When you rent an apartment or home, your landlord’s insurance policy covers the physical structure. If the pipes burst, the landlord fixes it. They do not pay for your personal belongings that incurred damage when the pipes spewed water everywhere.

Your renter’s insurance pays for your personal belongings.

Your policy from Windgate Insurance Agency, Inc. of New Windsor, NY covers the contents of your domicile as well as those stored in another area. If you rent a storage unit or store things in a marina locker, those items also typically receive protection from a renter’s insurance policy.

You may have to ask for these locations to be specifically added to the policy, or the policy language may already include items stored in other locations. Some locations, such as storage facilities, also require you to obtain a small policy through them to ensure you carry enough coverage.
You need to ensure that you enumerate all of the items you own when you obtain your insurance policy, not the ones inside your apartment. If the facility includes separate storage units, you need to include those items in determining your insurance needs.

Your insurance agent may ask you to complete a home inventory. This lists the items you own and their value. The inventory helps determine the level of coverage you need.

Completing the inventory helps you obtain the right amount of coverage. Buying a $5,000 policy when you really own $7,000 of items leaves you with $2,000 or more to spend out of pocket if your home incurs personal property damage.

That “or more” that you would need to spend refers to the type of reimbursement for your property you would obtain. If your policy says, your item replacement occurs at “replacement value,” that differs from “actual value.” Please read the policy before you sign it and buy it because the actual value would reimburse you for your property’s current value, which means depreciated value. Your $2,000 camera lost value when updated models of the camera came out. At actual value, you would get the depreciated value of the camera.

Contact Windgate Insurance Agency, Inc. in New Windsor, NY for more information on renter’s insurance. Let us help you better understand your policy or obtain a new one.