Renters insurance
Your landlord insures the building. Not one thing inside it.
Renters insurance is the least expensive policy we write and the one people are most surprised they needed. It covers your belongings, your liability, and your hotel bill when the unit above yours floods — the building owner's policy covers none of that for you.
What renters insurance covers — and what it doesn't
What it covers
- Personal property Everything you'd carry out of a moving truck — furniture, clothes, electronics, the bike in the storage cage. Most people underestimate this at first; a quick inventory usually lands between $20,000 and $40,000.
- Personal liability Your dog bites a guest, your overflowing tub ruins the apartment below — this defends and pays.
- Loss of use Hotel and meals if a fire or covered loss makes your place unlivable.
- Off-premises theft Laptop stolen from your car, phone lifted at the gym — property coverage follows your stuff.
What it typically doesn't
- The building itself That's the landlord's policy. Yours picks up where theirs stops — at your front door.
- Your roommate's belongings Policies cover the named insured. Roommates each need their own (they're inexpensive; split the pizza instead).
- Flood from outside Like homeowners policies, surface flooding needs separate coverage.
Worth asking about
- Scheduled valuables. An engagement ring or camera kit above the standard theft sub-limits.
- Water backup. Yes, it happens in apartments too — especially garden-level units.
The landlord's policy rebuilds the walls around your life, not the life inside them. For roughly the price of two streaming subscriptions, yours covers the rest.
The premium, honestly
What actually moves the price
No secret handshake here — these are the levers underwriters actually pull, and an honest note about which ones are yours to move.
| Factor | Why it matters | Whose lever is it? |
|---|---|---|
| How much property you insure | The biggest driver. An honest inventory beats a guess in both directions. | You control this |
| Your deductible | Common options run $250–$1,000; the premium difference is small, so match it to your emergency fund. | You control this |
| Building & neighborhood | Construction type, fire protection, and local theft rates all price in. | Not up to you |
| Bundling with auto | Most of our carriers discount both policies when they ride together — often enough that the renters policy is nearly free in net terms. | You control this |
Sample site: factors are real, but no premium amounts appear here because honest pricing needs your actual details — that's the ten-minute conversation, not the webpage.
Next step
Not sure what you're missing? Start there.
The five-minute coverage checkup finds the gaps in plain English — no premium guessing, no obligation, nothing stored. Then, if you want numbers, we shop your details across our carriers for real.