Cover Your Assets: Renters Insurance

March 5th, 2008 by Matt DiChiara| Posted in Apartment Living | No Comments »

Part of the appeal to rent an apartment instead of buying a house is the basic jettison of homeownership woes. Along with neglecting structural repairs, one can basically feel pretty good about not having too much liability or needing to take out comprehensive insurance coverage plans to protect your home and investment.

It is important, however, to understand that your landlord’s policy only covers the apartment building, and not any of your possessions. If a fire or flood was to devastate your apartment, your landlord would be covered, you would still have a place to live, but all your possessions, if destroyed or damaged, would be your problem.

Purchasing renters insurance is an especially good idea if you live in a city and your apartment may be susceptible to being broken into and your possessions stolen. There is not much recourse unless your apartment and the things in your apartment are covered.

Renters Insurance is great because for a low premium you can cover all of your belongings and set your mind at rest. You can also purchase plans that cover liability; this would cover injuries that occurred in your apartment and damages that may be caused by you, such as the untimely explosion of a waterbed.

Insure.com has a pretty comprehensive list of the destructive events that renters insurance will cover, including some of the following:

• Fire and lightning
• Windstorm and hail
• Explosions
• Theft
• Burst pipes

When looking at a policy, be sure to evaluate whether your plan offers “actual cash value” (ACV) or “replacement cost.” ACV will appraise the value of your items at the time they were damaged or stolen, whereas replacement cost plans will buy you new items.

Insurance companies such as Geico, Allstate, State Farm, and Esurance all provide plans that help you protect the things in your rental apartment.

For more information you can check with the American Renters Association’s online guide. Also, look for MyNewPlace’s upcoming release of our very own Apartment Guide, which will provide helpful tips and caveats on a plethora of issues pertaining to apartment searches, renter’s issues, apartment issues and a host of other relevant topics.

Has anyone had any personal experience where renters insurance has saved the day? Are there some renters out there who wish that they had a flux capacitor in order to go back in time and buy renters insurance?