by Robin Ragland

Created on: June 20, 2009   Last Updated: July 02, 2009

I've always thought I was well insured. I had coverage on my car that even covered un-insured motorists hitting me. I had life insurance for myself and my husband. When my agent called and suggested renters insurance I only half listened to his sales pitch. I was busy, it seemed unnecessary. Even when he explained that the renters would get me a discount on my auto insurance equivalent to the price of the renters insurance and effectively make the renters coverage free, I didn't want to go to the bother. I wish I had though because the bother of signing up for the renters insurance was nothing compared to the bother I had from not getting it.

My husband and I live in an apartment. We have smoke alarms that are so sensitive that opening the oven sometimes sets them off. Fire was the last thing I ever worried about. We were careful and the alarm would sound at the slightest rise in temperature. I didn't count on my downstairs neighbor though.

I arrived home from work at 3:30 in the afternoon and I knew something was wrong before I turned the corner to my building. I could smell smoke and fire in the air and a fire truck was in the parking lot. I parked and started toward my apartment but I was stopped by a fireman who told me that no one could come any closer. I explained that I lived there but he just waved me back. I saw a couple of my neighbors and tried to find out what had happened. One lived in my building and another was from the building across from me.

What had happened was that the apartment below me had caught on fire while the couple who lived there were at work. With so many other people at work at that time of day the fire alarm had gone unheard until the fire managed to do a lot of damage to their apartment and to the one above it, mine.

By the time the fire was completely out both apartments and the one behind us were unlivable. The stairs were unstable and I was not even allowed in to get any of my belongings. I called my husband and trudged off to a hotel. The apartment manager relocated us to another apartment in the complex but a lot of our furniture and belongings were either burned or water damaged. We were faced with essentially starting from scratch. With no insurance to cover our damages we ended up maxing out our credit cards on furniture, clothes, and other household items. We also spent a week in a hotel until we got settled in a new apartment. The apartment manager said that they were not responsible for any loss of property but did give us a discount on our rent for the first 4 months in our new apartment.

I added the renters insurance the next month, too late to save us from this loss but, hopefully in time to prevent future disasters from draining our finances. It kills me to think that, for no additional cost, we would have been covered for all of our losses and not still paying off credit card bills.

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