Renters Insurance

Seems reasonable, maybe even on the inexpensive side...

Most importantly, be sure $40,000 is really enough to replace all of your property from scratch, shopping-spree style, if your apartment was totally destroyed. It sounds like plenty but be sure.

If you have any significant assets (you must have some, if you're comfortable with a $1000 deductible), a judgment against you could blow past the $100K liability limit pretty fast and start cutting into your reserves for the additional. You can probably increase the personal liability limit without seeing a vast premium increase -- liability coverage is generally inexpensive.

Be sure you know what hazards are covered or not -- wind, flooding, etc. -- and shop around accordingly.

You might also check on Additional Living Expense coverage (cost of living elsewhere temporarily while you recover from an insured loss that renders your home uninhabitable), if it's not already included.

Yes, seems reasonable. I have $17K personal property (minimum they'd do) w/ $2500 deductible (maximum they'd do) with $1M liability (maximum they'd do). Cost is $132 w/ Travelers, about half of the cost allocated to each of personal property & liability. I only care about the liability portion as it's cheaper (along w/ auto variant of the same) than incremental amounts for an umbrella policy.

I just today got renters insurance for a furnished temp place as of 4-1. It is $50k etc etc and is $162.00 per year thru State Farm - the Linda Burchett office 212-665-2657. included is $100k personal liability etc.

Having just lived through the insurance quagmire blown in by Superstorm Sandy -- we avoid calling it a hurricane, because remember that knocks 1%-2% off of what your insurance will pay -- I have a different view than the "shopping spree" mentioned above.

I would get all the liability insurance they will give you up to $500,000, hard to imagine a judgment beyond that in New York unless you were criminally negligent, but I would get the minimal on belongings, even if you have really nice things. Jewelry, fine musical instruments, antiques, etc. might warrant separate insurance depending on value.

But not your ordinary nice leather $4000 sofa. Because basically, insurance companies will do all they can to avoid paying you, they depreciate everything they can, they dig out all the fine print in your policy (which I'm sure you've never read from start to finish, if at all).

Here's an example. My insurer refused at first to reimburse me for a flooded washer and dryer because I neglected to hire a licensed electrician to evaluate the appliances and to write a report on their condition prior to disposal--you may have seen photos of people's stuff piled up on the curb. I had photos, documents from electricians observing the damage generally, etc., but at first none of that mattered.

I argued with them and won, and got reimbursed for my new machines. But this is a cadillac "replacement" policy for which we paid unusually high premiums for 12 years.

Sandy affected people around here like Traveler's Insurance, Chubb (high end properties) and for cars, believe it or not, Geico. Geico won a lot of fans.

Good info, thanks.

I use state farm also and paid $145 for 15k property and 300k liability, with 500 deductible. I think this is just another one of those questions of what makes you feel comfortable.

$40K is really low -- even for just one person.

In a disaster, the average apartment-dwelling professional (male) would have to replace about $20,000 in CLOTHING alone.

Then there's the bed sheets. Towels. Wash cloths. Bathroom supplies. Pots, pans, dishes, cups, glasses, silverware, and other kitchen utensils can easily exceed $5000.

And we haven't even started talking about furniture and electronic equipment.

NYCMatt, how frequently do you change your wash cloths and bathroom supplies?