Cheap Renters Insurance

If you rent the property you live in, you landlord’s homeowners insurance does not cover your contents or personal belongings, cheap renters insurance does (lets try to make it cheap). This is where renters insurance comes in, by covering personal property damage from things such as fire, lightning, smoke and more rare events such as a riot or a volcanic eruption. A typical renters policy also protects you from bodily injury liability occurring on your property. If you happen to have expensive items such as jewelry, a separate form is recommended (in the form of a “floater”) so that its full value is covered if it is damaged. Also, keep in mind that there are two forms of renters insurance: actual cash value (ACV) and replacement value. If you choose actual cash value, if your items get damaged, you’ll get the market value of the item. So if you have a 5 year old HDTV, you’ll get the money it was worth at the time it was damaged. However, if you had taken the replacement value type of renters insurance, you’d receive money to pay the cost of a brand new HDTV.

If you’re looking to get cheap renter insurance or homeowners insurance, the following will help make your renters policy as affordable as possible:

Shop around! The more agents you talk to, the more options you have. An independent insurance agent can give you quotes from multiple companies by acting as a middle-man or broker between you and the insurance companies whom they have connections with. Although different insurance companies claim that they have the best this and the best that, get multiple quotes. Different companies have different risk profiles and will thus give you different rates. There is no company, which always has cheap renters insurance. To get renters insurance at a rate that you want, you have to check out multiple companies.

Like with car insurance, if you’ve stayed with your insurer for a long enough time, they might give you discounts for being a loyal customer. They want your business after all! Furthermore, if you have car insurance, the same company likely offers you renters insurance (this would be like buying a discounted wholesale or bulk policy).

Get some type of security system and safety devices such as a smoke alarm or fire extinguisher.

Make sure that your apartment, townhouse, or rented house has solid locks on its doors and windows.

Ask companies if they have senior citizen discounts (age 55+). Some also offer discounts if you are affiliated with some group and if your premises are smoke free.

Raise your deductible. Your deductible is the amount of money you pay for a damage or loss before the insurance company steps in and pays the rest. Of course, you are opening yourself up to losing more if your personal belongings do get damaged, but you can save big if nothing happens to the contents in your house.

You might not want to hear it, but your credit score affects how much your cheap renters insurance premium will be. It also affects virtually every insurance you’ll ever buy, what type of credit card you can have, and what type of interest rates you’ll get when you finance or lease something.

I said it before and I’ll say it again: the key to getting cheap renters insurance is by shopping around!

Related hub:

Insurance for Unoccupied Houses: Unoccupied House Insurance

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