What You Should Know About Renters Insurance

Posted by Nick Niesen on October 29th, 2010

If you are a renter and do not have renters insurance you could be asking for a world of trouble. It is important that anyone renting anything from anyone have renter insurance in case a disaster should strike. The disaster could be in the form of damage from leaks, flooding, fire, earthquake, or tornado. It could also come in the form of lawsuits or injury if a guest to your home has hurt themselves with. If disaster strikes at any time and you do not possess renters insurance you could lose everything and have no way of retrieving it or any way of replacing it.

You see your landlord insures the home itself if anything were to happen to it, but their policy will not cover your possessions. It is important to know what you can expect when you are looking for renters insurance. Not all insurance companies are the same; they may offer different coverage than another and will almost certainly depend on what area of the world you live in. In general, your insurance company will likely cover events such as lightning, fire, smoke, and hail or a windstorm. Your insurance company may offer additional coverage with the policy or at an additional fee to cover flooding, water damage due to damaged pipes, damage to your property from vehicles or aircraft, falling objects, and riots.

In the event that damage to your possession has occurred your renters insurance, will help in one of two ways, either by issuing you a check for the actual cash value of the damaged items or issue you a check for the amount it will take to replace the damaged items. The difference between the two is simple, the actual cash value will be the amount it will cost to replace the damaged items with the depreciation value subtracted.

While you cannot replace the actual items that may be of high sentimental value, renters insurance will allow you to at least be able to retrieve replacements for your items. If ever a disaster were to strike your rented home, you could still be able to lead the same quality of life with renters insurance.

It is important that you speak with your renters insurance agent and know everything that is covered, what the costs are monthly, what your deductible is, and how to file a claim if a disaster should happen to strike.