Home & property insurance
Renters insurance
The cheapest genuinely useful policy sold in New York, and the one whose most valuable part almost nobody realises they are buying. Most people think they are insuring their television. They are mostly insuring themselves.
A renters policy has three parts. Your belongings, your liability to other people, and loss of use — which pays for somewhere to live if the apartment becomes uninhabitable. In this borough the second and third are worth considerably more than the first, and the first is the only one anybody talks about.
It is also the policy people most often skip because it seems too cheap to matter. A hundred and eighty dollars a year does not sound like a serious financial instrument. It is one, and the reason it is cheap is that the events it covers are rare rather than that the cover is thin.
The liability half, which is the real product
Your renters liability follows you. It covers you if your bath overflows into the apartment below and ruins their ceiling and their belongings — which, in a hundred-year-old Queens building with original waste plumbing, is a genuinely common event. It covers you if a guest is injured in your apartment. It covers your dog. It generally covers you away from home as well.
The building's policy does not do any of this for you. It covers the building and the landlord's interest, and if you caused the damage the landlord's insurer may well pursue you for it. This is why leases increasingly require renters insurance: not for your benefit, for the landlord's.
Loss of use, and what it is really worth
If a fire two floors below leaves your building uninhabitable for four months, loss of use pays the difference between your rent and what temporary accommodation actually costs — plus the extra you spend eating out because you have no kitchen. In a rental market like this one, four months of that difference is a very large number.
It is also the part of the claim that starts immediately, while the contents inventory drags on for weeks. For most renters this is the coverage that turns a catastrophe into an inconvenience, and it is included as standard rather than something you have to buy.
Replacement cost against actual cash value
Actual cash value pays what your six-year-old sofa was worth as a six-year-old sofa, which is almost nothing. Replacement cost pays what it costs to buy a comparable new one. The difference in premium is small; the difference at a claim is the whole point.
Check your declarations page for which one you have. A very cheap renters policy is frequently cheap because it is written at actual cash value, and that is the single most common thing wrong with the renters policies people bring us. It is usually a one-line change.
The sub-limits nobody reads
Even on a good policy, certain categories carry their own caps regardless of your total contents limit. Jewellery theft is typically capped around $1,500 to $2,500. Cash is capped very low. Firearms, silverware, and business property in the home all have their own limits.
If you own an engagement ring, a musical instrument, camera equipment or a bicycle worth real money, the fix is to schedule it — list it specifically at an agreed value, usually with no deductible and broader cover including simply losing it. On a renters policy that costs very little and it is the difference between a claim paid and a claim capped.
Ask about limits, not about “full coverage”. Full coverage is a phrase, not a product, and no policy on earth is sold under that name. It usually means liability plus comprehensive plus collision, which is three of the seven things a New York motor policy can carry, and it says nothing whatever about your limits. A minimum-limits policy with comprehensive and collision on it satisfies that phrase completely and will not survive a serious injury claim. We quote limits and deductibles by their numbers, and we would rather have the conversation about what 25/50/10 actually pays for than let a slogan stand in for it.
Included as standard
How we handle this line
Replacement cost as standard
We quote it that way and tell you what actual cash value would save, so a cheaper number is a choice rather than a surprise.
Liability sized to the real risk
$300,000 minimum, and higher where there is a dog, a home business or a building full of neighbours below you.
Loss of use explained in dollars
What it would actually pay for four months out of a Queens apartment, rather than as a line item.
Valuables scheduled where needed
Rings, instruments, cameras and bicycles listed at agreed value rather than crushed by a theft sub-limit.
Lease requirements read
Some leases specify limits and require the landlord as an interested party. We check the lease rather than guessing at it.
Multi-policy credit applied
A renters policy alongside a motor policy usually reduces the motor premium by more than the renters policy costs.
When to ring us
Signs this is worth a conversation
- Your lease requires insurance and you have not arranged it.
- Your policy is written at actual cash value and you did not know.
- You live above other apartments and have never thought about a bath overflowing.
- You own a ring, an instrument or a bicycle worth more than $1,500.
- You have renters cover and a motor policy at two different companies.
Renters insurance — what it typically costs
- Typical annual premium for an apartment in this area. The liability and loss-of-use parts are usually worth more than the contents part.$180 – $420
This is a typical premium range for this area. It is not a quote, and it is not our price. We do not set premiums: a carrier files its rates with the Department of Financial Services and our commission is already inside the filed rate, so the same policy from the same carrier costs the same through any producer in New York. What genuinely moves your own number is which carrier writes it, the limits and deductibles you choose, and the facts on your record — which is what we would go through with you before anything is quoted.
Questions we are actually asked
Renters insurance — frequently asked
How much is renters insurance in Queens?
Typically $180 to $420 a year for an apartment in this area, depending on the contents limit, the deductible and the building. Bundled with a motor policy it frequently reduces the total household premium rather than adding to it, because the multi-policy credit on the car is often worth more than the renters policy costs.
Doesn't my landlord's insurance cover my things?
No. The landlord's policy covers the building and the landlord's interest in it, not your belongings and not your liability. If your overflowing bath damages the flat below, the landlord's insurer may pursue you personally for it — which is exactly the situation your renters liability exists to handle.
What is loss of use?
Cover for the extra cost of living somewhere else while your apartment is uninhabitable after a covered loss — the gap between your rent and temporary accommodation, plus extra food costs. In this rental market it is frequently the largest part of a renters claim and it is included as standard.
Is my bicycle or laptop covered?
Usually yes for named perils and often away from home too, but check the sub-limits and the deductible. A $1,200 bicycle on a $1,000 deductible is effectively uninsured. Scheduling it specifically usually removes the deductible and broadens the cover, for a few dollars a month.
Related cover
Usually considered alongside this
Valuables
Your homeowners policy caps jewellery theft at a figure most engagement rings pass on the day they are bought.
1% – 2% of value
Umbrella insurance
A million dollars of liability sitting above the policies you already have, for roughly the price of a month of car insurance.
$250 – $600
Condo & co-op
Where the building's policy stops and yours starts — a line drawn in your offering plan or bylaws, not in the insurance policy.
$300 – $850
Car insurance
The whole New York motor policy explained by its seven parts — and what each one actually pays for when somebody hits you on Roosevelt Avenue.
$2,400 – $6,200Bring the declarations page and we will read it with you
Ask us what it would cost
Send or bring the summary pages of what you already have — those two sheets are where most of the useful conversation is. We will tell you what we would place it with and what that would cost, what we are paid for doing it, and whether you should move at all. Quite often the answer is that your current policy is priced fairly and you should keep it, and that is an answer we give in writing like any other.