Where America Goes for Insurance Rate Information
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If you rent your home and don’t think you need rental insurance, you are mistaken, but you are definitely not alone. In fact, over two-thirds of the 81 million renters in this country do not carry renters insurance. This is a disturbing fact when you think about the financial devastation that could befall these renters if an unfortunate event were to occur. Perhaps you’ve heard or thought about renters insurance, but you wonder, “Do I really need rental insurance?” In this post, we’ll answer this question for you with some of the best reasons for invest in renters insurance.
This is one of the most common protestations offered by renters who avoid rental insurance. After all, if you don’t own your home, what is the purpose of having property insurance? The answer is that, without a rental insurance policy, your personal belongings are unprotected. You may not be responsible for the actual structure of your dwelling, but you certainly have financial responsibility for the personal items contained within it.
Another objection given to the purchase of rental insurance is that the landlord’s policy already covers everything. This is actually untrue. The landlord’s policy strictly covers the structure of the apartment building and nothing else. In fact, some policies don’t even go that far if a tenant is responsible for causing the damage. In other words, if you leave your bathtub water running and do water damage to your apartment and the one below, you might be liable for the damages.
Some renters justify going without renters insurance because they rationalize that they don’t really have anything that is valuable enough to warrant coverage. But did you know that the average renter has almost $30,000 of personal belongings that are not covered by the landlord’s policy? Could you afford to pay $30,000 to replace your possessions? More than likely, the answer is no. Aside from your regular possessions, if you have especially valuable items, like jewelry, collections, furs, etc., you should also consider a rider on your rental insurance policy. A rider allows you to bolster your coverage for certain items of extraordinary value.
If your friend were to slip and hurt himself on your wet kitchen floor, you would be responsible for his medical bills and possibly even face a liability lawsuit. With rental insurance, any injuries your guests sustain are covered by rental insurance. The policy will also cover any judgments against you and pay for your legal fees in the event of a lawsuit.
