Why Is An Apartment Insurance Application So Long?

If you’re wondering why your apartment insurance application is so long, there are a couple of reasons for that. We promise that the reasons do not include the following:

• An ancient form of torture that forces you to fill in long answers in short blanks
• Trying to trip you up by asking the same question different ways
• Making you jump through hoops just because they can

If none of those are the case – really, they aren’t – then why is an apartment insurance application so long? Find out more below our Video Guide to California Renters Insurance!

Are Apartment Insurance Applications Long Because They Want To Torture You?

No, apartment insurance applications aren’t long because they’re designed to inflict torture on you.  In order to see why, you have to understand the people who are depending on those applications, underwriters and actuaries.  Underwriters are responsible for making sure that a policy is priced appropriately.  They want to make sure that they have all of the available information in order to understand the risk that’s being taken on so they can properly make that determination.

Underwriters don’t want to torture you, they simply want to be sure that all of the facts are present because there is a certain amount of risk that any company can take on at a certain price.  It’s their job to properly quantify that risk, and doing so requires a great deal of information about you and the risk.

Actuaries, on the other hand, have spent years in college, often graduate school, and professional training in math and statistics.  They’re not out to torture you either.  They also need accurate data, because they’re the people who predict risk and calculate pricing to be used by the underwriters.  But let’s circle back to the years in college, probably grad school, and additional professional training.  All in math, or variants thereof, which would reduce most people to tears.  It has been said that actuaries are the sort of people who like to torture themselves, so the Long Beach Renters Insurance application wouldn’t be designed to torture you.

An Apartment Insurance Application Is The Same Form As A Homeowners Insurance Application

The forms that are used by most insurance companies are broad and cover a wide variety of possible situations.  Because they’re designed to cover nearly every state and nearly every variant of a “home” policy, they might include things that are irrelevant.  For example, there might be a question on an apartment insurance application asking for the details of the condo association’s master policy.  That’s clearly irrelevant to you, and you won’t be asked to complete it.

Apartment insurance is a type of homeowners policy, even though you don’t own the home.  The HO, or homeowner, series of policies includes a number of different types of policies that are designed for specific needs and add or remove coverage as necessary for what the policy is designed to cover.  They all generally will use the same application form, for simplicity.  By way of example, some common “homeowners” policies that are not always for people who own the entire structure and the land on which it sits include:

• HO-3 – This is the policy that actually is designed for the person who owns, and lives in, the entire dwelling structure and the land on which it sits.  They also have all of the liability and risk that go with those two things, such as someone being injured on their property while taking a shortcut through their yard.  The policy contemplates these risks, and more of the questions are necessary.
• HO-4 – Apartment insurance, renters insurance, or a tenant policy is designed to cover two primary areas of risk.  It contemplates the things you own (personal property) and your personal liability risk.  That liability risk is lesser than on the HO-3 because you don’t have the risk of someone injured just walking across the property, for instance, and the policy is priced lower as a result.  In addition, the actual structure of the dwelling unit is not covered, so many of the questions about that are not relevant on an apartment insurance application
• HO-6 – Somewhere between a homeowners policy and a renters policy lies the HO-6, or condo policy.  It covers some of the structure, generally interior walls, fixtures such as sinks and heating, and other things that the condo owner is responsible for.  It also covers personal property and liability.  It does not cover the building as a whole, because the association is responsible for insuring that.  Different questions will be asked here, as well.

All of these policies generally use a similar application form, and not all of the questions will be relevant to each type of policy.  But by having a single form to sue for the application, the process is actually simplified because one can look at the form and know what should be completed, what shouldn’t be completed, and where to find information that’s on every application such as name and insured address.  That makes the process of actually issuing an insurance policy much more straightforward.

An Apartment Insurance Application Contains Information That Helps Determine Your Price

An apartment insurance application exists to ensure that you’re being priced appropriately and that all of the information necessary to issue a policy is present.  “Priced appropriately” means “not being overcharged” just as much as it means “priced high enough to cover the risk,” so that’s something that you want.

The information you provide on an apartment insurance application helps to be sure that you pay the lowest price appropriate for the level of risk that you and the policy as a whole represent.  That’s why it’s important to be honest and to ensure that you are disclosing everything that’s asked for.  The good news is that in the age of electronic signatures, you’ll usually be asked to complete the application for Long Beach Renters Insurance online.  That means the system will tell you which blanks to complete and just ignore the other ones.

As far as renters insurance being priced appropriately, it’s quite inexpensive overall.

The national average price of renters insurance is just $187.00, according to the III. That works out to as little as fifteen dollars per month.  The vast majority of families can budget renters insurance easily at those prices.  

Additionally, it's important to note that renters are at a significantly higher risk of experiencing loss than homeowners.  Renters occupy roughly one third of total housing stock in the country, and yet they are fully fifty percent more likely to experience theft than homeowners, according to the Bureau of Justice Statistics.

It only costs a few dollars a month to protect your family, and this cheap renters insurance is a great way to mitigate the additional risks that come with being a renter.

Apartment Insurance Applications Help To Stop Fraud

An apartment insurance application helps to make sure that fraud is prevented.  This keeps prices lower for everyone, because claims aren’t being paid when there wasn’t a claim to begin with.

One way the application helps to prevent fraud is by avoiding miscommunication about the level of coverage.  If what you signed said you want $15,000 of personal property coverage, you could certainly increase that in the future.  But what you can’t then do is say “But I asked for $100,000 of personal property coverage” because you signed the application that said $15,000.

The application also helps to prevent fraud by asking who lives in the apartment and where the property is located.  If personal property is stolen from an entirely different residence, or if an entirely different apartment has a fire, someone can’t claim that they meant to insure the location that had a loss.  This prevents people from buying one policy for their entire family’s apartments and using it for whichever apartment has a loss.  The price of one renters insurance policy is not designed to cover five different locations, but people have tried to do exactly that!

If you have questions about apartment insurance applications, or need to get renters insurance, just call (800)892-4308 or click to get covered - whether you need Long Beach 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.

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