be able to provide them with documentation of the listed items in addition to a comprehensive list of possessions, including prices, serial numbers, and model numbers.
- Install, or better yet have the landlord install, an anti-theft device inside or on the rented property.
- Be sure of what is included and excluded from the policy before you purchase it.
Click here for a free New York Renters Insurance Quote.
Before making a final decision about getting a dog it may be a good idea to check with your insurance provider to see if it will have any effect upon your policy. Additionally, if you already have a dog and are looking for home, condo or renter’s insurance, you should be sure to disclose this information to your agent or broker in order to make sure that you will have the proper coverage in the event of a dog bite.