by Monica L. Garrett

Created on: June 19, 2009   Last Updated: July 02, 2009

Renter's insurance was only $25 a month but I thought I didn't need it at the time. I wish I had been smarter and purchased renter's insurance. I was living with a family member but had over $10,000 worth of items in their home. Renter's insurance would have paid me in the event of a fire, theft, vandalism or, in my case, lightning.

Lightning struck the tree in the yard and ran underground to the house. The damage was unbelievable. The tree had bark shot off of it. It was burned. There was soil missing where the lightning literally dug a hole in the ground. It punctured a water pipe. All of the electronics in the home were burned.

My new computer that I had purchased two months earlier was history. I started to test all of my electronics. I found that everything from my television to my clock radio was fried. I picked up my dvd player and it was still smoking. All of my electronics were hot and smelled of smoke.

It was then I thought of asking about their homeowner's insurance. To my horror, I was informed that there was a cap on how much they could claim in each category of coverage. They intended to use the entire amount that they could claim on electronics for their own items. I had moved from an apartment and had everything of mine in the room at their home. I was losing thousands of dollars of items and there was nothing I could do.

I had already inquired with the insurance agent and knew that I could have had renter's insurance to cover my property that was in storage and my items that were with me in my family member's home. I had decided not to do that because I had all of my valuable items at their home and was trying to save money.

I assumed that their homeowner's insurance would cover my items as well. I also thought they would look out for me if something did happen. I never dreamed there would be a cap on how much they could claim and that they would not share the coverage that was there with me.

I lost over $2,000 in electronics because I had tried to save $25 per month. I spent more than a year's worth of insurance premiums in the following week replacing items. I never replaced all of the items that I had lost because I couldn't afford to replace everything. What was lost was a collection of year's worth of electronics. There was no way to replace it all with my financial situation.

I was thankful that it wasn't a fire or some other disaster that had resulted in a complete loss. I wouldn't have been able to replace all of the items I needed for day to day use with the money I had in savings.

Insurance is important. It is only useful when you need it but when you need it, there is nothing you'd rather have than the coverage to deal with the outrageous financial burden that accidents can cost. Needless to say, I now keep renter's insurance!

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