How Much Renters Insurance Do You Need?

You want to purchase enough renters insurance to cover the cost of replacing all your personal belongings after a catastrophe with as little hassle—and money out of your own pocket—as possible.

Renters insurance can provide you with valuable personal property at an extremely affordable rate. So, how do you figure out how much renters insurance you need? You need to determine how much your household possessions are worth.

We know you may be tempted to give this number your best guess, but that would be a bad idea. If you don’t take some time to carefully calculate this amount, you may end up insuring your stuff for far less than it’s actually worth. If a disaster occurs, and you’ve guessed wrong, it’s a terrible time to find out you’re woefully underinsured and that you’ll need to use a lot of your own cash to repair or replace your ruined belongings.

Instead, Austin Insurance recommends you do a thorough home inventory. Not only is this the best way to come up with an accurate value for your personal property, but it should help speed up any insurance claims. Your home inventory should include all your household belongings, such as:

Make sure to account for all the things you keep in drawers, closets, cabinets, under the bed, and even belongings you may keep in a storage unit.

When you inventory an item, you should record a description of it, including the make and model (if applicable), estimated value, date of purchase, and any other identifying information. Any receipts you still have should be part of the inventory, as well. And, from now on, make sure to hold on to the paperwork for the pricier items you buy, like a high-end designer bag or luxury watch. It’s possible these more expensive items may need to be scheduled separately in your renters insurance.

We know this may sound like a lot of work, but with today’s technology it can be a breeze. You can search up a variety of home inventory apps from any of your devices, including one designed by the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC). The NAIC app makes it extremely easy for you to create and save a record of each belonging, and it offers tips on both disaster preparation and filing a claim. You can access the NAIC Home Inventory App from the App Store or Google Play. Whether you decide to use an app or you prefer to keep track of your belongings by putting pen to paper, it’s essential to update your home inventory at least annually, adding new items you’ve purchased and removing ones you no longer have.

You may be surprised how much your things add up to in dollars and cents once your inventory is complete. Now, you may be wondering how much it will cost to get a renters insurance policy to cover the tens of thousands of dollars’ worth of belongings you have accumulated. Let Austin remove that stress by sharing that renters insurance is generally very affordable—as low as $12 per month for policies offering as much as $30,000 of personal property coverage.

The best way to get the right amount of renters insurance protection is to work with a knowledgeable insurance professional like Austin.

The team at Austin is here to help you with the entire renters insurance process. We start by finding competitively priced policies that offer the amount of coverage you require based on the value of your personal property. Then, we identify ways you might be able to save money on your renters policy with discounts such as bundling your car and renters insurance with the same carrier.