Why You Need Renters' Insurance

WHY YOU SHOULD HAVE RENTERS’ INSURANCE 

 

So you’ve chosen to live off-campus in an apartment or other rental home. Plenty of students do! Dorm life just isn’t for them, and that’s okay. It feels like more independence to get an apartment...because it IS more independence!  You know the good news – freedom!  Now for the less good news: With more independence comes more responsibility.  And one of the least fun responsibilities that comes with independence is insurance – buying protection just in case bad stuff happens.  When you’re renting a place, the top protection against the cost of bad stuff happening to you or your stuff is called renter’s insurance. 

You may think your TV and your parents’ old sofa isn’t worth insuring, but there are other reasons you need renters’ insurance. Consider everything you would lose if your apartment building was hit by a tornado or burned down. Your clothing, your furniture, your books, your various portable and not-so-portable multimedia devices – all that stuff, gone in an instant. Worse, all the money you spent on the stuff is gone too – without renters’ insurance, no one’s going to pay to recoup those costs. You’d just be broke, homeless, and unable to tweet about being broke and homeless without using a school computer. And that’s assuming you live alone and don’t have pets – thinking about if you did bums us out, never mind you. 

Even if you don’t mind any of that for some bizarre reason (what are you, a robot?), you still need renters’ insurance. Why? A little something called “personal liability.” If you throw a party that gets out of hand, and some dopey friend of a friend gets “overexcited” and breaks your neighbor’s window, guess who’s legally responsible? Not the chump who broke the window – you. Similarly, if a visitor to your apartment trips on your rug and breaks a leg, and they sue, you’re the one who’s gotta lawyer up without renter’s insurance. Renters’ insurance won’t make the bad stuff not happen, but it’ll cover at least some of your costs. Your landlord’s insurance won’t, and neither will your security deposit.  

Although it’s unpleasant to think about, there’s also the issue of theft. You and any roomies may be in class all day, leaving a burglar ample time to pop your lock and steal your stuff. And if you leave a key under the welcome mat (friendly advice: don’t), Billy Burglar can waltz right in no problem and clean house. Renters’ insurance covers theft, too -- not just theft of items in your apartment but also items stolen from your car.  (Not all insurance policies are alike, so some of these details will depend  

When you sign up for renters’ insurance, read the policy carefully to see what it covers. Also, look at the amount of your deductible. That’s the amount you have to pay before your coverage kicks in. Say your deductible is $500, but your loss is $2000. You would pay $500, and the insurance would cover the rest. Higher deductibles often mean less expensive insurance, but consider the long-term financial security the more expensive insurance buys you instead of dismissing it out of hand. 

We all know bad things happen, but we tend to think they won’t happen to us until they do. They will happen to you, too, even when you’re as careful as you can be. Bummer, right? Thankfully, things like renters’ insurance act as armor against some of that pain. So armor up while you’re still hale and hearty, okay? Protect yourself and your stuff. Get renters’ insurance.