Renter's Insurance

[SVT]

Renter's Insurance: when do you need it, when don't you need it?

[Deleted]

Maybe you don't need it if you "rent" from Mom & Dad? Otherwise, you lose everything if the place burns up . . . your furniture, your clothes, whatever. You are also liable if someone is injured inside your unit. I'm less sure about outside liability, but you don't want to find out the hard way.

Renter insurance is cheap. By the way, if you live with someone in their house, you may still need it. My insurance company said they wouldn't cover my ex live-in's possessions. He needed his own policy.

[quotequeen]

Like most insurance, you need it unless you can afford to self-insure for the risks it covers.

[mudflap81]

If you rent a property from mom and dad you might still need it (IE mom and dad are landlords and you rent one of their properties).

You receive a certain amount to replace contents. That's everything from the "walls in." If you can afford to completely refurnish your place, you probably don't need it.

You also receive a certain amount for relocation expenses (hotel room, eating out, laundromat) while recovering from the claim.

You also receive liability insurance (probably the most important). Dog bites, people tripping, and drunken car accidents resulting in lawsuits can all happen to renters and the insurance will cover you exactly the same as a homeowner's policy.

All of this for $75-$150 in most areas.

[mudflap81]

Renter insurance is cheap. By the way, if you live with someone in their house, you may still need it. My insurance company said they wouldn't cover my ex live-in's possessions. He needed his own policy.

Correct. Unless you're married, you can't have your SO on the policy with you.

[bobosensei]

I live in an apartment and at one point the guy below us had an illegal deep fryer that he used on his patio. I was at his house one day for a party and saw flames go from the deep fryer to the bottom of my patio. Luckily I have renters insurance, and things didn't get out of hand with the flames. But anything can happen at any time. Replacement value renters insurance is not very much so I say go ahead and get it.

Lots of times landlords require renters to have their own policies.

[The J]

You receive a certain amount to replace contents. That's everything from the "walls in." If you can afford to completely refurnish your place, you probably don't need it.

But if you can afford to do this, and it's not simply because the extent of your personal possession are two pairs of jeans, three t-shirts and an 8 year old futon mattress, then you can afford renter's insurance, and should have it anyway, so a fire doesn't then wipe out a huge hunk of your cash in addition to your stuff.

[mudflap81]

But if you can afford to do this, and it's not simply because the extent of your personal possession are two pairs of jeans, three t-shirts and an 8 year old futon mattress, then you can afford renter's insurance, and should have it anyway, so a fire doesn't then wipe out a huge hunk of your cash in addition to your stuff.

Exactly! And you need it even more for the liability protection.

[Cookies Galore]

I'm just going to go with you need it.We pay $84/year for our coverage. It's absolutely worth the peace of mind.
Friends of ours bought a twin in September and the people in the other side are renters. They had a fire last month (friends house is fine) and lost everything because the mother never mailed in her renter's insurance renewal. It's very sad.

[bean29]

If you buy renter's insurance and have auto you often qualify for a multi line discount on your Auto Insurance so it makes the policy less expensive. I think my agent said sometimes the discount on the auto is more than what the renter's policy costs.

[justwhoever]

I would say it's a need. Just a couple months ago here in my town an apartment building caught fire. Nothing left. All 11 families lost everything they owned. And not one had insurance.

[pushingit]

You need it if you rent.

It's cheap and it's not smart to be without it.

Even if all of your stuff is basically crap and easily replaceable at the goodwill, you should have it.

It covers things like staying in a hotel while you're displaced, which when you rent instead of own, could be a long time, since you have no control over it.

It also covers your drunk buddy who knocks out a tooth on your front steps.

[pushingit]

Jan 3, 2011 9:17:21 GMT -5 mudflap81 said:

Renter insurance is cheap. By the way, if you live with someone in their house, you may still need it. My insurance company said they wouldn't cover my ex live-in's possessions. He needed his own policy.

Correct. Unless you're married, you can't have your SO on the policy with you.

Really? You can't have a joint policy with someone you aren't married to? You can have them named as additionally insured? Even if you own the house together?

That's an odd thing in this day and age.

[Cookies Galore]

Jan 3, 2011 12:42:34 GMT -5 pushingit said:

Jan 3, 2011 9:17:21 GMT -5 mudflap81 said:

Correct. Unless you're married, you can't have your SO on the policy with you.

Really? You can't have a joint policy with someone you aren't married to? You can have them named as additionally insured? Even if you own the house together?

That's an odd thing in this day and age.

Odd, considering the BF and I have been on the same rental and car insurance policy for the past three years.
Different state law? Just lucky our agent is his brother-in-law?

[The Walk of the Penguin Mich]

Even if you self insure, rental insurance can provide liability insurance for you as well.

I had a washer hose burst, flooding out both my apartment and the apartment underneath me. My insurance company defended me (to the point of providing a lawyer) when the tenant underneath me made noises about suing me.

Also, you don't want to cheap out on this. He had the cheapest policy that was available - which did not cover water damage. So his cheap policy did not cover his belongings. His insurance adjuster tried to tell me that my insurance wouldn't cover me either, which was a flat out lie. His adjuster also tried to take my only piece of evidence - the burst washer hose.

[moneymaven]

Rental insurance is an absolute necessity. It is just like any other kind of insurance - to protect you from catastrophic financial loss in the event of a claim. Unless you can afford to self-insure (i.e., burden all costs associated with a liability or property claim), then you should have it. It's a very fairly priced coverage. Get it today!

[mudflap81]

Really? You can't have a joint policy with someone you aren't married to? You can have them named as additionally insured? Even if you own the house together?

We're talking about renters, not homeowners. In rentals, AI can be expensive or not allowed, depending on company and state.

That's an odd thing in this day and age.

Insurance is constantly about 10 years behind whatever is called "this day and age" by society."

Odd, considering the BF and I have been on the same rental and car insurance policy for the past three years.
Different state law? Just lucky our agent is his brother-in-law?

Auto is governed by State, but the general concept for most is that only the people who own the cars can be on the policy (policyholder, not driver. You can add almost anyone you want as a driver).

A few companies are starting to come around and change the rule from "family" to "leaseholders (or named on the contract if month to month)." There are a lot more agents who are going to be in a lot of trouble when a claim arises.

[Deleted]

A lot of people don't know that renter's insurance also covers stuff stolen from your vehicle (might differ by state/company, I have state farm). I had a bunch of stuff stolen from my truck and couldn't claim it on my auto policy, but had renter's that covered it.

[TheOtherMe]

Renter's insurance is a necessity. You'll find out when the idiot living above you moves out in the middle of the night, has the utilities turned off and it gets below zero. Pipes burst and I got the brown water in my apartment. I would have been sunk without renter's insurance.

[mithrin]

Jan 3, 2011 11:17:45 GMT -5 bean29 said:

If you buy renter's insurance and have auto you often qualify for a multi line discount on your Auto Insurance so it makes the policy less expensive. I think my agent said sometimes the discount on the auto is more than what the renter's policy costs.

We get the multi-policy discount and for the last few years, the net increase for adding the renter's insurance has been less than $20 (due to discounts on both policies for having both).

[Kung Fu Panda]

mine is the same, although I have a jewelry rider on the policy that is actually as expensive as the entire renters coverage..and the renters covers 3x the value of the jewelry! uggh

[Deleted]

Jan 3, 2011 9:17:21 GMT -5 mudflap81 said:

Renter insurance is cheap. By the way, if you live with someone in their house, you may still need it. My insurance company said they wouldn't cover my ex live-in's possessions. He needed his own policy.

Correct. Unless you're married, you can't have your SO on the policy with you.

maybe this depends on your company or state? my husband and i were on the same rental insurance policy for a year before we got married. the only thing we couldn't combine was the car insurance; that had to wait until we were married. we have state farm. and we're not related to the agent. rental insurance is completely worth it though. and our's is only around $125 a year.

[Sharon]

I was speaking with the Insurance company today about whether DD's stuff would be covered under my homeowners while she was living in a dorm, they suggested that we get renters insurance while she was in the dorm.

Has anyone else ever heard of this?

[adrianblack]

Jan 3, 2011 14:45:55 GMT -5 moneymaven said:

Rental insurance is an absolute necessity. It is just like any other kind of insurance - to protect you from catastrophic financial loss in the event of a claim. Unless you can afford to self-insure (i.e., burden all costs associated with a liability or property claim), then you should have it. It's a very fairly priced coverage. Get it today!

I agree. I have a plan from Geico bundled with my auto insurance. The renter's insurance is only $31.00 a month. Some people I know rented an apartment and there was a big fire that burned the complex down. They lost everything. They didn't have insurance. People took up collections for them and financially, they never fully recovered or replaced all their stuff.

[kinetickid]

Jan 3, 2011 7:48:33 GMT -5 SVT said:

Renter's Insurance: when do you need it, when don't you need it?

We don't have renter's insurance, though we've discussed it on occasion. In our case,

1) we have enough cash to replace everything we own (mostly because just about everything we have is either hand-me-down or IKEA).

2) Earthquake insurance isn't all that cheap (and isn't included in standard renter's policies), but earthquakes probably pose the biggest real threat to us.

[kinetickid]

Jan 3, 2011 17:57:02 GMT -5 @noablaenglish said:

A lot of people don't know that renter's insurance also covers stuff stolen from your vehicle (might differ by state/company, I have state farm). I had a bunch of stuff stolen from my truck and couldn't claim it on my auto policy, but had renter's that covered it.

We have nothing in our car to steal except a car seat and a first-aid kit.

[SVT]

Thanks for the replies. I'm getting a quote for what it would be. It might be worth it anyway because having renter's insurance along with the auto will give me a discount. The insurance guy told me that the amount of the discount will probably pay for most of the renter's insurance...

[daennera]

It cost me $16 a month to have 25K in loss/theft coverage and about 100K in liability coverage.

WHY on earth would you NOT have renter's insurance! Heck, even at DOUBLE that it would have been totally worth it!

[The Walk of the Penguin Mich]

We don't have renter's insurance, though we've discussed it on occasion. In our case,

1) we have enough cash to replace everything we own (mostly because just about everything we have is either hand-me-down or IKEA).

So do you have enough money to replace everything in your neighbor's apartment should your apartment flood out? It's not always YOUR stuff that is the issue - it's what you could possibly do to someone else's belongings, even inadvertently.

As I said earlier, I had a washer hose burst in my apartment and while it did little damage to my place, it destroyed the apartment of the person who lived under me. He was also away for the summer and was out of contact with the management, so while they went into the apartment and did what they could to ameloriate the damage to the structure, they would NOT touch his belongings. So he had a nice mold experiment growing on most of his belongings.

He tried to sue me, but fortunately I had renters insurance who covered me for the damage done to his place. I don't know if they paid him off or not (I suspect that they did) but I know that I did not have a judgement filed against me for his damages.

[wvugurl26]

Still gotta find a policy for that. Last time I looked the quotes were running something like $250/yr. Damn expensive zip code I live in. Liquor's about the only cheap thing around here
Blah how the heck do I know how much property coverage I need? Like I bought everything at one time. This is going to require research. I think I may have threw up a little thinking about replacing clothes and shoes.