Best Renters Insurance Companies (2024)
We chose Lemonade as the best renters insurance provider in the nation due to their tech-forward approach to coverage at an affordable cost.
Renters insurance protects you by covering the cost of replacing your damaged personal property and managing any liability claims made against you. With a variety of renters insurance companies available, it can be difficult to know which provider is best for you. To make this process quick and easy, we have put together a list of the best renters insurance companies with our top choices being Lemonade, State Farm, and Allstate. Keep reading to find out why they earned our top spots.
6 Best Renters Insurance Providers
After looking at each providers financial strength, customer reviews, discounts and more we have selected the following as the best renters insurance companies nationwide:
- Lemonade: Easiest Sign-Up
- State Farm: Best Personal Property Coverage
- Allstate: Best Coverage Options
- USAA: Best Membership Perks
- Nationwide: Best Endorsements
- American Family: Most Comprehensive Coverage
Lemonade
Best for Easy Coverage
State Farm
Best for Valuables Coverage
Allstate
Best for Unique Coverage
USAA
Best Membership Perks
Nationwide
Best Coverage Customization
American Family
Best Comprehensive Coverage
What Does Renters Insurance Cover?
Most renters insurance policies have four types of coverage—personal property, loss of use, liability, and medical payments to others. In addition to these four areas of coverage, renters insurance companies typically allow you to customize your policy with other endorsements.
- Personal Property: This protects the personal belongings that you own in your rental and in your car. You’ll want to take inventory of those items and estimate their value to make sure you get the right amount of coverage. Personal property coverage won’t protect valuable items, like jewelry and collectibles, so you’ll have to purchase an endorsement for those items.
- Loss of Use: If an event makes your home temporarily uninhabitable for repairs, your policy will cover additional living expenses during that time. This may include the cost of a hotel room or temporary rental, the cost of laundry, or the cost of meals. Loss of use coverage is usually expressed as a percentage of your personal property coverage, so the more personal property coverage you get, the more loss of use coverage you’ll receive.
- Liability: Landlords typically require this type of coverage so that they aren’t held liable for events that happen to your rental. This coverage protects you when you’re responsible for causing bodily injury to your neighbor or for damaging their personal property. It may even cover legal fees if that neighbor sues you.
- Medical Payments to Others: If a guest injures themselves in your home, your renters insurance policy will cover bills if that injury requires medical attention.
- Endorsements: While you’re not required to buy any sort of additional protection, you have the option to cover all of your belongings. Examples of popular endorsements include identity theft protection, earthquake coverage, schedule personal property, jewelry protection, and water backup.
Here’s an example of what a typical renters insurance policy could look like:
- Personal property: $25,000 of coverage
- Loss of use: $5,000 of coverage
- Liability: $100,000 of coverage
- Medical payments to others: $1,000 per person
- Deductible: $500
What Does Renters Insurance Not Cover?
A standard policy will not cover all events and all items. Here are few areas that will typically not be included in your renters insurance policy:
- Pest damage
- Natural disasters
- Car theft or damage
- Roommate property
- Expensive belongings such as jewelry and electronics
- Certain dog breeds and injuries
Most renters insurance companies help you limit the number of events that will not be covered by your policy by offering endorsements. Endorsements are additional coverage areas that can be added to your policy to protect you from things not covered by a standard policy such as floods and earthquakes.
How Much Does Renters Insurance Cost?
According to data we sourced from Quadrant Information Services, renters insurance costs $15 a month on average or $180 per year. For very basic coverage, though, companies including Lemonade and State Farm claim to offer plans for as low as $5 per month. Regardless of the amount of coverage you select, certain factors such as your age, claims history, location, and credit score can affect your premium.
How to Lower the Cost of Renters Insurance
Here are a few ways you can decrease your premium to make your policy more affordable and get the cheapest renters insurance:
- Add security devices to your apartment such as a doorbell camera or alarm system
- Select an apartment building with sprinklers in each room and a central fire alarm
- Bundle your renters policy with auto, life, or pet insurance to get discounts.
- If your provider offers a loyalty discount, make sure to stick with them for more than a year to get the benefits.
- Purchase your policy online so you can easily compare quotes in real time
- Get discounts by setting up auto pay and signing up for paperless billing
- Shop for a policy before your current policy expires
- Choose a higher deductible to lower your premium
How to Choose a Renters Insurance Company
To find the right renters insurance policy for your needs, consider the following:
Set the Right Budget
Decide how much room in your budget you have for renters insurance because that will affect what company you can buy from and how much renters insurance coverage you can get.
There are a few factors that may affect your insurance premium. Most renters pay a monthly premium, which might cost more than an annual premium because the provider adds interest onto the monthly cost. If you can afford to pay $180 upfront, you’ll save money in the long run.
If you’re looking to get your cost down, you can choose a higher deductible. The average deductible is $500 per covered event, but if you choose $1,000 or $2,500, your premium will be lower.
You can also look for companies that offer discounts. The company that provides your auto insurance will likely give you a discount for buying rental insurance through them. Other common discounts include having safety features, like smoke detectors and fire extinguishers, in your home and being claims-free.
Calculate How Much Coverage You Need
The amount of personal property coverage you have should be equivalent to the total value of the belongings you have. You can calculate this amount by taking an inventory of all the items in your apartment, estimating their value, and adding them together. The number you get should be the amount of coverage you choose when getting a quote on a policy.
Another factor to keep in mind when calculating your personal property is whether you want an actual cash value (ACV) or replacement cost value (RCV) policy. If you want your insurance provider to cover the cost of buying a new item if that item is damaged, then estimate your items as if they were new and look for a company with an RCV option. The alternative is estimating your item’s value based on depreciation and purchasing an ACV policy.
Another way to estimate your property’s value is by using a tool that insurance providers like Allstate and Geico offer. This tool breaks down your belongings by room and makes it easier to determine what everything is worth.
Evaluate Customer Service Options
A covered event could happen at any time, and when it does, you want to make sure you can file a claim right away. The best renters insurance company is one with 24/7 customer service. If another company has the policy you want at the price you can afford, ensure it at least has a claims center that’s open 24/7 or you have a customer portal and mobile app to file a claim yourself.
Consider the Risk of Natural Disasters
If you live in a state like California or Florida that’s vulnerable to natural disasters, you may want to consider a company that provides specific coverage for those events.
Most companies won’t include natural disaster coverage in your base policy, so you’ll likely have to pay extra for an endorsement or get supplemental coverage from another organization like the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP). If you’re eligible for USAA and want natural disaster coverage, we recommend getting a quote from them since it’s the only company in our review that includes flood and earthquake coverage under all policies.
Our Conclusion
The providers in this review offer some of the best renters insurance policies in the industry. While Lemonade, State Farm, and Allstate are our top picks, any of the eight will provide you with comprehensive coverage for $15 per month or less.
To get started, we recommend getting a quote with Lemonade which often has the strongest coverage at the most affordable rate:
FAQ About Best Renters Insurance
Is it worth it to get renters insurance?
Yes, renters insurance is worth it. While your landlord’s insurance will cover the cost of the damage to the property, it will not cover the loss of your personal belongings. Most renters don’t have thousands of dollars in the bank to cover replacing personal belongings or handling liability claims, which is why renters insurance can offer protection if an unexpected event occurs.
Who has the cheapest renters insurance?
Of the providers in this review, Lemonade advertises the lowest premiums starting at $5 per month. However, the cheapest quote we received was from State Farm for $7.58 per month. Other affordable insurance providers to consider include Liberty Mutual and Toggle who both have base policies starting at $5 per month.
Can you be denied renters insurance?
Yes. A company may choose to deny you coverage because of your personal information or because of your property. For example, if you have a history of filing a lot of insurance claims or your property is too far from a fire station, the insurance company may perceive you or your property as too risky to insure.
As soon as you purchase a policy, your coverage begins and you can file a claim at any time. This differs from other protection policies, like home warranties, that have an average waiting period of 30 days before coverage starts.
Our Rating Methodology
The Quartz Advisors Team is committed to providing comprehensive and unbiased reviews to our readers. This means earning your trust through transparency and having the data to back up our ratings and recommendations.
With that in mind, we created an objective rating system to score each home insurance company.For a full explanation of our. methodology view our Renters methodology page. Our rating system is a weighted, 100-point scale based on the following factors:
- Coverage (30)
- State availability (7.5)
- Customer service (15)
- Technology (12.5)
- Reputation (20)
- Additional benefits (15)
Ratings listed in this article are accurate as of February 2023.
