The Liability Component Of Renters' Insurance: What You Need To Know

Posted on: 7 June 2019

If you rent a home, condo, or apartment, one way to help protect your household is by purchasing a renters' insurance policy. Most individuals know that renters' insurance will protect their belongings in the event of a fire, theft, or other mishap, but your policy also includes liability coverage.

The liability component of your policy extends financial protection for incidents where someone is hurt or incurs damages on your property. Here are a few details you should know about the liability component of renters' insurance.

1. Liability Coverage Includes a Multitude of Expenses

One of the great benefits of your liability coverage is that it will pay for a variety of different expenses that may be associated with an incident. If someone sues you, the policy will cover your legal expenses and any judgments or damages that the court orders you to pay. The injured individual's medical bills and property damage are also covered by your policy.

2. You're Not the Only One Covered by Your Policy

Another fantastic detail about your liability coverage is that it covers incidents related to other individuals that you're personally liable for the actions of, such as your children and pets. If your dog bites someone, your policy will pay for expenses attributed to the bite. Your child may inadvertently cause someone to fall. If so, you can use your policy to cover the expenses related to this mishap. 

3. You May Want to Utilize Other Types of Insurance to Extend Your Liability Coverage

There is a limit as to how much damage the liability portion of your policy will pay for. You can select this limit when you take out your policy, and it's a good idea to stick with a higher limit. This higher limit will help ensure that a single incident that you're liable for doesn't wipe out all of your savings and assets.

However, the maximum limit for your liability coverage may not be sufficient for some incidents. For example, if someone is injured in your rental and then has a host of medical expenses and requires long-term medical care, these costs can easily exceed the maximum covered by your policy. The injured may then come after your personal assets to assist with their expenses.

Protect yourself even more by adding an umbrella policy to your renters' policy. An umbrella policy is a type of catch-all policy that ups your maximum liability coverage for a multitude of mishaps. This will provide additional coverage that minimizes the likelihood that one occurrence won't financially devastate you.

For more information, contact companies like Woodmansee Insurance Inc.

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Little-known Insurance Tips

While I have had auto insurance ever since I bought my first car at 16 years old and home insurance ever since I bought my first home several years ago, I have to admit that over the years I knew very little about insurance. I tended to just look at the price of the coverage and sign the paperwork without really looking into the pros and cons of each policy. After my friend was in a car accident recently (thankfully, she is okay!) and she said she had to pay for some of the damage to the other vehicle out-of-pocket even though she had a minimum state coverage auto insurance policy, I decided to put a lot of careful research into insurance policies and what they really offer. I want to help others by sharing the information I have learned on a blog. I hope I can help you!