thekettlewitch

OK guys, yawn, here it is..

I'm in Houston, renting for now and need insurance. First quote a mahoosive $1200 a year. Say what?? Never ever paid that much. Replacement value of personal goods $100,000. That may be on the heavy side, but same value as our container insurance so figured a good place to start.

Had another quote for less than half that, but less effects cover and similar personal liability etc..

Sound about right or does anyone have any recommendations for a decent quote? I know this is the land of litigious, so expected a higher premium but not at the expense of my Tiffany habit

Thanks

Pulaski

Sounds high to me, but it's a long time since I've had renter's insurance. Who were the quotes from?

thekettlewitch

I thought so too. It was from Farmers Insurance - first one recommended from our relo agent, which is why I asked as I wouldn't usually go with the first one and get a few quotes. But you must recall your first time ()


Meaning - new SS number, new bank account, new address etc..

Well on the high side I think. Any ideas where to go for a decent quote?

N1cky

Seems very high to me. We pay $18 a month with Allstate. I seem to remember the quote was on the house rather than content value. So 4 bed detached, 1950 sq ft, they come up with replacement values for stuff, and then we just added items on that were out of the norm, jewelry, watches...

Lbjen

We're using a company recommended by the apartment leasing company called erenters plan, it's about $250 for the year I believe.

Sheepdip

Just looked back (2008) and we paid $138 a year for: -

$30,000 of coverage
$300,000 of liability
$500 deductible

The age of the house made a difference to the premium for some reason.

Bob

That seems pretty normal, from the various places we've rented.

The $100 k for property is probably the biggest thing knocking the cost up.

kodokan

That's insanely high! It's more than I'm paying for homeowner's insurance on a 4,200 sq ft with high end fittings; that's about $1070 a year, and would rebuild it for me!

Renter's was around $180. Can't remember the value we put, but it would've been at least $50k. The insurances were both with State Farm.

Have they run you a quote for homeowner's rather than renter's by mistake?

FinnDiego

I think I'm paying around $200/year through Progressive Home Advantage whatever. 2br townhouse in a decent but probably not safest part of town. My content value is set at pretty low though - if the house were to burn down I wouldn't be replacing much of it anyway, and the insurance is mainly for the liability side of it.

Nutmegger

I'm sure the premium is also dependent upon where one is located -- my house is smaller than yours and my annual premium is $2,700 p.a. because I live in an expensive state/county. I know it's competitive as my broker runs a comparison every year. Perhaps Houston, where the OP is apparently located, is an expensive area for insurance.

kodokan

Gosh, I didn't realise there would be THAT much difference! I wonder if the local construction costs are priced to reflect '...and we can get some cheap illegal labor to do that...'

Bob

It doesn't surprise me, when car insurance jumped from $500 a year to $1600 a year from moving to MA from ME.

Rete

Ironically, just got mine in the mail last night ... for a one bedroom apartment, fire restistive dwelling with $500 deductable, we pay $231 pa.

Personal property is 55K, loss of use 11K, personal liability 300K

Rete

Renting a house, an apartment, a condo, a townhouse, type of material used in building, etc. All play a part in the assessment of premium.

You never said what you were renting.

thekettlewitch

That's true, a bit vague. A four bed family house, two floors, no pool, mainly brick clad.

I have managed to get a couple of quotes around the $500 p.a. mark for similar cover to the original quote. Ironically, one of them is from the same provider as the original but through a search engine.

Thanks to all who made suggestions, I shall keep trying.