What Does Renters Insurance Cover? - Home & Auto Insurance Guide | Gabi

If you rent an apartment, a home, or any other space for living, you should consider buying renters insurance. It would not only protect the property but also your personal belongings. Even though you may view it as an unnecessary expense, think about replacing your assets after a theft or a natural disaster. That could add up to a pretty challenging sum for your budget and with renters insurance, you would avoid it. Here’s what renters insurance covers:

Personal property

If your possessions get lost, stolen, or damaged in a peril listed on your policy, you’ll get reimbursement up to your insurance limits.Included perils commonly include wind and hail, fire and lightning, vandalism, theft, and water damage caused by freezing or leaking of plumbing and appliances, smoke, damage, mold, and some more. Renters insurance will cover nearly everything you own both inside and outside your rental place of living, for example, in off-site storage.

However, renters insurance doesn’t apply to damages done to your car. You need to buy separate auto insurance which you can get here.

Personal liability

This type of coverage protects you if a guest staying at your place of residence gets injured and will pay for medical bills or legal defense. If your dog bites your guest, it’ll also reimburse you for medical charges (however, some breeds of dog are excluded, such as pitbull).

Loss of use

If you have to bear additional living expenses when your rental property is uninhabitable due to a covered peril (e.g. fire, or a storm), a renters policy will provide you with compensation.

What Renters Insurance Doesn’t Cover?

Excluded Perils 

Renters insurance protects your personal assets against specific perils. Some of them are excluded which usually involves floods and earthquakes. If you live in areas prone to such disasters, you may need to purchase an additional policy. At Gabi, we can help you with choosing the best option for you!

Accidental Loss

You have to be aware that you won’t be able to report a claim if you or your guests accidentally cause the damage to your property or your personal belongings. The same applies to the damage caused by your pet. It can include wine spillage on the sofa, or nails wrongly hammered in the wall. Also, if you make any changes at your rental place without landlord’s permission and end up damaging something, you’ll be charged for repairing costs.

Expensive Valuables

Renters insurance coverage doesn’t usually include rare or very expensive valuables, like jewelry. If you spent a lot of money on some special piece, you may want to add jewelry insurance since premiums are typically very affordable. Check your jewelry’s appraised value against your policy limits — you might be surprised to learn that your existing coverage falls very short. 

As you can see, renters insurance is very useful in everyday life. We tend not to think about unexpected events but we never know what may happen. Think about losing your personal belongings due to theft or natural disaster — would you be able to afford the replacement costs out-of-pocket? If the answer is no, you should consider purchasing a renters policy for peace of mind.

Editorial content on Gabi.com is not written by a licensed insurance agent. It is intended for informational purposes only and should not be considered legal or financial advice.