Money Management
3 Reasons Why Renters Insurance is the Way to Go
American’s are pretty well versed when it comes to insurance. We know that we need health insurance in order avoid a fine and large out-of-pocket costs, car insurance in order to drive, and, if you’ve purchased a home, you likely have home owners insurance in case someone hurts themselves on your property. But what about renters insurance?
While some apartments and other rentals may require tenants to obtain renters insurance, many don’t. As a result according to a 2013 study reported on by ABC News, nearly two-third of renters don’t hold renters insurance policy. However there are several good reasons why that should not be the case. Here are three things that renters should know about renters insurance:
It Covers Possessions in Your Home
A likely reason that more people don’t have renters insurance is because they aren’t sure what it’s for. After all one of the big benefits of renting is that, should something need repair, the landlord is responsible for fixing it. So why would anyone need renters insurance?
Renters insurance isn’t necessarily for damage to your home itself but for the items you have in it. For example, if a pipe burst and flooded your apartment the landlord would have to repair the pipe but any items you own that were ruined by the water would be your problem. However, if you had renters insurance, you could put in a claim for those items and have them replaced under your policy.
It Covers those Possessions Even When They’re Not in Your Home
Another thing that many renters don’t realize is that most renters insurance policies cover your possessions even if they’re not in your home at the time they get damaged or stolen. Under many policies if someone broke into your car and stole your laptop you would still be covered through your renters insurance. Specific to this case, your car insurance would likely cover the damage to your car such as broken windows while your renters insurance would cover the items that were stolen — as long as said items were covered. As a note you may have to add extra coverage for some items like big-ticket electronics or jewelry so read carefully when purchasing.
It’s Affordable
When people think about insurance what typically comes to mind is auto and health insurance — both of which have been known to cost a pretty penny. By comparison renters insurance is surprisingly affordable. This interactive chart looks at the average annual premium for renters insurance in each state:
[graphiq id=”gLT7RkLbLr7″ title=”Average Annual U.S. Renters Insurance Premium By State (2012)” width=”600″ height=”403″ url=”https://w.graphiq.com/w/gLT7RkLbLr7″ link=”http://home-insurance.credio.com” link_text=”Average Annual U.S. Renters Insurance Premium By State (2012) | Credio”]
As you can see even in states where policies are more expensive like Mississippi premiums still run around $20 a month. In most cases they stay around $10 to $15 a month. Obviously your premium may vary depending on how much you have to insure but rarely go too much higher.
Considering the peace of mind you get for such a low price it’s truly amazing that more American renters don’t purchase renters insurance. It’s also worth noting that you may be able to bundle renters insurance in with your auto insurance in order to receive a discount on one of both policies. Bottom line: if you rent it’s almost definitely worth looking into purchasing a renters insurance policy to protect your belongings.
