A lovely apartment with roomy rooms and a laundry facility inside is a great perk, but don’t forget about renters insurance. For a reasonable monthly cost, you can obtain a sizable amount of coverage.
To assist you in locating the top renters insurance providers, we examined complaints as well as the prices for various coverage levels from 12 insurers.
Best Renters Insurance Companies
- State Farm: Best Value
- Westfield: Excellent for Bundling Vehicle Insurance
- The Ideal Family Structure in America
- The Best for Discounts Are Auto-Owners
- Best for Military: USAA; Best for Renters with Bad Credit: Allstate
- Nationwide – Excellent for Supplementary Coverage; Country Financial – Best for Broadened Coverage
What Is the Best Renters Insurance?
According to our research, State Farm and Westfield, both of which received five stars, are the top providers of renters insurance. With 4.5 stars, American Family, Auto-Owners, and USAA are also excellent choices.
Your location and the amount of coverage you require will determine which renters insurance is best for you. Compare renters insurance quotes from several insurers to get the best deal.
What Is Renters Insurance?
One kind of insurance that is especially made to accommodate renters’ needs is renters’ insurance.
Tenants should not rely on their landlord’s insurance, which only covers the structure and excludes personal property. If there is a fire, tornado, or other disaster that destroys the building, you would be responsible for paying to replace all of your belongings without renters insurance.
In addition to protecting your personal property, renters insurance also offers liability protection and extra living expense insurance. Furthermore, regardless of who is at fault for the injury, guest medical payments coverage can cover minor injuries to visitors for up to $1,000. Although renters frequently concentrate on getting their possessions insured, these additional coverage options may be equally important.
What Does Renters Insurance Cover?
Your belongings aren’t the only things your renters insurance covers. Other important coverage that is occasionally disregarded, like liability insurance, is included in a policy.
Personal Property Coverage
This includes belongings that are personally owned by you, like:
- Furnishings: Rugs Jewelry
- Apparel Dishes
- Pans and pots
- Technology
Damage from issues like these is covered by renters insurance
- Theft
- Fire
- Smoke
- Vandalism
- Falling objects
- Explosions
- Weight of snow and ice
The maximum amount your insurance company will pay if your personal belongings are lost, stolen, or damaged is known as the personal property policy limit. You could select $30,000 in coverage, for instance.
Usually, you can choose between actual cash value (ACV) and replacement cost coverage. Because replacement cost coverage does not account for depreciation, it offers better coverage despite being more expensive. For instance, replacement cost would cover the cost of replacing a stolen laptop that you paid $2,000 for three years ago at retail prices (less a deductible). ACV would only cover the laptop’s depreciated worth.
There are “special limits” or sub-limits on some items for specific kinds of losses. For instance, a policy may only cover $1,000 for stolen jewelry. That wouldn’t be enough for a $5,000 ring, for example.
High-value items can be “scheduled” so you get paid what they’re worth in the event that they are stolen if you need additional coverage.
Liability Insurance
Many people only consider renters insurance’s ability to cover personal belongings like furniture. However, renters insurance also offers significant liability defense. When you are sued for someone else’s injuries or property damage, your liability insurance comes into play. Your defense costs are also covered by this coverage.
You can therefore use your renters liability coverage if someone gets hurt in your apartment, or if your dog bites someone, and you end up in court.
Although $100,000 is the standard liability coverage amount in a renters insurance policy, you can raise that amount to get the best renters insurance.
What’s Not Covered by Renters Insurance?
Renters insurance doesn’t typically cover:
- the actual structure in which you reside. The building and common areas, like the hallways, are covered by the landlord’s insurance.
- Common area incidents include visitors slipping on an icy sidewalk. That would be covered by the liability insurance of the landlord.
- Things that your roommate owns
- Car theft or damage. That’s what auto insurance covers.
- Insect or pet-related damage
- Floods
- Tremors
- mudslides
Methodology
We assessed each business using the following criteria in order to determine which renters insurance providers were the best.
Renters insurance rates (80% of score): We calculated the renters insurance rates for each company using the national averages for policies that include personal property coverage amounts of $15,000, $30,000, $50,000, $75,000, $100,000, and $200,000. Information Services Quadrant is the source.
Complaints (20% of score): We used complaints that state insurance departments upheld regarding home insurance, which includes renters insurance. The majority of complaints about homeowners’ or renters’ insurance focus on claims, including inadequate settlements, processing delays, and claim handling. National Association of Insurance Commissioners is the source.