Renter's insurance - questions/advice?

In My Humble Opinion
1

Confession time! I’m 43 years old and I’ve never had “my own place”. Ever since I moved out of my grandma’s when I was 20, I’ve lived in a succession of rented rooms in private homes. I’ve never needed more than that - I’ve never been married, never had kids, and until fairly recently in my life I didn’t make a lot of money and preferred to keep my living expenses down. I’ve lived where I do now for 12 years and would have been happy to live here for another 12, but I found out two weeks ago that the owner is selling the house and I have until September to vacate.

I was planning to find another roommate situation, especially since my rent hasn’t gone up in 12 years and it’s now impossible to find anything for less than 2.5x that amount. I saw in the rental listings, however, that there 100+ studios available in a new apartment complex that just opened in a former upscale hotel, right on the bus line I need to get to work and back, and that rent+utilities came out to about the same as the rooms for rent I was looking at. I paid the $55 to apply, expecting to get declined because I have no formal rental history, my credit is decent but not great, and I still have a significant amount of debt from my younger years that I’m about another two years away from having paid off.

Imagine my surprise when they approved me, and for the minimum possible security deposit! If all else goes well, I should be moving in the middle of next month. It’s the upper limit of what I can afford and I’m gonna have to make do with having considerably less disposable income than I’m used to, but it’s exciting that I won’t have to tiptoe around a roommate.

That brings me to the actual topic of this thread. One of the requirements is that I submit proof of renter’s insurance by the move-in date, and I have very little experience with insurance in general aside from auto insurance when I had a car and the health insurance that’s provided through my job. Anyone care to fill me in on the basics of what getting a policy entails? Can you recommend a company that you’ve had good experience with? I’m in uncharted territory here and would appreciate the advice.

2

Renter’s insurance is a “property & casualty” type of insurance, so more similar to your auto insurance than your health insurance.

Depending on the company you used for auto insurance, they very likely also offer renter’s insurance (as well as other types of P&C like homeowner’s). Talk to your agent, and shop around; generally speaking, renter’s insurance isn’t terribly expensive, as it only covers your own personal possessions, and not the apartment itself, but if you have anything that’s particularly valuable or possibly difficult to replace, you may want/need a rider on your policy to make sure that that’s covered.a

Renter’s insurance also typically provides liability coverage for you if someone gets injured in your apartment and sues you, and can also pay for a place for you to stay if your apartment becomes damaged (such as due to a fire), and is uninhabitable for a time.

Much like auto insurance, well-established brands/companies which are known for good customer service are likely to be your best bet, and given that renter’s insurance is not usually extremely expensive in the absolute, going with a cheap company may not save you very much.

3

I think @kenobi_65 has said it all.

When I’ve rented apartments, the renter’s insurance premium was quite reasonable. All I really needed to do was to estimate the cost of my belongings. The insurance company used that to price out the cost, given the building. “You’re going to be at 123 Fake Street in Anytown, and our records show that it is well-maintained, up to fire code, and with [for example] $10,000 worth of belongings, we can write a one-year policy on your unit in that building for $X.”

Your estimate can be just that: an estimate. They don’t expect you to appraise everything and add it up to the penny. The first time I did it, I looked around me, at all the stuff I had, and said, “Well I guess I’ve got [whatever] dollars worth of stuff.” That’s what I told the insurance company, and that’s how they priced the policy.

4

You will probably get a cheaper rate if you use the same company as your auto insurance because they will bundle the two together.

There is no way to tell you which the best company is. That varies hugely by area but any of that major carriers will be more or less that same.

5

I don’t currently have auto insurance. I used to go through Progressive, but it’s been 8 years since I owned a car. The buses are free where I live and run pretty much everywhere I need to go, so I haven’t needed a car for awhile. Once I move into this studio, I’ll literally be able to walk out to the street, get on the bus right there, ride it right to work without having to change buses, and do the same thing on my way back at night.

6

Anecdotally, I’ve had good experiences with State Farm (who we use for auto and renter’s insurance, amongst other things). Before that, I also had good experiences with AAA insurance.

My renter’s insurances have cost me around $100/year (for the minimum coverage plus a few listed items, like expensive bikes). They’ve covered several stolen bikes (worth thousands of dollars) and our premiums still did not go up (that might be a state by state thing, whether they can raise your premiums for a theft).

It’s just very cheap to begin with, and good to have as a renter. If you do have any expensive property you want covered, try to see if they have a purchase value rider — meaning you get back what you paid for the thing initially, rather than its depreciated value over time.

Otherwise, doesn’t really matter. Just get the minimum coverage required by your apt complex. It should be pretty cheap no matter who you get it from.

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PS - Amica, State Farm, Liberty Mutual, and a few others are “mutual insurance” companies owned by the policyholders (in the aggregate), in contrast to companies like Geico, Progressive, Allstate, etc., that have to answer to outside shareholders.

In theory this means they’re there primarily to serve the policyholders instead of driving profit for their outside owners.

In practice, it doesn’t necessarily mean their policyholders are more satisfied, though: https://www.jdpower.com/business/press-releases/2025-us-home-insurance-study

And in your specific case, if you’re just getting it for the sake of your apartment’s requirements, it doesn’t really matter. If you’re not covering anything of value and you don’t expect to get sued by your guests and such, it won’t matter much which particular company you buy it from.

You can also combine a renter’s policy with an personal umbrella policy (which shields you from non-home-related liabilities too), but that only makes sense if the combined policy is cheaper than just the renter’s.

In any case, you’re probably looking at a <$100/year difference between any of the major companies.

Edit: Huh, in fact, as a State Farm policyholder, I’m actually entitled to a vote on their board of directors. They don’t really make this easily known but it shows up in the annual report: https://www.statefarm.com/content/dam/sf-library/en-us/secure/legacy/pdf/2025-annual-report.pdf

All members may attend the annual meeting, and the first named insured has a right to vote by proxy or in person.

But apparently only the auto policy parent company is a mutual. It in turns owns some of the subsidiaries, including the renter’s policy org, as its sole stockowner.

So I guess the mutuals are more “democratic” in that one-person-one vote way, as opposed to the one-share-one-vote way of regular companies.

TIL!

8

Where do you live that the buses are free to ride?

I had good luck with Liberty Mutual when I was a renter. When I got broken into, they paid me enough to get a much nicer guitar than the one that was stolen.

9

Perhaps start by contacting Progressive since you have some history there?

10

Based on what you said about your living situation and debt, I would recommend just getting the minimum amount of coverage for your possessions. You probably don’t need full coverage for all the stuff you have. For instance, if you lost everything, you could cheaply replace your clothes, furniture, and household goods at thrift stores. You probably shouldn’t pay for a pricey policy that has replacement cost coverage for a bunch of clothes and random stuff. I get the sense that your money would be better spent going towards your debt rather than an expensive insurance policy.

11

The building management or landlord may have minimum requirements for the renter’s insurance so whatever you get should at least meet them.

12

I was going to say the exact opposite.
Make sure the quotes you get state they’ll provide Replacement Value or Replacement Cash Value for personal property losses, not Actual Cash Value. ACV depreciates everything, so that they will only pay you $20 for your 5 year old TV even though replacing it with a comparable one from BestBuy will cost you $600. IME the difference in premiums is pretty minimal for a basic level of coverage, it’s only if you start listing jewelry or high end electronics that the prices start to get prohibitive.

13

Some of that will depend on your priorities for your money. If someone is in debt and doesn’t have much disposable income, putting money towards an insurance policy might not really be worth it. If the OP’s TV gets stolen, he could get another one at Goodwill for $30. Sure, it’s not as good as a new one, but in the meantime he could have been using that insurance money for his lifestyle and paying down debt. And chances are, he will never need to use his coverage. So if money is tight, it’s probably better to put that money somewhere else rather than fully insuring a bunch of stuff that can be replaced for little cost. Homes and cars are more important to fully insure since they are critically essential to your day-to-day life. You need a place to live and a way to get to work. But if you lose your furniture and clothes, you can make due with minimal replacements and build back up over time. But there’s nothing wrong with getting everything fully insured if you can afford it. You’ll have a much greater peace of mind and a much easier time if you end up needing to replace your stuff.

14

I didn’t read the whole thread. But here at The Home I have renters insurance and whenever I have rented I have always had it. It’s dirt cheap compared to homeowners insurance, in fact there is no comparison. They’re at completely different orders of magnitude. And the coverage that you get with renters insurance is incredible. I’m covered even if something a stolen out of my car when it’s not parked at the apartment. Go to whatever company you have your car insurance with and see if they have renters insurance. They probably do. Don’t hesitate.

ETA: My renters insurance is with USAA, the same as my car insurance. My annual premium is something like $500. That’s $500 PER YEAR. You get to pick the level of coverage you want for your possessions, including computers, bicycles, family silver, etc. My coverage is right at $50,000, and I’m positive I don’t have anything close to stuff worth that much. There’s other coverage, too, but I don’t have the details right in front of me. Compared to the high cost of homeowners insurance, renters insurance is the biggest bargain on the block.

15

Yeah, it’s a crazy value. It’s the only insurance product I routinely wonder “How could it be so cheap?” about.

If health insurance is maximum evil per dollar, this is at the far other end.

16

Renter’s insurance is cheap, I think, because there’s no coverage for rebuilding.

17

There are pros and cons for Replacement Value insurance. But keep in mind, you are generally required to replace the item before the insurance company will pay you that benefit. Generally, they’ll pay you the ACV and then you have to go buy the replacement to get the difference. (I say “generally,” because polices sometimes differ on this)

18

One of my sisters and her family lost everything in a wildfire. They did very well financially with renter’s insurance. Much nicer and brand new tv, furniture, guitar, etc. Obviously it didn’t cover irreplaceable things like keepsakes and pictures but they were made whole financially.

19

Another satisfied State Farm renter’s insurance customer here, though of course anecdotes are not data. An insurance company will want you to fill out a form about your living situation and the things you own, but yeah, unless you’re babysitting the Kohinoor Diamond or something, a premium of about $125 annually is all it should cost you.

Earlier this year I bought the house that I’ve been renting in, and upgraded my State Farm policy to homeowner’s insurance instead of renter’s. Unprompted, they sent me a refund check for the few dozen dollars remaining in my no-longer-active renter’s insurace policy. :smiley:

(Like @Smapti, I don’t own a car, so no auto insurance bundling options available.)

20

I had some sterling silver stolen by a cleaner and I didn’t notice it till a couple of days after it happened. I called the police and they determined that the silver chest had been handled by somebody wearing gloves. That certainly wasn’t me. I got on the phone to USAA claims while the police were still there and I was able to give a case number and a description of the few pieces stolen, names of the patterns, and approximate replacement value. USAA had that money in my account before the end of the day.

So I will say your comment depends on the insurance company. USAA is very good about paying claims, but I suspect that if you ever tried to defraud them or bamboozle them, you will be blackballed, and tossed into the outer darkness where there is only the weeping and gnashing of teeth, and no more insurance for you.

P.S. Even though I knew who the thief was, the police weren’t even a little bit interested in following up.