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When moving to a new home, renters insurance is generally the last thing many people think about. Cable tv, internet and phone appear to be the main concern for the majority. Normally, your landlord will have an insurance cover, but what the majority of people tend not to understand is that it covers only the building, not your personal assets. If you need a peace of mind knowing the content of your home is covered by insurance, you need renters insurance. Having to replace your valuable belongings or defend yourself against a liability lawsuit, can be really expensive. HO-4 and HO-6 are the 2 basic types of home content insurance. The former is for renters and the later for condo owners. Generally, these policies give protection against robbery, fire, hail, criminal damage etc. Earthquakes and floods, on the other hand, are not by default included in renters insurance. If you need to be protected against floods and earthquakes, the insurance provider will consider the risks and may provide you cover at extra cost obviously. Two important factors about renters insurance are "actual cash value" (ACV) and "replacement cost coverage". Undoubtedly, you can easily guest what these terms mean, but lets explain them briefly. If your 2 year old laptop is stolen, ACV coverage will pay only as much as the laptop costs at that moment in time - far less than say the $700 you purchased it for. On the other hand, replacement cost coverage will pay out as much as it costs to buy a new laptop from the shop. Of course, you will need to pay extra if you want replacement cost coverage. The most significant thing is to understand which coverage you want and which one you are quoted for before buying your insurance policy. Its a common practice for extremely valuable items, like antiques and jewellery, to be mentioned on the policy explicitly. Its even better if you have got receipts or certificates, which show the value of such items. If your residence is damaged - what will happen? That's when the "additional living expenses" (ALE) part of your home content insurance policy comes into play. If you place needs to be repaired and you have no place to reside - you are covered. ALE will cover living cost for you to live in a hotel or rent a similar apartment for a period of time. Normally, the limits for ALE are 30-40% of the overall insurance policy value. Its unusual for repairs to take more than a few weeks but most policies have additional living expenses cover limits of up to twelve months. Renters liability cover is yet another typical benefit. What does renter's liability cover, you may ask? It protects you in case somebody chooses to take legal action against you for getting hurt in your home. This part of the insurance policy, as you may guess, has limits too - do keep them as high as you can as legal actions are not cheap! Simply how much does renters insurance cost? In fact, no 2 people pay the same amount even if they live in similar properties. Credit score, occupation and age, along with the factors pointed out above, play an important role when insurance premiums are calculated. To find out exactly how much it is going to cost you, you need to compare insurance quotes from different insurance providers. Remember, the most affordable
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