If you’re renting a property, your renters insurance will cover your personal items no matter where they are. However, there are limitations that come with relying on renters insurance for covering property off-premises, like a storage unit. However, you still have options.
How Does Renters Insurance Cover Items In Storage Units?
How your policy covers items on your property is entirely different from how it covers your personal property off-premises. Renters insurance will reimburse you up to 10% of your coverage amount for items damaged or stolen off-premises, minus the deductible.
For example, suppose you have a $40,000 renters insurance policy. In that case, it will only provide up to $4,000 for damaged or stolen items stored in a storage unit.
What Are The Risks Of Keeping Items In Storage If I Only Have Renters Insurance?
It’s possible for your renters insurance to cover items in your home but not in a storage unit. The type of item and the reason for the claim can influence whether you get coverage. Some policies only cover items that were stolen but not damaged. There are also sub-limits, which will be capped at a specific dollar amount, no matter how much coverage you have.
For example, you could have thousands of dollars worth of money, gold, or coins stolen from your storage unit. However, your policy sub-limit for those items would be $200, meaning you could not be reimbursed more than $200.
Jewelry is another high-value item worth thousands, but renters insurance may cap your reimbursement at $1,500 and only cover your loss if stolen.
How Can I Get Complete Coverage For Items In My Storage Unit?
There are ways to increase your coverage. First, you can increase your renters insurance coverage since it would automatically translate to more coverage for your storage, even if it’s just 10%. Your renters insurance policy may offer endorsements, or add-ons, that you can purchase to increase coverage for your personal property kept in storage.
Another way is to get insurance for your storage unit from the storage company. This enables more complete coverage.
What Are The Benefits Of Adding Insurance From The Storage Company?
Adding a policy from your storage company will greatly increase your coverage. Since you have a certain amount of coverage from your renters policy, you can opt for a policy that covers just enough to fill the gaps.
Another benefit is that you can get coverage for various situations. You can get coverage for items that have been damaged in events such as flooding, fire, mold, smoke, and vandalism. You not only expand the coverage amount but the possible causes that qualify for reimbursement.
Get Your Best Coverage Today
At All Things Insurance, we help you get the best policies so you can protect what’s yours. We make getting insured fast and easy, and we are always ready to assist you. Call us today at (763) 645-5450.