7 Reasons Renter’s Insurance Would Come in Handy

When renting a home or apartment, you’ll receive emails, mailers, and other promotional materials asking you to consider rental insurance. This is a special premium that will cover you and your things in the event of accident or damage.

You might be wondering if renter’s insurance is worthwhile for you. Your landlord has insurance, after all, so won’t that cover you? Most of the time, their insurance will be adequate, but there are other times your insurance will make a huge difference.

Here are a few of those scenarios.

  1. Your personal property is lost, stolen, or damaged.

Your landlord’s insurance will cover repairs for the property only. In some cases, if the accident is their fault, your landlord’s liability insurance will cover replacements of property, but most of the time, you’re on your own.

Renter’s insurance covers a variety of losses to your personal property, including:

  • Damage caused by aircraft
  • Fire or lightning
  • Theft
  • Falling objects
  • Damage caused by vehicles
  • Riot or civil commotion
  • Damage from water or steam from sources including household appliances, plumbing, heating, or air conditioning
  • Explosion
  • Vandalism or malicious mischief
  • Windstorm or hail
  • Weight of ice, snow, or sleet
  • Volcanic eruption
  • Smoke
  1. Your landlord might not have adequate coverage.

Landlords are required to have complete coverage for their building, liability, etc. However, this is a hard rule for cities to enforce, and your landlord might not have enough insurance to fully cover loss and damages, even if it’s his/her fault. For example, if something went wrong with your heating, the new boiler cost might not be covered by your landlord and the expense might fall back onto you.

Even when landlords are equipped with adequate coverage according to municipal standards, it still might not be enough to fully cover you. In these cases, you’ll be grateful you have your own insurance.

  1. Your landlord might require it.

Landlords of large apartment complexes who don’t want heavy liability premiums often require that renters purchase personal insurance. They may require a copy of your policy or quotes from insurance companies when you turn in an application.

Having researched premiums beforehand will save you a lot of time and stress. It might also eliminate the risk of losing the apartment because of a late application.

  1. It comes with bodily injury protection.

Your personal medical insurance will cover bodily injuries to your person, but if someone who’s visiting is injured on your property, you’ll want liability insurance. Most renter’s insurance policies include bodily injury protection so you’ll be protected if an accident occurs in your home.

It’s not possible to eliminate every hazard in your home, so it’s often better to have protection in the case of an emergency.

  1. It covers most natural disasters.

Fire, flooding, tornadoes, smoke damage, and more all fall under the umbrella of most renter’s insurance premiums. Your home doesn’t have to be totaled for you to collect from the insurance company. Any damage – even indirect damage – will likely be covered.

  1. It goes with you everywhere.

One of the best features of renter’s insurance is that it covers your personal belongings wherever you are. If you take a vacation and you go swimming with your iPhone, you can make a claim to have your phone repaired or replaced.

It also travels with you if you move. You don’t have to take out a new claim, but simply fill out a change of address form to get the most out of your policy.

  1. It’s affordable.

Many people don’t want to purchase renter’s insurance because they believe it will be another expensive insurance premium to add to their list of monthly expenses. However, the average premium is under $190 per year. That means you’re paying less than $15 per month.

The decision of whether or not to purchase renter’s insurance is very individual. In some cases, you might never use it. In others, you’ll be very grateful that you did.

Like all types of insurance, you’re often simply paying for the peace of mind. If that’s worth $15 per month to you, you’ll never regret making the investment!

Author: Oliver Curtis

Hi there. I’m Oliver. I’m just a young boy from the outskirts of… Okay, that’s a lie, I’m not a young boy anymore, although I certainly feel that way at heart.

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