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If someone were in my home they'd probably be a close friend or family member- if they slipped and fell I sincerely hope they wouldn't sue!

Regardless, I have renters insurance. Its just 10 bucks a month because I coupled it with my auto insurance.

I decided to get renter's insurance last year after moving and my apartment was broken into literally a week later. So worth it, even if just for the peace of mind!

wow, my renters is only like $120 for the year...and it isn't coupled with anything else. I think that covers up to $20k and $300k in liability (as required by my complex). I don't know about my car though...hmm...

I'm confused:
If your laptop is in the car, how will renters insurance cover that? Won't the police report show that it was a car burglery and not a home burglary - and therefore not be applicable?

bepsf, some renters insurance also includes your car if there is a break in. Esurance at least does it http://www.esurance.com/Welcome/home/home/renters.aspx

Hoping someone won't sue is a risky wish. What if a family member fell down your stairs for example and couldn't work. Yes it would be nice if they didn't sue you, but they may not have a choice if they need the money from being off work and have others to support. If a small amount of money could give you the peace of mind that you are safe from having to give up everything you have, it's worth it.

When I was growing up, a neighbor was having a party at their house. Our dog was leashed on the front porch asleep while my dad did yard work. A toddler wandered away from the party next door, walked across our yard and onto our porch unseen, hit the sleeping dog on the nose, and was bitten when the dog (who had never bitten anyone in 10 years) was startled. They sued and settled with my parents' insurance company - that's why you want homeowner's insurance with liability coverage.

My renters insurance is $100, but I get a $100 discount on my car insurance for having both so it's free!

yeah, I was confused about the car as well. I thought some auto insurance covered theft. And would renter's insurance cover the car no matter where it was parked or only within a certain distance from the rental?

*cover the items in the car*

my policy: have insurance for anything you can't immediately replace or live without...

some tips:
// no matter how cute the progressive pitchwoman is, use a real agent. after your (insert tragedy here), do you really want to sit on hold for an hour on a toll-free line waiting for someone in bangalor (or omaha) to help you? i doubt it... we've made "friends" with a local statefarm agent (ben samrick) who -- like me -- likes to answer emails at 11pm and has taken time to know our needs. i know (although it costs more than esurance or geico) that when something does happen, ben will take my call and truly help to work through the situation. however, do make sure this agent takes the time to know you. a friend had a very bad experience with a SF-based allstate agent who neglected to intuit that -- as a freelance graphic designer -- his expensive personal cameras might be used for the occasional business use... so when stolen, they backed out of the $25K claim when he checked the [yes] box on the "do you use for business" claim form...

// (as touched on above) get a rider for any single item that's (1) expensive (2) attractive to thieves and (3) tends to travel with you... this goes for expensive camera equipment, laptops, etc... many riders also cover damage (say, for instance, a buddy decides to push you in a pool when you have your messenger bag (with laptop inside) over your shoulder)...

// and for god's sake: get health insurance. even a crappy kaiser plan will save your family from bankruptcy should something happen to you.

It's so, SO cheap there's really no reason not to have it. Especially for apartment people. You might be a very safe person, but your next door neighbor may be plugging 50 items into one outlet.

Like most young people, we were too lazy and naive to think about it. Then a friend lost her apartment and every scrap she owned to a fire caused by her upstairs neighbor. No insurance.

We called the same week and got our own.

If you're confused where to start, try your car insurer if you have one. Often they'll even give you a discount if you use them for both car and renter's insurance.

Keep in mind some policies only pay out for so much per category - such as only covering $5000 worth of jewelry - so make sure you find out if they have any such rules, and if it's enough to cover your major items.

Insurance laws are most likely different in Canada where I live, but my policy has limits on what will be paid out for things like art work, jewellery, and even bikes, so be sure to have appraisals done for those items separately. My last and current apartments also required that I have tenant's insurance as a condition of renting the property.

My apt also requires that I have insurance, but I already had it before I moved here. Good thing too since it bought me a new laptop when my last one got stolen out of my old apt. I agree that it is cheap enough that there really isn't any reason not to have it.

Renters insurance is great. It covers goods stolen from your car, provided they normally reside in your home.

Our car was broken into on the first day of our honeymoon, and everything in it was covered (thank goodness).

Also: my insurance covers replacement cost, rather than the actual cost, of my possessions. I don't know if the latter is even available as an option when purchasing home insurance but it popped up in the back of my mind.

For those of you bragging about how cheap your insurance is - that may be because you don't have earthquake insurance added to your policy. Obviously if you don't live in California, that isn't an issue. California has a standard earthquake insurance add on that you can get with your policy. It ups the cost by about $100-$200 a year. But totally worth it.

Rental insurance helped me 2 years ago when my apartment building caught on fire. The fire didn't actually reach my unit, but the water damage did. Then the whole building was condemned. Without insurance I would have nothing.

Here's something that might help someone in the Gulf States here in the U.S. During Hurricanes Katrina & Rita my family got distress payments of up to $2500 to cover expenses during the evac. And we actually used the money to cover our expenses too.

While here in Houston, my neighbors woke up one morning to find out a girl living alone fell asleep in bed smoking and started a fire. Everyone in the bldg. lost everything. Renters Ins. could have helped but I doubt many had it.

For the cost of a lamp from Ikea/month one could have renters insurance.

I have had renter's insurance since I have been renting. My policy covers my stuff no matter where it is (at school, in my car, at work, on the beach, etc.). I've had to use it once, and it is totally worth it!

One thing - make sure that, even if you don't have riders for expensive items, you have some sort of proof of everything you've got! I had several nice items of my grandmother's jewelry stolen, and since I didn't have any appraisals, or even pictures of me wearing it (I had only recently gotten it), I got nothing for that. I did, however, have the boxes for all my electronics, so I was reimbursed for all those items with no question.

I have it and love it. It gives us peace of mind should our home or cars get burglarized. The cost of replacing our bikes or cameras alone would be a huge pain compared to the $120/year that we pay for the rental insurance.

sheesh...I have just been looking online at renters insurance quotes (even with my car insurer) and am coming up with $400-500 per year. I live in a 2 bdrm, 1 bth duplex in Oakland CA. Seems high to me since a few commented on paying about $120...

I live in a building built in 1929, so when I moved in I got renter's insurance immediately. It's beautiful, but definitely not in the best condition. The week the girl who lives below me moved in, her ceiling fell through in the living room. Upon hearing that, I felt I didn't have a choice! Through state farm, I only pay about $15/mo.

I got renters insurance as soon as I got out of college. (I didn't own anything but a KitchenAid, anyway.) I pay $110/year, which is more than reasonable for the value. I don't think there is any reason to go without it.

I have renters insurance with State Farm. Because I have auto insurance as well, I get a multi-line discount. I would pay *more* for just the auto insurance, actually.

My daughter moved into a big apartment complex last year, and renters insurance was required. Many complexes have had such catastrophic losses (fire, water, pets run amuck) from uninsured renters that they've started requiring proof of renter's insurance when you sign the lease.

PLEASE please please get renter's insurance if you don't have it. We lived in a two-flat and our upstairs neighbor caused a fire that severely damaged their unit and significantly damaged ours.

We had insurance, and they did not. The next day, Servicemaster came to move out all our salvageable stuff to be cleaned and stored until we figured out where to go. The clothing salvage came to take all of our clothes to be washed and stored, and did a batch of stuff fast so we had clothes to wear to work. They gave us money for temporary living quarters, and offered to help us find a place if we needed it. And we had replacement value, so all the stuff we had to repurchase (computers, tv, furniture) was completely covered.

After a psychologically distressing event like a house fire, especially when you're running out of a burning building in the middle of the night, you don't want to be doing all this stuff yourself. (Moving, washing, storing). Plus our upstairs neighbors, since they had no liability ins., had to worry about the landlords (and our) insurance company coming after them to try to recover money.

From our experience, the losses add up quickly, and even $40,000 in loss coverage can get used quick, when you're talking about electronics and clothes and nice vintage furniture you've been acquiring over the years. Also, some people think the landlord's insurance covers their unit---it covers only the structure itself, none of the contents.

The insurance companies I contacted refused to insure me unless I had an alarm system installed because I live in a ground floor rented apartment in an area prone to break- ins. I bought an old (fire and water proof) iron safe to put valuables in, but I'd still feel safer with some coverage for the things I can't lock away. I've lived here for 11 years and been lucky so far, but now I'm wondering if I'm testing the limits of my good fortune by not giving in and calling the alarm company...

health-quotes.talk4fun.net - my family have this health insurance. It is affordable and has good coverage for dental issues. Getting a affordable health insurance while unemployed is a good idea. In addition, there are two ways to get individual health insurance.

1) You can look in yellow pages for a health insurance agent near you. They will help you find a coverage for your.
2) You can search online. There are many online companies that offer insurance plans. You can get quotes by providing your date of birth and zip code. This gives you a good idea of how this systems works and how much you could expect to pay for your own insurance.

Also: my insurance covers replacement cost, rather than the actual cost, of my possessions. I don't know if the latter is even available as an option when purchasing home insurance but it popped up in the back of my mind.

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