Renter's insurance is so important! It's one of the first things I look for in a budget. On Monday, NAVADMIN 198/17 was released, announcing that renter's insurance is being removed from Navy Military Family Housing Public Private Venture agreements. In simple terms, in the future, your lease with a privatized housing company won't have renter's insurance included. While this is a change specific to the Navy for now, you can expect it to apply to everyone eventually. This announcement prompted this email:
Dear Kate,
I've just been told that our on-base housing payment doesn't include renter's insurance anymore. Why do I need renter's insurance, and how do I get it?
Mitch
Great question!
Mitch,
You do want renter's insurance. It covers all your stuff, and usually covers stuff like your liability if something happens. You may think that you don't have much, but just uniforms alone are usually a lot of money. What if you had to replace all your uniforms, plus your furniture, all your kitchen stuff, your sheets and towels, and your electronics.
Thankfully, renter's insurance is very inexpensive - usually just $10 to $15 per month. You can get renter's insurance from any insurance company. I'd start with the company that handles your car insurance. Adding a second policy to your account usually gives you a good discount. Because of that discount, some people even find that they pay the same or less after adding the renter's insurance.
This change isn't happening immediately, so check with your housing office to find out when you won't have insurance from them. You may want to go ahead and get the private policy now, even if you continue to have insurance through the housing company, for a couple of reasons:
a) it might save you money with the discounts,
b) the insurance through housing may not have high enough coverage for your situation,
c) you won't have to remember when the included coverage ends, and accidentally find yourself uncovered.
I hope that helps!
Kate
If you own anything, you want renter's insurance. It's cheap and easy to obtain, so don't procrastinate. You don't want to find yourself uncovered in case of a loss!
