Renters Insurance
If you’ve recently moved into your dream rental apartment or home, it’s critical you obtain rental insurance as quickly as possible to protect your belongings. It’s the best way to ensure you’re covered if something unexpected happens and you need to replace items, such as clothing and electronics. Read on for a discussion of how renters’ insurance differs from life insurance and commercial liability insurance when it comes to protecting your property.
What Is Renters’ Insurance
If you’re a renter, renters’ insurance is your best friend. If things go wrong, you’ll get cash to fix or replace your personal belongings. Remember, however, that all policies have coverage limits and deductibles, so it pays to read the fine print before deciding what policy to purchase. All policies out there have exclusions, and most won’t cover flood damage.
Rental policies cover just about everything from ruined clothing to wrecked TVs. Check with your insurance broker if you have more expensive or valuable items that need protection. Art and musical instruments are often excluded from standard coverage packages. But many policies will cover other stolen items, even if they are stolen outside of your home.
How Does Life Insurance Work? Will It Cover My Belongings?
Life insurance is a totally different product from renters insurance. It only kicks in in the event of the covered individual’s death. It’s designed to ensure the beneficiaries, surviving spouses and children, have sufficient money to take care of funeral expenses and debts, including credit card bills and mortgage payments. Any payment made goes to the beneficiary, not the policy’s owner.
Remember that rental insurance is designed to replace items you own in the event of a disaster such as a fire. Any payment the insurance company makes will be to you, not your beneficiary. And renters’ insurance policies are only applicable if you live in a rental home or apartment.
What If I Rent a Storefront? Who Is Commercial Liability Insurance Right For?
Commercial liability insurance is specifically applicable to businesses. It protects you if a customer has an accident while shopping at your physical store or if you accidentally ruin a client’s rug while providing a service at their home. You can often purchase extra riders to protect yourself and your company against certain legal actions, such as copyright infringement.
Commercial liability insurance doesn’t cover damages to your business’s physical assets. It reimburses anyone you’ve injured, but it’s not designed to provide a business owner or business with cash to replace or fix assets. Consider purchasing a business property insurance plan if you’re interested in protecting your business’s physical assets.
Valuable Advice
Many clients find it helpful to work with an experienced agent when determining what types of insurance to consider purchasing. These three coverages are only a few of the policies available, so it pays to discuss your domestic and work situations with an insurance broker to ensure your loved ones and property are adequately protected in the face of the unexpected. Don’t forget that business owners often have insurance needs that can’t be met by personal policies.