What is renter's insurance?

Renter's insurance is a type of homeowners insurance policy for those people that don't own property but rent a house or an apartment. The policy insures your personal property against loss and provides liability coverage for damage to another person or a person's personal property.

The policy provides coverage for the following:

• Fire or lightning
• Windstorm or hail
• Explosion
• Riot or civil commotion
• Damage caused by aircraft
• Damage caused by vehicles
• Smoke
• Vandalism or malicious mischief
• Theft
• Volcanic eruption
• Falling objects
• Weight of ice, snow, or sleet
• Accidental discharge or overflow of water or steam from within a plumbing, heating, air conditioning, or automatic fire-protective sprinkler system, or from a household appliance
• Sudden and accidental tearing apart, cracking, burning, or bulging of a steam or hot water heating system, an air conditioning or automatic fire-protective system
• Freezing of a plumbing, heating, air conditioning or automatic, fire-protective sprinkler system, or of a household appliance
• Sudden and accidental damage from artificially generated electrical current (does not include loss to a tube, transistor or similar electronic component)
• If there is damage to your rented apartment or house and you are not able to live there, many renter's insurance policies will provide for temporary relocation living expenses while repairs are made.
• Your possessions will be protected away from your home, such as items in your car, or items you take with you while on vacation.

Many renters think they don't have enough possessions to warrant getting insurance. If you add together your CD and DVD collection, your computer, TV, other electronics, clothing, furniture, bedding, and other personal items, you will find it all adds up very quickly.

And don't discount the liability coverage in a renter's policy. For example: You're tossing a football around with a friend in his backyard. You make an errant throw and the football breaks a large picture window in your friend's home. Because it was your fault, your liability insurance coverage under a renter's insurenace policy would cover this loss.