Personal Story About Being Under-covered

I recently wrote a blog about how important it is to know what your apartment complex will and will not cover. In addition to that you should be very aware of what your coverage limits really are, if your apartment complex is providing the insurance to you. In my post about renters policies found here I was writing about the differences in my coverage from when I had the apartments insurance vs my current renters policy. I was drastically off on my guesstimate of coverage that I was receiving from the apartment.

I found our old declaration page today while sifting through a bunch of junk papers and I was absolutely stunned by what I had seen. I will post the comparison photo below to show just how off I was on my guessing, but I'm going to break it down here as well.

Current coverage from my renters policy:

• Personal Property: $25,000
• Personal Liability: $300,000
• Loss of Use: $5,000
• Deductible: $250
• Monthly Payment: $14

Previous coverage from the apartment:

• Personal Property: $5,000
• Personal Liability: $25,000
• Loss of Use(Additional Living Expenses): $1,250
• Deductible: $100
• Monthly Payment: $11

As you can see from my blurry photo, I was severely under-covered. And I had absolutely no idea. this happens everyday to people. They pay a fee and expect that they are being taken care of and are covered the way they should be, but sadly that's usually not the case. Sometimes as a consumer you need to be proactive and make sure that you have the right coverages and limits, don't be afraid to ask questions. You should ask lots of them! I essentially now have; 6x more personal property coverage, 12x more liability coverage, and double the loss of use coverage. I took my limits up this much and only pay three extra dollars a month and have a slightly higher deductible. Sure I might not need the $25,000 dollars in personal property coverage but that liability coverage can dwindle down fast. Just like I talked about in my umbrella post, your liability coverage can be wiped out extremely quick. If I burnt down my whole complex imagine the amount of liability on my shoulders... 

Just wanted to share my personal story about how this kind of thing happens to everyone and we all need to make sure our agent is taking care of use as well as you taking care of yourself.