There’s way more to Ohio than the “three C’s”— Cincinnati, Columbus, and Cleveland. How else could agriculture be the state’s largest industry? Even so, Ohio ’s 11.5 million residents are tightly packed—and one-third are renters.
Whether or not your landlord requires you to have renters insurance, it’s an affordable way to have peace of mind you probably didn’t even know you wanted. Ohio renters have plenty of options for cheap renters insurance; we’ll recommend some in this article. But first, what is renters insurance, and why should you consider buying a policy?
Renters insurance coverage tends to feature three main components: liability coverage, loss of use, and personal property coverage. You might not be familiar with those yet, so let’s run through them quickly:
Renters insurance offers liability coverage to protect you from being sued if someone gets hurt in your home. The policy covers medical bills that might result from an accident, such as someone falling down your stairs—and the legal bills if they were to sue you.
Loss of use coverage is helpful when you have to vacate your home for repairs because of damage that is covered on your policy.
Personal property coverage (also called personal belongings ) will reimburse you for your stuff for covered damage on your renters insurance policy, like vandalism or theft.
One quick caveat: you won’t be guaranteed coverage for every situation. Always read the policy closely with your insurance agent, and keep in mind these protections only apply if the insurer rules your claim to be what it calls a “ covered loss.”
Many Ohio renters insurance policies also come with additional coverage, like identity theft protection and pet insurance. There are a surprising number of perks for such an affordable policy.
Buying a new insurance policy is a good time to get quotes on all your insurance and try to save money. Not only is Insurify your go-to resource for information on renters insurance, but our free quote-comparison tool will help you get quotes from across the industry to make sure you’re getting the best rates on auto insurance, life insurance, and everything else you need covered.
What factors determine the cost of renters insurance in Ohio?
You can’t control many of the factors that determine your renters insurance premium, but they’re important to keep in mind when setting out to find the best policy.
Coverage Level
Needless to say, the less coverage you decide you need, the lower your insurance premium. The cheapest policies around tend to be no-frills, with fewer coverage options and add-ons and medium-level coverage limits. But set the amount of coverage on your policy carefully because if you don’t set it high enough, what’s the point?
Deductible
Your deductible is the amount you must always pay before your coverage kicks in. So when you set your deductible, think about it carefully because you’ll have to pay it right away in order to be reimbursed for a covered loss. If you can afford to set a higher deductible, you will benefit from a lower premium. But do the math carefully—it’s not always worth it.
Value of Property
Expensive property is more expensive to insure. That’s the simple truth of it!
Residence Type
Similarly, apartments with lower square footage and fewer residents will be cheaper to insure than renters who are in a four-bedroom house with three kids and four dogs.
Credit Score
Almost every insurer takes your credit score into account when setting your renters insurance premium. But it won’t make or break you. Here are some of our tips for raising your credit score by 100 points in 30 days.
Owning Pets
Having pets may force you to get liability coverage in case medical expenses arise from a dog bite or property gets peed on or chewed while you’re away from home. And they will raise your rates slightly. But you can find a pet-friendly policy; it just takes some extra shopping!
Ohio -Specific Factors
Renting is going down in Ohio, but rent prices are going up, pushing the cost of renters insurance a bit above the national average. Ohio is a temperate state with a low risk of hurricanes and other major storms. But if you live on the Ohio River in Cincinnati or elsewhere, you might want to consider flood insurance.
[infogram showing average cost of renters insurance in Ohio compared to New York, California, Florida, and Texas (or for cities––NYC, Los Angeles, Miami, and Houston)]
