Tenant Insurance

[Puffie40]

I've been thinking of getting some insurance on the items in my apartment in Rutland. Can someone recommend a insurance company?

[matai]

JOhnston Meier, they will find the cheapest and best one for your needs.

[goldengirl]

Western Financial Group has great people and rates!

[kgcayenne]

Check with the company you use for AutoPlan. Capri insurance gave me a discount based on having my car insurance through them.

[Captain Awesome]

I get ours at Kelowna Valley Insurance. Out of all places I called, they were most reasonable in terms of price as they work with large number of insurance companies. Good people.

http://www.kvins.ca/

[Steve-O]

Or don't get insurance and then castanutters can bash you severely for it when your apartment burns down.

Joking.

Some good leads posted above. Get a few quotes and I would also recommend be honest on the value of your stuff and you may save a few bucks.

[kgcayenne]

Make sure your policy covers the building's/Strata's deductible as well as going in to get your stuff out plus the demolition etc needed before re-building.

[Hassel99]

Pick one of the brokerages that works for you, all of the ones previously mentioned are good firms that can solve your problems. Make sure you pick an independent broker who can talk to multiple companies and give you the best options. Keep in mind once a broker contacts a company other brokers can not use that company for that risk. If you go to every broker in town you really are not increasing the amount of options you have due to this rule. Keep in mind not every brokerage uses the same companies.

Once you have your policy in place, take a picture or a video of all your stuff. If you have a loss you are responsible to prove what you have lost, often this is done in a signed declaration called a “proof of loss” form. After you have a major claim, and all your stuff has been destroyed it will be very difficult to remember EVERYTHING you have, thus if you have a video or a picture you can easily fill out the declaration with high levels of accuracy. If the insurance company questions the declaration you now have evidence to back up your claim. Store the pictures or video offsite, you don’t want to have your evidence destroyed in a fire or stuck on a phone you lost or damaged. What I do is I email the info to my Gmail account so I can access it anywhere.

Don’t lie or skimp on your application, its really not worth saving $50 on your annual premium to have the policy not pay out the way you want It to. Underinsuring your property could lead to a much smaller settlement than you would think. The best question you can ask your broker is “what is co-insurance” and how does it work.

If you have a condo you want to make sure your tenants policy is set up to pay your Strata insurance deductibles. This means you need to know what your strata insurance deductibles are, the one to watch out for is the water damage deductible. Strata's have been getting wet and its not unusually to see a $25k, or $50k water damage deductible if your building has water problems. Some tenants policies default to $5000 in deductible payments, if you have not done your homework you may be on the hook for $20k+ in uninsured losses if you suffer a water loss that damages the common property and have to pay the strata deductible.

Good luck !

[mexi cali]

My son just got contents insurance and all it cost him is 20 bucks a month for 30k in value.

[Captain Awesome]

My son just got contents insurance and all it cost him is 20 bucks a month for 30k in value.

Mine is a bit cheaper at $200/year but the coverage is around $50K.

[MAPearce]

Capri Insurance is who we use.

Even let us pay in two installments .. Full coverage for $310.00 per year .

[FSmith59]

Make sure your policy covers the building's/Strata's deductible as well as going in to get your stuff out plus the demolition etc needed before re-building.

Read the title of the thread. Tenants don't pay strata fees, landlords do.

[FSmith59]

Last time I needed tenant coverage, BCAA was by far the best. Lower deductible and more coverage for less cost.

It was a while back, so others may be better than them, now.

[kgcayenne]

Read the title of the thread. Tenants don't pay strata fees, landlords do.

If a tenant is renting from a landlord, and that landlord owns said unit in a STRATA develpment, then the tenant certainly should make sure the coverage meets all the deductibles. It matters not who pays the strata fees. Just ask some of the Legacy fire tenants., you will see.

[mexi cali]

I believe that the owner as the person who pays the strata fees, in their insurance policy is required to have a provision which would pay for their share of the deductible in the event of a catastrophe. That is how it is with my policy.

This must be in place as part of the purchase process so no one can try to duck any extra cost.

The tenant need only be concerned with contents insurance.

At least I think that's how it is.