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How & Why & When To Get Renters Insurance
By
Lauren Evans
Published Mar 27, 2015
Modified Nov 19, 2015
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Zastolskiy Victor/Shutterstock
By
Lauren Evans
Published Mar 27, 2015
Modified Nov 19, 2015
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There are truly very few reasons to go through life without renters insurance. Many of us do it anyway, though, because we're devil-may-care rogues too busy feeling the wind in our hair/teeth to take a time out for something as lame and grandparent-ly as insurance. Or more probably, we're just lazy.
Like flossing and paying our taxes once each decade (right?), renters insurance is just one of those things we're going to have to buck up and do. We're not getting any younger, and it's time to take some responsibility for our lives. Mom can't pay our phone bill forever. Here we go.
The fuck is renters insurance?
You are very smart and have great smelling hair, but you can't always predict when shit will hit the fan, when all hell will break loose, or when all hell-shit will break the fan. Renters insurance will be your saving grace in the event of a whole host of unfortunate events (skip down to "Why?" for more), and it covers aspects of your apartment/life you perhaps wouldn't suspect it does: If someone wounded in your home during your Bi-Annual Fire Juggling Convention decided to sue you, your legal expenses would be covered up to around $100,000. If your apartment spontaneously burns to the ground (you really need to find a new location for this convention), your living expenses—like a hotel room, and even restaurants—would be handled by your insurance as well.
Why?
Renters insurance is not perfect—it does not cover floods, which is lame considering flooding will be one of our more dire maladies as a city once climate change finishes its coffee and decides to get to work. But it's a bargain—a standard policy costs about $300 a year for around $50,000 worth of protection. Wind, rain, heavy snow and lightning are also in there, in addition to fire, smoke, vandalism and theft.
You might assume, since your couch is made from old milk crates and your coffee table is actually just a half-eaten bag of Fritos, that your paltry shit is not worthy of insuring. This is probably not true—even if your bed is a broken crib you found in a Bushwick gutter, good luck scoring a new one for cheap in the unfortunate event the rats finally show up to reclaim it.
"Most people usually only think of the big-ticket items, like electronics, but if you really think about it, it's so much more in that," Keith Rutman, vice president of specialty property lines for Allstate Insurance, told U.S. News. "For example, in your kitchen, it's not only the appliances, but the towels, dishes, utensils and food, too. We find that the average renter in a two-bedroom apartment has about $30,000 worth of stuff." You can get a more exact appraisal of the worth of your sad crap using this website.
Moreover, it's not always about you, OKAY: If your bathtub overflows and destroys Ms. Minewski's priceless fur collection in the apartment below you, you'll want to be covered.
And finally, the pièce de résistance: "And the beauty of how renters insurance covers theft is that it protects your belongings anywhere in the world, whether they're stolen from the trunk of your car or your backpack in a Paris hostel."
I need help!
I need help too! Anyway, the state's Department of Financial Services offers some guidance into choosing the policy that's right for you. We are all unique snowflakes whose iProducts vary—this is a good resource for choosing a policy befitting your particular lifestyle.
TL;DR: Should I get renters insurance?
You're a jerk, but yes.
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Lauren Evans
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