Renters Insurance for Seniors
Whether you’re a senior renting an apartment or moving into an assisted living facility, renters insurance covers your belongings, liability and loss of use. It’s usually required by your rental agreement.
Renters insurance is often a good investment even if your new landlord doesn’t require it. You can protect thousands of dollars of personal property at an affordable price.
Do I need renters insurance as a senior?
Most senior renters need to get renters insurance as part of a rental agreement, whether they’re in an assisted senior living facility, a rental home or an apartment.
Landlords typically have insurance that only covers the structure of the rental unit. This means you have to get separate insurance to protect your personal property from a fire or other damage. Renters insurance provides excellent protection for a few dollars a month.
What does renters insurance cover?
Renters insurance mainly covers your personal property, such as clothes, furniture and electronics. A standard renters insurance policy covers your belongings from things like:
- Sudden and accidental damage
- Fire and smoke
- Explosion
- Hail, windstorm and lightning
- Accidental water and steam discharge or overflow
- Theft and vandalism
For example, if there’s a fire in your senior assisted living unit, renters insurance will replace your damaged belongings up to your policy’s coverage limit.
Renters insurance policies usually cover personal property at actual cash value (ACV). This means your personal property will be replaced at its current value with depreciation factored in. Some companies offer the option of replacement value coverage, meaning your belongings will be replaced at cost. Replacement value coverage renters insurance tends to cost more than ACV coverage.
Renters insurance also covers you for liability and medical payments. If someone is injured in your rental home, liability will cover the medical expenses if you’re responsible for the injury. Medical payments will help cover costs regardless of who is responsible.
A renters insurance policy covers additional living expenses (ALE), too. Also known as “loss of use,” ALE pays the extra costs tied to relocating while your rental home is repaired, including:
- Restaurant meals
- Additional rent
- Furniture rental
- Laundry
ALE only covers costs above your current standard of living. For example, if you’re renting a home at $1,500 a month and a fire forces you to temporarily relocate to a rental that costs $1,700 a month, ALE will cover the $200 difference.
Renters insurance exclusions
Renters insurance policies often exclude, or won’t cover, certain kinds or causes of damage. These include:
- Intentional damage: Renters insurance only covers sudden and accidental damage.
- Flood, earthquake and landslide: These natural disasters, and others like it, aren’t usually covered by a renters insurance policy. However, you may be able to buy hazard insurance to protect you from them.
- Pests: Damage due to mice, termites, bedbugs and other pests are not covered under renters insurance.
- Cars: While your renters insurance will cover personal property stolen from your car, it will not provide coverage if your car is stolen or vandalized. Full coverage car insurance protects against theft or vandalism to your vehicle. Many renters insurance companies offer a bundling discount that saves you money when you buy both auto and renters insurance from them.
- Roommate: If you share an apartment or rental home with someone, your renters insurance policy will not cover their personal property. They will have to buy their own policy to get coverage.
How much does renters insurance cost?
Renters insurance costs an average of $216 a year, or $18 a month. Your actual cost for a renters insurance policy is based on several factors, including:
- Your ZIP code
- Coverage limit
- Deductible
- Insurance claim history
Insurance companies don’t all calculate your quote in the same way. For example, one insurer may consider your claims history to be more of a risk than another and charge you a higher rate because of it.
Compare renters insurance quotes from several companies to make sure you’re getting the cheapest rate possible.
Methodology
LendingTree collected thousands of renters insurance quotes from the largest insurance companies in each state, based on data availability.
We used thousands of renters insurance quotes from across the U.S. for a 30-year-old single woman who has no recent renters insurance claims. Your rates may vary. Coverage limits include:
- Personal property coverage: $20,000
- Deductible: $500
- Personal liability: $100,000
- Guest medical protection: $1,000
- Loss of use: $9,000