How to Find Renter Insurance Rates

Renters insurance should be a valuable part of your financial plans to protect your home and assets, provide security, and give personal liability outside of your automobile insurance.

Consider the cost of your furniture, your wardrobe, additional appliances, and collectibles, and then consider the consequences of losing these assets to fire, theft, vandalism, or other perils that may be covered by the perils that may be covered by insurance.

One of the facts of life is that, when living in an apartment or condominium, you are vulnerable to the life-styles of your neighbors. The next-door neighbor who has a taste for lighting the house with decorative candles can inadvertently set his or her unit afire, involving your unit with smoke and fire damage.

Rather than spending futile time and energy worrying, purchasing insurance upon your property is desirable.

Renter insurance is less expensive than you may expect.

The average cost of renter home insurance in the United States is $187 annually, ranging from $252 in Mississippi to $117 in North Dakota. The rates are lower than the usual home owners insurance cost because you are not purchasing insurance on the building.

Be sure to use our FREE quote comparison tool, located at the top of this page.

Getting Quotations on Renter Insurance

Renter insurance is sold in a number of ways. These ways are:

• Independent agents and agency – represent several different insurance companies and can provide quotations from them
• Exclusive agents – sell the products of one insurance company
• Marketing sales – through the Internet, by mail, or print advertising

To find sources of renters insurance, search your state’s insurance website to find the names of licensed insurance companies and agents. In all states, it is illegal to sell insurance without a license and the state department of insurance processes licenses.

To obtain a license to sell insurance most states require education and completing tests successfully. Continuing education is also a requirement for agents. Your state may also give financial ratings of insurance companies so you can observe their solvency.

Consumer complaint ratios may also be included to allow you to determine the efficacy of the insurance company.

Loss information and solvency can be determined, too, by consulting the following resources:

• National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC)
• Standard and Poor’s Insurance ratings
• A. M. Best Company

Read and examine the site’s criteria for insurance companies so you understand the meaning of the ratings.

How Insurance Companies Determine Rates

As you request quotations from various insurance companies, you will need to know the rating criteria for renters insurance policies so you can provide the necessary information. Insurance companies base rates on the following:

• Construction of the building – frame building cost more to insure.
• Age of the building – older homes cost more because the age of their heating, plumbing, and wiring.
• The size of your deductible – the amount of the risk that you choose to accept as a deductible
• Location of the building – an apartment located in a crime-prone area of the city will cost more to insure than one in a less dangerous area

The Amount of Coverage Affects the Bottom Line

When purchasing renters insurance, it is necessary to accurately estimate the value of the contents you plan to insurance. There are two ways of insuring property:

• Replacement cost coverage – pays for the amount needed to replace clothing, furniture, and collectibles with like property.
• Actual cash value coverage – pays for the actual cost of the items, taking into consideration wear and tear, age, and obsolescence.

Considering this, you should obtain an inventory sheet and complete it to determine the costs of the contents you intend to insure. A good idea, too, is to create a videotape of the contents to keep in a safe-deposit box for your records.

Liability coverage is provided by a renters insurance policy.

This is usually the only type of liability coverage individuals purchase outside of their car insurance, so it is extremely necessary.

Limits of $100,000 to $300,000 are recommended – you will find that the premium cost between $100,000 and $300,000 is very little.

Medical payment coverage, too, is provided with a renters policy. Limits from $1,000 to $5,000 are recommended. This type of coverage does not require a formal claim or lawsuit to invoke coverage.

It is intended to pay for such injuries as falls by guests, dog bites, and other injuries that occur when people come to visit.

Saving Money on Renters Insurance

Recommended ways of saving money on renters insurance abound, but the most practical ones are as follows:

• Obtain several quotations for your insurance because premiums vary from company to company depending upon the company’s experience in the area. This, too, is the reason you should re-examine your premiums yearly for comparison purposes.
• Raise your deductible to get more credit on your premiums. Consider insurance as a protection against disaster rather than a maintenance policy and demonstrate this with higher deductibles.
• Improve your credit score to help reduce insurance rates. Insurance companies do examine credit scores to establish rates for most types of insurance.
• Install security systems such as fire and smoke alarms as well as burglar alarms to ensure that you are warned of possible losses as soon as possible.
• Discourage smoking in your place of residence because unattended cigarettes are a leading cause of house fires. In fact, if you are a habitual smoker and choose to cease smoking, notify your insurance company because they may drop your insurance rates.

Evaluating Quotations

As you examine the quotations you obtain for renters insurance, examine the following:

• Financial rating of the insurance company
• Complaint ratio for the insurance company
• Perils such as fire, explosion, theft, and vandalism, provided
• Deductible
• Cost

You should remember that the average renters policy does not cover flood damage or earthquake damage. Your local agent can provide flood insurance, but if you are interested in the details, go to FloodSmart.com, a website for the National Flood Insurance Program, a federally subsidized insurance company.

Earthquake insurance, too, may be obtained from your local insurance agency.

Read the quotations carefully, then, once you have chosen an insurance company, plan to examine your premiums, companies, and limits of insurance to keep it up-to-date.

Be sure to compare quotes using our FREE search tool, located below.