How Does Renter’s Insurance Work?

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How Does Renter's Insurance Work

Many people do not think having renter’s insurance is necessary. While there may be several reasons for this, a common misconception is that their landlord’s insurance coverage will serve as a buffer to loss of damage to their personal belongings. This is not the case.

As such, when renting in Arizona, you should consider getting renters insurance. As you will see below, this helps cover for any unexpected financial responsibility you may face while renting in addition to many more benefits you may be eligible for when purchasing additional coverage.

What is Renter’s Insurance? How Does It Work?

Renter’s insurance is also known as tenant insurance. Renter’s insurance in AZ is a type of liability insurance and will protect your loss of personal property as well as from injuries and medical payments caused by named perils, whether they be brought about by weather or non-weather circumstances.

These insurance products also give individuals some of the benefits of homeowners insurance without the added cost of insuring the structure of the building. This structural insurance coverage is already in place through your lessor.

So what does a policy like this actually cover? Most importantly, the movables that you own in your rented space—computers, electronics, furniture, bikes, even your clothes and other belongings. Renter’s insurance will cover you from losses caused by events listed in your insurance policy such as: fire, storm, hail, lightning, flood, freezing, theft, vandalism, riot, and many more. Your renter’s insurance also covers expenses incurred when your dwelling becomes uninhabitable. Thus, the insurance company shoulders your expenses for repairs and alterations on your dwelling.

Finally, there are policies which even cover your hotel expenses, including your meals, if you need a place to stay while repairs are made on your rented place.

If you’re wondering what is covered, you can refer to your actual insurance policy for a complete list of covered losses.

Coverage Options

A renter’s insurance policy in Arizona has two types of coverage options to protect your personal property after damage.

The first one is Actual Value Coverage (AVC). This means that in the case of damage, you are repaid the depreciated value of your lost property.

The second option is Replacement Value Coverage (RVC). Here, you are paid for the replacement cost of a new unit. Experts say that RVC costs about 25% more than the AVC policy.

As a form of liability insurance, renter’s insurance policies in Arizona cover the full amount or a portion of your medical expenses and those of the people who are injured in the event or accident. Depending on the extent of your coverage, this may also extend to coverage for when your guests suffer from an unexpected mishap.

How Much Does Renter’s Insurance Cost in Arizona?

Many people think that renter’s insurance is not in their budget or is not a necessary expense. But it is! It really is!

According to the National Association of Insurance Commissioners, the average policy cost for an apartment is $184 per year, or about $15 per month. The coverage for such a policy ranges from about $30,000 to $50,000 for property, with a $500 to $1,000 deductible, depending on where you live. Such insurance also has $100,000 in liability coverage.

In a recent study, experts say that the average annual rate in Arizona ranges from $212 to $490. This covers a rental property of about 1,000 square feet of living space, $30,000 to $50,000 coverage and a liability insurance of $100,000.

Further, smaller cities and places just outside urban centers tend to have the best rates for renter’s insurance. The cheapest places for renter’s insurance in Arizona are located northwest of Phoenix and scattered across the southeast corner of the state.

Is Renter’s Insurance Required?

At present, no state legally requires renter’s insurance. However, there are certain lease contracts in which the lessors require the tenants to purchase renter’s insurance AZ for liability purposes.

Note that if your landlord acquired home insurance for the dwelling place, such policy covers only the building or the structure. The loss of your personal property inside the structure is not covered by your landlord’s insurance.

Moreover, your landlord’s insurance may not fully cover the damage for someone who is injured inside the dwelling place. Remember, a lawsuit of personal injury and the associated medical bills, can be very costly to you. Having renter’s insurance can certainly reduce such risk and can give you peace of mind.

At the end of the day, you have to realize that having renter’s insurance is an affordable way to cover your belongings and protect you and other people from unexpected damages and injuries.

Renter’s Insurance Casa Grande

You have the power and the ability to make things better after a mishap. You can protect the things which matter and which are important to you, and you certainly can have a new start after such mishap.

No insurance is simple. But as they say, with careful planning and with the help of your insurance agency, you can certainly make an informed decision in order to get a renter’s insurance in Arizona that gives you good coverage, and at the same time, keep your rate affordable.

Get a free quote from us today to protect your possessions. We’re happy to help answer any questions you have.

Is Renter’s Insurance Worth It?

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Renter's insurance photo

Many people do not have renter’s insurance because they don’t realize the value of it.  Assuming your landlord’s insurance will cover you in the event of a disaster is dangerous, incorrect, and potentially financially devastating.  While your landlord’s insurance policy covers the home that he or she owns, it usually will not cover a tenant’s belongings or expenses.  Once a landlord stops living in a home and decides to rent it out he or she will typically change the insurance to only cover the structure of the home.  This means you and your belongings will not be insured if something should happen.

What Does Renter’s Insurance Cover?

Renter’s insurance can be incredibly helpful because of all the things that it covers.  Many landlords will even require that tenants carry renter’s insurance, specifically including liability insurance.  Don’t stop at the bare minimum.  A comprehensive renter’s insurance policy can provide liability coverage and so much more.

Personal liability insurance for renter’s can provide much needed coverage for items such as dog bites and lawsuits.  If you have a pet that suddenly attacks someone and causes them injury, your renter’s insurance may cover you in the event of a lawsuit.  It can also pay for the injured parties medical expenses.  Liability coverage helps offset your costs in the event of an unforeseen legal issue.

Renter’s insurance also helps with the cost of replacing your belongings.  While it is not pleasant to think about you could lose everything in your home due to theft or unforeseen disaster.  Flooding, fire or even a strong storm can damage your home and everything in it.  Make sure that you have coverage that can pay to replace your items.

Offsite storage may also be included in your renter’s policy.  A robust renter’s insurance can include coverage for your items in an offsite storage facility.  If something were to happen to your belongings your policy could cover up to 10% of the value of your items.

Travel disasters can also be covered.  If your personal belongings are damaged while on vacation, as long as the damage was caused by something covered under your policy, your renter’s insurance will pay to replace your items.  A pickpocket or thief may steal your wallet or laptop out of your hotel room.  Your policy could cover these items.  If your car is stolen while you are traveling, your renter’s insurance can come to the rescue.

Another expensive part of unforeseen disasters is displacement.  If you were unable to live in your home due to an event that is covered under your policy, for example fire damage, water damage or hazardous mold, your renter’s insurance may pay for the ensuing expenses.  Living in a hotel long term and boarding your pets can get expensive quickly.  A short-term rental could conservatively cost $100/night.  If you are displaced for just a month, you could be looking at a $3000 bill just for a place to stay.  Renter’s insurance could take care of these expenses for you.

Your vehicle may also be included in your policy.  If you have items in your vehicle that are stolen, your renter’s insurance policy may pay to replace them.  If you routinely leave items such as a laptop, cell phone or any item of value in your vehicle, your renter’s insurance policy may save the day if any of these items were stolen.

How Can Renter’s Insurance Prevent Financial Catastrophe?

If you lost all of your belongings in a fire or other unexpected event, could you afford to replace everything?  Even if you think the answer is yes, I challenge you to go through your home room by room and estimate what it would cost to replace each item.  Start a running tally and don’t forget to include the small stuff.  Many people are tempted to only consider high ticket items when considering insurance but this doesn’t take into account the actual cost of what it would take to replace everything.  If you tallied the value of items such as your silverware, linens, bedding, picture frames, furniture you might be surprised at how quickly these items add up.

Get Renter’s Insurance Today

Whether you are in college and just getting started on your own or have an established career and family, if you are renting you should seriously consider renter’s insurance.  Renter’s insurance can provide liability coverage as well as financial solvency in the event of a disaster.  Your belongings can be protected and you can have peace of mind for a relatively small monthly or annual fee.  Renter’s insurance can be quite affordable and offers you coverage in many different situations.

Contact Gebhardt Insurance and protect yourself and your financial health with a solid renter’s insurance policy today.  We will work with you to make sure you get an insurance policy that provides the coverage you need at a price you can afford.

How to Insure Your Personal Belongings

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One great thing about a renters, homeowners or mobile home insurance policy is that it allows you to insure your personal belongings. However, many people don’t take the proper steps to ensure that their belongings are protected if they are lost stolen or damaged, rendering this feature of their insurance policy useless.

Here’s how to make sure your insurance policy will be there to protect your personal belongings when you need it.

Make sure you have the right type of insurance policy

This is an issue that comes up especially often for renters. Many landlords require tenants to have renters insurance so that they are protected if someone is injured or sustains damage to their property while on the property. A renter’s insurance policy can also pay for damage caused to the property by the tenant so that the landlord doesn’t’ have to make a claim on his or her own insurance policy. However you’re your renters insurance policy doesn’t have coverage for personal belongings, then it won’t do you any good if your items are damaged, lost or stolen.

Many apartment complexes in Arizona offer liability insurance through an affiliate so that renters can just add on the cost of the insurance to their monthly rent. It’s important to carefully examine the details of this insurance policy. Some renters are under the impression that the insurance offered by their landlord will protect their belongings if they are lost, stolen or damaged, but that is not usually the case. Normally, the landlord with only offer liability insurance. That alone does not insure your belongings.

Insuring Expensive Items like Jewelry and Electronics: So you have an insurance policy that says it will cover your belongings if they are lost, stolen or damaged. All set, right? Not necessarily. If you want to insure your personal belongings that are very expensive–think $1500 or more–you will most likely need to purchase additional coverage. That’s because your standard insurance policy may max out before it pays for you to replace your expensive handbag collection or home theater.

To avoid this gap, you can purchase a supplement to your insurance policy called an endorsement, or a floater, that will provide protection for your expensive belongings. It may cost you a few hundred dollars more a year to protect your most expensive items, but many people find that the peace of mind it brings is worth it.

So how do you know if an item needs an endorsement or a floater? Find out how much your insurance policy will pay out for each item you might need to replace. If your policy will only pay you $1000 to replace your diamond necklace, and it’s worth $5,000, you will need to buy additional protection if you want your item to be protected. Each time you acquire an expensive item, call your insurance company to let them know so they can talk with you about options for insuring.

Take inventory of all your important belongings

Many people can’t take advantage of the protection that their homeowners or renters insurance policy offers because they haven’t kept detailed records of their purchases. An insurance company won’t be able to help you insure your personal belongings and help you replace them if you can’t prove that you ever owned them.

To do this, you should take photos and video of all of the items you want to insure. Some common items to start with are furniture, expensive clothing, electronics like TVs and laptops and jewelry. Some people do video walkthroughs of their homes, filming their belongings as they go. This is a great way to provide proof of your belongings and it doesn’t take much time.

Now you need to start a list to keep track of the items you have. The list should include:

  • Exact product name
  • Detailed description of the item
  • Price you paid for the item
  • Price the item appraised for (if applicable)
  • Whether or not you have the receipt (and a photo or screen grab of the receipt if you do)
  • The serial number or identifying number (if there is one)

The Insurance Information Institute has a free home inventory tool that allows you to create and maintain a home inventory and keep it stored safely in the cloud. If you don’t want to use a tool like this, you could just create your own list and store it on your own cloud-based storage or email it to yourself. That way, even if everything you own is destroyed in a fire, you will still be able to access your proof.

Update this list regularly and save all necessary documentation—this includes owner’s manuals and receipts. You can take photos of the receipts and add them to your list, but it’s also a good idea to come up with a filing system for your really important receipts.

How much it will cost to insure your personal belongings

Once you have completed you home inventory list, add up the value of all of the items you have written down. This will give you an idea of how much insurance coverage you will need. In general, the larger the cost of your items, the more your monthly premium will be. If you are a renter, you can get coverage for up to ten or twenty thousand dollars worth of items for a very low premium, often less than $150 per year. Keep in mind, for any very expensive items you may need to purchase a floater because your policy may have limits in place for how much it will pay you for each item.

Be honest.

Never intentionally over-estimate how much your items are worth in hopes of getting more money from the insurance company. Doing this is a felony and if you insurance company thinks you are being dishonest, your settlement can be drawn out for weeks or months. Do the right thing so your insurance company can help you.

If disaster strikes…

If your home is burglarized or your items get damaged or lost, give your insurance agent a call right away. You should also read through the most current version of your homeowners insurance policy so you know what to expect when making a claim. If you didn’t plan ahead and don’t have proof that you owned the items that were lost or stolen, you will have a hard time getting any help from the insurance company to replace them. Search for receipts for online purchases in your email or online accounts, check for proof of purchase on your bank or credit card statements, and look for photos or videos taken in your home that might contain images of the belongings that were stolen.

 

If you want to insure your personal belongings and gain some peace of mind, give us a call at Gebhardt Insurance Group. We shop more than 40 different insurance carriers to find you the coverage that best fits your lifestyle and budget and we can walk you through how to insure your personal belongings. Call us today at 520-836-3244 or calculate your coverage costs now.