Why should I purchase renter's insurance?
Many of us who rent go about our daily lives without giving a second thought to what would happen to our belongings if there was some sort of disaster where we live. If where you rent was subject to fire, smoke, water damage (excluding floods), theft, explosion, lightning, or some other disaster who would pay for it? Wouldn't the landlords insurance policy cover it? Well unfortunately it wouldn't, a landlord's policy would only cover structural damage to the building in most cases.
That's where renters insurance comes in handy. If you were to experience such a disaster your renter's policy would protect all your personal belongings. With the average tenant owning about $20,000 in personal property it's no wonder this can be a useful policy. So how is my property protected? With renter's insurance you have two options:
1. Actual Cash Value - this options basically will pay to replace your property minus depreciation, so if you had a brand new computer that cost $1,000 and six months down the road it get's stolen and now is only worth $800, well then that's what the insurance would pay out to replace it.
2. Replacement Cost - This option pays the actual cost of replacing your possessions with no deduction for the depreciation of it.
Renter's insurance also protects you in liability cases, meaning if someone gets injured on your property you'd be protected from any kind of lawsuit that follows up to your policy limits. Starting to get the picture? So how expensive is a renter's policy? That's the good news, most renters policies cost as little as $100 - $300 for the entire year. Considering an incident could potentially be financially devastating, don't take the risk and get your quote today!
Written by Mauricio Rezende