How Do I Get Renters Insurance After A Fire? Img ©
How Do I Get Renters Insurance After A Fire If My Policy Is Not Renewed?
After a fire, it’s possible your policy may not be renewed. It’s also possible that it may go up in price. If it’s not renewed, you can always find someone to write a policy for you. Different underwriters will accept different classes of risk, and as a result someone will be willing to write it. You just have to look around.
The length of time after the fire is also important, of course. If it’s been several years and you’ve had no other losses, it may not be an issue at all. If it’s been a month or two, you might have to look a little harder. Most states have a market of last resort, often called the FAIR Plan, that allows you to get coverage when it’s not available on the voluntary market. That is, of course, the last resort for a reason – price and coverage may vary and you’ll want to make sure you understand what the policy covers.
What if the price goes up when you try to get renters insurance after a fire? That’s a valid concern, to some extent. You’re worried about the cost. The price is likely to increase, but bear in mind that cheap renters insurance is the norm. An increase may seem like a lot on a percentage basis, but in real dollars it’s still the most affordable protection you can buy your family.
If you’re paying fifteen dollars a month today, and it doubles, you’d be paying thirty dollars a month. That’s a pretty steep increase, more than you’re likely to see from a single loss, but it’s to make a point. Even if your renters insurance doubles in price after you’ve had a claim, it’s still quite affordable. You can’t get pizza for a family of four for thirty bucks anymore, so comparatively we’re still not talking about a great deal of money.
We will caution you, however, to be honest. First of all, you’re required to be honest on an insurance application. Disclose that you need to get renters insurance after a fire, and make sure that the claim is counted when the policy is rated. Sure, it will cost you a few bucks more, but failing to mention it could be a material misrepresentation, and could even get the policy rescinded and the premium refunded, with no coverage ever having been in force if there’s a loss in the future.
Besides, you know they’re going to verify it. The Comprehensive Loss Underwriting Exchange, or CLUE, is an organization that takes in and processes claim data from insurance carriers. When a policy is being written, a report is pulled from the database that includes your previous claims history. If you were to lie on the application and then it came up in a CLUE report, the insurance company you’re trying to work with is probably going to decline to write a policy at any cost, because you’ve proven you’re not being truthful. That’s not a positive outcome.
How Do I Get Renters Insurance After A Fire So I Can Claim The Fire?
We think what you just asked is how you can buy Harrisburg Renters Insurance after you’ve already had a loss and still expect it to cover the loss that happened before the policy was started?
Nope. That’s not how this works. That’s not, in fact, how any of this works.
The reason that insurance works at all is that people pay their premiums when they’re not having a loss. To simplify it, that money is then pooled and used to pay for the losses that do occur during that time period. If you could buy renters insurance after a fire and have it cover the loss, that would defeat the entire model and no one would get their claims paid.
The only way that renters insurance will cover that fire – or any other loss – is if it was in force at the time of the loss. That means you must have had the policy before the claim happened. Even if you pick up the phone and buy the policy while you’re running out the door from the fire, that’s not going to work.
You cannot get renters insurance after a fire and expect it to cover something that already happened. Renters insurance is issued on an occurrence basis. That means that the loss must occur during the policy period, so the policy has to exist when the loss happens. You can’t get it after the fact.
While some of you will no doubt be quick to point out that certain types of insurance are available on a claims made basis, and while you’re not wrong, that’s irrelevant to the topic at hand. Claims made insurance pays for claims made during the policy period, more or less without regard to when the act occurred. You’ll find that in certain types of commercial liability policies, for instance, or malpractice policies in some fields. That’s not something that you would ever find applied to a renters insurance policy, however.
It’s easy to get renters insurance long before you have a claim, though. You can get covered in just sixty seconds by clicking the banner above, or you can call Effective Coverage and work with a friendly insurance expert for renters. Either way, you’ll get a great policy that’s affordable and gives you the coverage that you need. It’s fast, easy, simple, and affordable. All you have to do is take the first step and you can be covered in seconds!
Just call (800)892-4308 or click to get covered - whether you need Pennsylvania renters insurance quotes online or coverage anywhere else!
Effective Coverage offers the nation's only completely mobile platform to quote and purchase renters insurance right from your phone or tablet in just one minute. Get an online renters insurance quote today and protect your family.
What's Your Style?
- Do You Need Coverage ASAP? Check out the fastest way to buy renters insurance online and get covered in just 60 seconds!
- Do You Feel Like Talking About It? Just call Effective Coverage and a renters insurance expert can help you get great coverage in minutes.
- Do You Need Some Time Alone With Your Thoughts? We understand, which is why we created the Pennsylvania Guide To Renters Insurance.
- Just Want To Watch A Movie Together? See our video guide below.
Photo Credit: Fort George G. Meade Public Affairs Office Meade firefighters help extinguish apartment fire off post CC BY 2.0