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Best Renters Insurance in South Carolina

USAA, Liberty Mutual, and Nationwide provide the best renters insurance to South Carolina renters. To learn more about each provider’s coverage, plans, pricing, and customer service, read our guide.

via Lemonade’s secure form
Updated: Feb 03, 2024
Written by
Bradford Cuthrell
Written by Bradford Cuthrell Author

Bradford Cuthrell specializes in writing pet insurance, renters insurance, homeowners insurance, and other home finance topics. He’s surveyed thousands of pet owners and homeowners, listened to hundreds of customer service calls from various home service companies, and spoken with experts across the home vertical to understand homeowners’ common pain points and needs. Outside of his working hours, Bradford enjoys reading, camping, and working on his draft novel.

A renters insurance plan helps you save money by protecting you from paying out-of-pocket costs for belongings damaged due to an unexpected event, like a fire, theft, or windstorm. To help you find the best renters insurance in South Carolina, Quartz Advisor Reviews Team did a deep dive into the top providers in the Palmetto State. For free quotes from renters insurance companies in your area, complete this quick form.

Best Renters Insurance Companies in South Carolina

To decide the best renters insurance providers in the state, our team looked at each company’s prices, coverage options, customer service, discounts, and more.

Toggle

Best for Flexible Pricing
4.3
J.D. Power N/A A.M. Best A

Toggle makes it simple to choose the level of coverage you need for your rental at the perfect price to fit your budget. Our team was able to get quotes on a basic, standard, and premium policy after submitting a name, address, and birthday with the basic policy costing only $5 per month. We had the flexibility to completely customize coverage amounts, and adding endorsements was as easy as toggling on the selections we wanted. We were able to purchase a plan in only 2 minutes that could start as early as today.

Pros and Cons of Toggle Renters
Pros Basic plan is only $5 a month Replacement cost coverage available for just $3 a month Members gain access to exclusive discount portal Cons Customer support is only available by email and live chat Auto insurance is only available in 9 states, so it may be difficult to bundle
Additional Coverage Options

Here are the endorsements you can add to a Toggle plan:

  • Pet Parent
  • Replacement Cost
  • Temporary Living Costs
  • Side Hustle
  • Identity Protector
  • Significant Other
Available Discounts

Although not explicitly stated in the quote process, we identified several discounts that customers are eligible for by speaking with a customer service representative.

  • Diminishing deductible: For every year you don’t file a claim, your deductible will decrease with no added cost to your policy.
  • Multi-policy: Customers who bundle with auto insurance are eligible to save with this discount.

USAA

Best Membership Perks
4.7
J.D. Power 894/1000 A.M. Best A++

USAA has almost 100 years of industry experience, providing affordable insurance policies to former and current military members and their family. USAA gives the option of forgoing personal liability or personal property coverage, allowing you to save money by only choosing the coverage you need.

Pros and Cons
Pros Cons
Additional Coverage Options Available Discounts

Liberty Mutual

Best Value
4.4
J.D. Power 848/1000 A.M. Best A

With over 105 years of insurance experience, Liberty Mutual is an experienced renters insurance provider that offers customers five ways to save and up to three optional coverage add-ons. Plans start at just $5 per month and offer personal property, loss of use, medical payments to others, and liability coverage.

Pros and Cons
Pros Cons
Additional Coverage Options

Here are the endorsements you can add to a Liberty Mutual plan:

  • Blanket jewelry coverage
  • Earthquake coverage
  • Portable electronics coverage
Available Discounts

Liberty Mutual offers the following discounts:

  • Claims-free discount: This discount is available if you haven’t filed a claim within the past five years.
  • Early shopper discount: You’re eligible for this discount if you purchase a renters insurance policy from Liberty Mutual before your existing policy ends.
  • Multi-policy discount: You can save by bundling additional policies with your renters insurance, such as an auto policy.
  • Online sign-up discount: You can get a 10% discount by purchasing a renters insurance policy online.
  • Preferred payment discount: This discount is available when you enroll in an automatic payment plan.

Nationwide

Best Coverage Customization
4.5
J.D. Power 852/1000 A.M. Best A

Nationwide offers its policyholders coverage in the four common areas, including personal property, liability, medical payments to others, and loss of use coverage. In addition to this coverage, Nationwide tacks on ordinance or law, building additions and alterations, and credit card coverage for no extra charge.

Pros and Cons
Pros Cons
Additional Coverage Options Available Discounts

South Carolina Renters Insurance Coverage

If you buy a renters insurance policy in South Carolina, you’ll receive the following coverage:

  • Personal property—Personal property coverage pays for your belongings that are damaged due to a covered event. To understand how much personal property coverage you’ll need, add up the value of items inside your home before signing up for a policy.
  • Liability—This coverage protects you from paying expenses associated with damaging another person or their property.
  • Medical payments to others—If a visitor inside your home gets injured, this coverage will help pay for their medical bills.
  • Loss of use—Loss of use coverage pays for expenses like the cost of a hotel room or food when your home is uninhabitable.
  • Endorsements—Endorsements are optional coverages you can add onto your plan. Typical endorsements include earthquake and jewelry insurance.

How Much Does a Renters Insurance Policy Cost in South Carolina?

According to the Insurance Information Institute (III), a resource that educates people on the financial value of insurance, a South Carolina renters insurance plan cost an average of $188 per year in 2017. When ranked in order from most expensive to least expensive for the cost of renters insurance, South Carolina ranked 18 out of 51.


Factors to Consider Before Buying Renters Insurance

Before purchasing a renters insurance plan, consider the following factors:

  • Safety features—Some providers discount your policy if your rental unit contains certain safety features like a burglar alarm or sprinkler system. Take inventory of the safety features in your home to see if you qualify for a discount.
  • Coverage limits—Because policies have caps on the dollar amount each coverage provides, make sure the policy you select provides enough personal property and liability coverage. Typically, a landlord requires tenants to have $100,000 worth of liability coverage.
  • Deductibles—Deductibles impact your monthly premium, with higher deductibles decreasing your renters insurance rate and lower deductibles increasing it.

Compare Renters Insurance Coverage Options

If you’re not sure which renters insurance policy is best for you, compare the providers below.


Compare Renters Insurance Companies

Companies USAA Liberty Mutual Nationwide
Types of coverage Personal property, liability, medical payments to others Personal property, loss of use, liability, medical payments to others Personal property, loss of use, liability, medical payments to others, ordinance or law, building additions and alterations, credit card
Personal property coverage limits $25,000–$750,000 $15,000, $20,000, or $25,000 No limit
Liability coverage limits $100,000, $300,000, $400,000, $500,000, or $1,000,000 $100,000, $200,000, $300,000, $500,000, or $1,000,000 $100,000, $200,000, $300,000, $400,000, or $500,000
ACV or RCV ACV or RCV ACV or RCV ACV or RCV
Monthly price As low as $10 As low as $5 About $20
Discounts available 4 5 3
Unique add-ons Computer, tablet, valuable personal property Earthquake, identity fraud Limited water backup, additional insureds
Customer service B+ A+ A+

Our Conclusion

If you live in South Carolina, we recommend USAA, Liberty Mutual, and Nationwide as your renters insurance providers because of their customizable and comprehensive coverage. Before you select a plan, we recommend getting free quotes from all three companies to compare coverage and pricing:

Compare Renters Insurance Quotes
Fill out this quick form and get matched with providers near you!

Frequently Asked Questions About South Carolina Renters Insurance

What do I need to do to get a renters insurance quote today?

Have the following information ready when requesting a quote online:

  • Name and birthdate
  • Email
  • Address and zipcode
  • Desired start date for coverage
  • Number of people living in apartment
  • Value of personal property

What’s the difference between renters insurance and homeowners insurance?

Renters insurance covers the cost associated with repairing or replacing your damaged belongings due to a covered event. Covered losses under a homeowners insurance policy include property damage, which isn’t covered in a renters insurance plan.


Our Rating Methodology

Quartz Advisor rates providers using comprehensive review standards to score each company. Our review standards compare relevant factors such as cost, coverage, customer experience, technology, and reputation, which tally up to 100 points. In addition, we reviewed provider websites, customer access features, and tools; spoke with representatives; obtained sample quotes and policy terms; analyzed AM Best and JD Power ratings; and reviewed online customer feedback for each provider.

*All AM Best and JD Power ratings used in this review are accurate as of January 2024