A big thanks to reader Jon for inspiring this post. If you have any topics you’d like to see covered at Brokepedia, email me!
Most of the time, when we use insurance, it means something bad has happened. We’ve wrecked our car. Someone has stolen our stuff. We’ve dropped our phone in the toilet. Insurance is probably the one thing we pay for that we never want to actually use. As far as insurance types go, renter’s insurance is a pretty damn good deal. First of all, it’s cheap–the average policy costs just over ten bucks.
Second, your coverage can include a lot of stuff:
• Theft
• Damage from fire, storm, hail, etc.
• Temporary living expenses (if you have to move because of fire hailstorm or whatever)
• Liability (someone tries to sue you because they fell down your stairs)
• Damage to personal property outside of your home
For the price, that’s not bad. If you’re having trouble finding cheap renter’s insurance, here are some tips for nabbing discounts.
Bundle With Your Car Insurance
Most insurance companies will give you a discount on your auto insurance policy if you sign up for renter’s insurance through them. This made my policy about ten bucks a month, considering the savings. In some cases, the savings could even outweigh the cost, meaning you get renter’s insurance for free. But I’m guessing this is probably rare.
Take Advantage of Good Credit
Many times, a good credit score can get you a lower rate. Esurance explains:
“Not only could your renters insurance rate decrease when you improve your credit score, you’ll also find that you could pay less for everything from car insurance to financing to credit card interest rates. Since those with higher credit scores are deemed more credit-worthy and less risky overall, they tend to receive lower insurance rates as well.”
If you live with a roommate or partner, consider signing up in the name of the person with the better score.
Install Safety Features
If you don’t already have smoke alarms installed in your apartment, install them. Not only will it save you money on your renter’s insurance, but it will also alert you in case your apartment is on fire. And that’s helpful.
There are a few other safety features you can install to possibly get cheaper renter’s insurance:
- Dead bolts
- Window locks
- Security systems
Use a Membership Program
Your membership in certain organizations might be able to get you a discount, too. Here’s a list of possibilities:
- Credit unions
- AAA
- IEEE
- Costco
- Credit card programs
- Sororities/fraternities
- NKOTB fan club (Not true. Just seeing if you’re still paying attention.)
Shop Around
Obviously, it makes sense to shop around for the best policy. But there’s another good reason to shop around: Price optimization.
Price optimization is basically a sneaky trick insurance companies use to charge customers more money. If they suspect you’re not likely to shop around, they’ll hike up your policy price. But if they think you might be the type to keep your options open, they’ll try to lure your loyalty with discounts.
Read more about it here.
How to Pick the Best Insurance Company
Ideally, you want to pick a company with a policy that at least offers the following:
- Personal property coverage
- Liability/Medical coverage
- Temporary living expenses
To see how popular insurance companies rank in customer satisfaction, price, claims and more, check out this list from JD Power.
Renters, do you have insurance? If so, how did you find a good deal, and how did you choose your company?
Photo: Mikhail Golub.
Managing your money is like going to the dentist or standing in line at the DMV. Nobody wants to do it, but at some point, it’s inevitable: you need to clean your teeth, renew your license, and manage your money like a grown-up.
These are all awesome tips! Def. a conclusive post. GEICO will let me bundle renters on for I think $5/month. I haven’t considered it much though because I own so little. If my house burned down, the only thing I would miss is my laptop. And that’s really only worth a few hundred and I back everything up so… I’ll probably stay looking like a transient until I buy a house eventually. But if not, I’ll pop back over here!
$5 a month! That’s awesome. Man I need to switch insurance carriers.
I had Liberty Mutual. Used my university discount and credit union discount to get a steep discount on both my car and rental bundle.
My car insurance is only $18.07 as well. I heart the gecko.
When I had a car and needed comprehensive insurance I added rental insurance to the policy and actually ended up paying less. I never did use the rental insurance. I do have a friend who got his laptop stolen from his car. His rental insurance covered the theft.
I’ve read about that, too, the rental insurance covering theft from a vehicle.
Not a renter anymore but my 21 year old college student is. We found out that she did not need renter’s insurance because she was a college student and therefore considered a dependent and was covered with our home owner’s policy with Nationwide. So, anyone with the same set of circumstances may want to check with their insurance company.
Good to know–thanks, AMW!
Awesome tips- especially the instant safety features! When we rented, we had to get insurance within the first month of living there, but thankfully the property company provided a discounted rate through a local company, so I think we paid about $11 per month. Added into the cost of rent, not too bad at all, and well worth the peace of mind!
Yes yes to peace of mind. I never really considered it until my friends’ apartment was robbed. Luckily, they had renter’s insurance that paid for all of their lost items.
Thank for advice how to pick the Best Insurance Company. List from JD Power is very helpful.
Great article, thanks for sharing this info! I didn’t know you could bundle renter’s insurance with your car insurance! That’s awesome! When I was in high school, good grades helped with bringing my insurance down which was definitely nice. Do you have any other tips to get cheaper insurance?
Thanks for the tips! I don’t have a lot of money to spend to insure my home rental, so it’s good to know how I can save money. It seems like bundling with my car insurance is a good way to get a good discount. It’s really important to me to get the coverage that I need to protect my things. I’ve heard that renters insurance doesn’t typically cover disasters like earthquakes, landslides, and flood. Is there any way to get coverage for those natural disasters? I want to make sure that I get as much coverage as possible to get what I pay for.
Yes, look into bundling! There’s specific insurance for those types of disasters if your plan doesn’t cover. I looked into it for CA, and the premium for my earthquake insurance would be $84/year. But that’s assuming the lowest possible deductible, so your mileage will definitely vary on this one.
Thanks for the information on how to get cheap renters insurance. I like the idea of bundling my policy with my car insurance to save money. I’ll have to ask around different companies to see if they offer that option. Great article!