How to Get Renters Insurance

Getting your first apartment is exciting! But in the rush to move in, it’s easy to overlook important things like getting renters insurance. We often hear from renters who suddenly find they need renters insurance – fast – and don’t know where to start.

Don’t worry; getting renters insurance is actually quite simple! 

Even if learning how to get renters insurance is a new lesson for you, you probably need it quickly. That's why we try to make everything straightforward and fast.

This guide will walk you through how to get renters insurance step-by-step and answer the biggest common questions first-time renters have.

Here’s what we’ll cover:

• How To Get Renters Insurance
• What Is Renters Insurance?
• Do You Need Renters Insurance?
• Get Renters Insurance from Goodcover To Protect Your Stuff

Goodcover: Easy Renters Insurance, Zero Hassle

If you’re a first-time renter ready to protect your stuff, this guide is for you. With Goodcover, you can get the coverage you need faster than it takes to listen to your favorite song. Here’s why Goodcover stands out:

• Super-Fast Quotes: Get covered faster than you can listen to your favorite song.
• Replacement Cost Coverage: Never worry about depreciation – with Goodcover, we pay approved claims at replacement cost, so you'll receive enough money to replace your stuff in brand-new condition.
• Super Savings: Avoid overpriced policies inflated by overhead and enjoy competitive renters insurance rates with us.
• Dedicated Support: Our Member Experience team is available by phone, email, or chat to answer your questions.
• Roommate Coverage Made Easy: Goodcover makes it easy to share coverage. If you and your roommate are on the lease, you can automatically share your Goodcover policy – saving you money and making filing an insurance claim easier. That’s fair finance in action.

How To Get Your Renters Insurance Quote with Goodcover

Goodcover is all about getting you modern renters insurance without the hassle. Forget follow-up phone calls with agents where you repeat every detail you entered online,  complicated forms, and waiting. 

Even better, we don’t ask for your personal information until you’re ready to get a final quote – just play around with different coverage options and see how the prices change live on our website. That way, you can compare insurance costs for different apartments before you even sign a lease. 

Let’s break it down step-by-step so you can get the insurance you need at a good price today. You’ll start by pulling up Goodcover’s website.

Start with Your Zip Code

Once you open the website, the first step is to enter your zip code, followed by the rest of your home address.

You’ll see an estimate of your renters insurance premium right away, including four key pieces of information: the starting estimated monthly payment, the amount of liability coverage, the personal property covered, and the deductible.

Add Your Landlord or Property Manager (or Roommate!)

Next, you can add your landlord or property manager to your policy as an additional interest. Please note that some landlords might confuse the terminology of additional interest and named insured, so be sure to clarify if your landlord says named insured. 

You might have a lease that requires you to make this addition. Don’t worry; it doesn’t mean we pay them any of the cash value of your benefits. It just means they can verify that your policy is active, making providing proof of insurance easy for you.

If you have a roommate, they’re automatically covered on your policy if they're listed on your lease. This makes it so much easier since you probably have shared things, like a TV or sofa, so getting multiple policies through the other guys can be unnecessarily confusing. You don't have to do anything for them to be covered, but if you'd like to add them as an additional named insured, you can do that after you get a policy, right in your Member Dashboard.

Customize Your Coverage

Next up, you’ll make any needed adjustments to your insurance coverage. Goodcover makes it easy to fully customize your coverage for your specific needs. For example, if your landlord requires more than $50,000 in liability coverage, you can make that change here.

Make sure to review and adjust the amount of coverage you select for your personal property. This will vary depending on the value of your belongings, but you probably have more personal property than you realize. In fact, it might be a good time to do a quick home inventory before choosing your coverage limit.

Your policy cost estimate will update in real-time as you make adjustments to the coverage option amounts in each category.

Pick Your Upgrades (Optional)

After adjusting your primary renters insurance coverage, you can pick coverage upgrades to fit your needs. For example, you might want to add SUPERGOOD extended coverage so that accidental damage to your camera is covered. 

This extended coverage protects you in several ways. First, it covers classes of typically expensive items, like musical instruments or jewelry, that might be excluded by other companies. Second, it increases your coverage amounts for those items. Third, it adds accidental damage protection. 

So you’ll be covered whether your guitar was stolen or a friend drops your brand new camera while checking out some pictures, and your deductible (the amount of money you have to pay before your insurance kicks in) is more affordable, too.

Finalize Your Policy Details

Once you’ve decided how much coverage you need and reviewed your quote total, we’ll ask for a few more details about you. This includes basic personal contact information like your name and email so we can send you your official quote with a final price.

Save Your Quote for Later

Even with a 90-second undertaking, you might not be ready to finalize your quote and join Goodcover right away. Our save a quote feature makes it easy to test out coverage combinations and return later to join.

Even if your location doesn’t legally require it, many landlords require you to get renters insurance as part of the lease agreement. 

Specifically, landlords want you to have personal liability coverage that can cover negligent damage you cause to the property, like accidentally tossing a football through a window while playing catch indoors.

What Is Renters Insurance?

We’ve discussed how to get renters insurance, but we understand that you might need more information about what it is and what it covers. To sum up, renters insurance protects your stuff and you as a renter in three main ways: personal property coverage, additional living expenses (loss of use), and personal liability. 

Basically, renters insurance helps protect you and your stuff from unexpected perils that could devastate you financially, like theft or fire. Suddenly having to replace all of your stuff, pay for a long hotel stay, or cover an injury lawsuit out of pocket is out of reach for most of us without renters insurance.

Let’s look at an example of the havoc a bust water pipe could cause and how renters insurance protects you.

That burst pipe can soak and ruin most of your stuff, like your clothes, furniture, and electronics. If you have renters insurance, your policy can help reimburse you for covered losses, that’s the personal property coverage.

If the water damage means you can’t live in your home for a few days while the damage is cleaned up, your renters insurance can help pay for you to stay in a hotel under loss of use coverage.

Finally, renters insurance even helps protect you if a friend was staying over and got hurt by slipping in the water. Personal liability coverage can help with costs in case you get sued. 

Do You Need Renters Insurance?

Now that you know how to get renters insurance and what it is, you might wonder if you really need it and if the coverage is worth the cost of renters insurance. 

Landlords Usually Require Renters Insurance

While renters insurance isn’t usually legally required, your landlord may require it as a lease condition. 

Coverage Perks of Renters Insurance With Goodcover

Even if it’s not a lease requirement, with how much renters insurance covers, you’ll find it quickly pays for itself. Renters insurance is inexpensive and tends to cost about the same as one of your streaming services each month.

Replacement Cost Coverage for More Protection

Renters insurance from Goodcover helps cover the replacement cost of damaged items from a covered event so you can replace your stuff with like-quality items instead of only getting a depreciated value from actual cost coverage that some other companies offer.

A Safety Net In Case of Crime

Goodcover helps protect your finances from the actions of others that result in damage caused by crimes like vandalism or larceny. 

Hotel Costs In Emergency Displacements

Sometimes, damage to your home means you have to live elsewhere while your home is being repaired. Loss of use coverage helps pick up those additional living expenses like a hotel, so you aren’t stuck couch surfing with friends.

Personal Liability Coverage
The biggest risk a renters insurance policy covers is personal liability coverage. It helps when you accidentally damage the property of others, like a wall in your apartment when moving furniture, or if a guest is injured in your home and sues you for medical expenses.

Is there anything renters insurance doesn’t cover? 

Renters insurance covers a lot, but every policy from any insurance provider will have exclusions. Goodcover takes care to explain our exclusions in easy-to-understand language in all of our policies, so you never have to guess what your policy means.

Some of the most common exclusions in renters policies are:

• Catastrophic events: Some situations are just too big and unpredictable for anyone to insure as part of a renters policy and generally have their own policies, like flood insurance. 
• General building repairs and upkeep: Building repairs are why your landlord should have landlord’s insurance. Renters insurance is for your personal belongings, not the building itself.
• Medical: Renters insurance doesn’t cover your ordinary medical bills. You’ll need health insurance for that.
• Vehicles: Your car, truck, or e-bike isn’t covered under renters insurance. You’ll need an auto insurance policy to protect your transportation. If you have your own vehicle, Goodcover Auto can help you save money on your car insurance. 
• Intentional damage: While it might sound like a quick way to get a new TV, deliberately breaking your old one won’t be covered.

Get Renters Insurance from Goodcover To Protect Your Stuff

We get that thinking about how to get renters insurance might seem confusing, but Goodcover’s here to make it easy. We even let you share a policy with your roommate, because our aim is to make renters insurance accessible to everyone.

It doesn’t take much information to get a quote, either. Once you know a few things, like your new address and who will be living with you in your new place, you can buy renters insurance quickly.

If you have questions about any step of the process, our Member support team is standing by on our Live Chat channel to help you out.

So curl up with your phone for just over a minute and see what you’ll pay for renters insurance today with Goodcover.

Note: This post is for informational purposes; insurance regulation and coverage specifics vary by location and person. Check your policy for exact coverage information.

For additional questions, reach out to us – we’re happy to help.