Many people who need Pennsylvania Renters Insurance assume that it will be as complex as their auto coverage. Relax and take comfort in the fact that Harrisburg, PA renters insurance doesn’t involve tort selections, first-party benefits, or any of the other unique complexities that make certain kinds of insurance in Harrisburg a bit difficult to navigate.
That doesn’t mean you can just select a Harrisburg, PA renters insurance policy by throwing a dart at the yellow pages. You need to work with Pennsylvania renters insurance experts like the ones at Effective Coverage. Effective Coverage is the only full-service insurance provider dedicated to the needs of renters. Our experts are trained extensively on the differences between renters insurance in Harrisburg and the rest of the country.
As part of our mission and our core values, we believe in educating renters about what they’re buying instead of just selling a cookie cutter policy. That’s why we create these renters insurance city guides. Your Harrisburg, PA renters insurance policy won’t look like anyone else’s because it will be customized to your needs, comfort level, and personal level of risk tolerance. Does your landlord need to be listed as an additional interest on your policy? We can handle that and send proof directly to them.
If you have questions about your renters insurance in Harrisburg, our Dauphin County renters insurance experts are always happy to take the time to make sure you understand the coverage you have and why you need it. From Cameron St. to the 83 Split, and across south-central Pennsylvania and the country, Effective Coverage has your back with Harrisburg renters insurance coverage to keep your family safe.
Harrisburg, PA Renters Insurance
Does Everyone Have Harrisburg, PA Renters Insurance?
Shockingly, only about forty-four percent of renters across the country have coverage. The penetration rate for renters insurance in Harrisburg is actually slightly below the national average. Effective Coverage believes that it’s imperative to increase that number, and we’re working towards 40 percent and beyond with the Renters Insurance Challenge.
Who Needs Renters Insurance In Harrisburg?
Do you rent? Can you fog a mirror? Do you live in or around Harrisburg? Then you need Harrisburg renters insurance! Anyone who owns anything at all, or has any assets, or ever plans to have a bank account with more than a dollar in it should have renters insurance in Harrisburg.
Why is your bank account and future earnings important? Because in Harrisburg renters insurance provides liability protection. If you’re sued for causing bodily injury or property damage, whether to the apartment itself, a neighbor, or anyone else, you’ve got coverage. We know what lawyers cost, and you don’t want to have to pay a defense attorney to defend you against a frivolous claim.
That’s where your Harrisburg renters insurance comes into play. Before a liability claim is paid, it’s examined and if necessary defended. The insurance company pays for the defense lawyer, all you have to do is provide information when asked and cooperate with the process. The insurance company does the rest.
And if you are found liable, your renters insurance in Harrisburg takes care of that judgment up to the policy limits, which usually start at $100,000 of coverage and can go up further from there according to your particular needs. By working with the insurance experts for renters, we can help you get an idea of how much coverage you need and what your potential exposures might be.
What Else Does Harrisburg, PA Renters Insurance Do For Me?
If you suffer a loss to your personal property from a covered peril, that property can be replaced by the insurance company, subject to deductibles and policy limits. That means that if you get robbed, you’re not trying to replace everything you own out of pocket. You just make the claim, and then go buy replacement property once the claim has been settled. It’s just that easy.
In addition, Pennsylvania Renters Insurance also provides for medical payments to others coverage. If someone is hurt in your apartment, this coverage helps with the expenses associated with their injuries regardless of whether you were at fault. It’s a small coverage, designed to handle minor injuries, but it can be a lifesaver when you really need it.
A call we sometimes get goes something like this:
Hello? I need to see if I have coverage for… Um… So I had some friends over and we had those guns that shoot foam darts and we were all shooting each other, and my buddy took a foam dart to the eye. Do I have coverage for his medical costs? It was only a few hundred dollars for the urgent care visit, but I really don’t have the money to pay his medical bills!
In this instance, we were happy to note that yes, medical payments to other coverage could be applicable in that situation and that the insured would not need to pay out of pocket for his friend’s medical expenses.
Don’t forget about loss of use coverage, too! When a covered loss like a Middletown apartment fire prevents you from using your apartment for a period of time while it’s being rebuilt or you’re finding a new place in the aftermath, loss of use coverage kicks in to help with additional living expenses such as hotel bills. That means you’re not scrambling for a place to stay and can focus on rebuilding your life.
That Sounds Like Great Coverage! But Harrisburg Renters Insurance Must Cost A Fortune, Right?
Nope. On average, Harrisburg renters insurance costs around fifteen dollars a month. We know one guy who delivers for Giovanni’s Pizza, and anytime someone tips him with change, he throws it in a jar. At the end of the month, without fail, he’s got the fifteen bucks he needs to pay his renters insurance. It’s so inexpensive, you can pay for the coverage with tips from people who don’t even tip well!
Think about this as well– what are the costs if you’re sued and don’t have renters insurance in Harrisburg? You live in the state capital, so there are plenty of willing attorneys available to sue you, and it may not cost the other person a dime up front. But how will you pay for your lawyer? Or what if you’re robbed, or there’s a fire in a neighbor’s apartment that causes smoke damage to all your property?
Everyone should have renters insurance in Harrisburg, and now everyone can, through the hard work of the insurance experts for renters at Effective Coverage. Your family can be covered in mere minutes.
Renting In Harrisburg, PA
When you find yourself renting in Harrisburg, the state capital of Pennsylvania, you’ll know you’ve arrived. This small, fairly conservative city of just under fifty thousand people nestled into the farmlands of South-Central PA is surprisingly welcoming to newcomers.
One of the best things about Harrisburg is that it’s easy to get to and easy to get to where you want to go. Many people choose to fly from Harrisburg International Airport (MDT), but Philadelphia’s airport (PHL) is just a short drive and a few dollars away down the PA Turnpike. Amtrak and Greyhound both have regular service to and from Harrisburg, and road access is very easy. You can get to Lancaster and US Route 30 via I-283, which turns into PA Highway 283 as you get farther away from the city and closer to Pennsylvania Dutch country. I-83 is commonly known as “The Expressway,” short for the Baltimore-Harrisburg Expressway and it travels exactly where you would expect it to – Baltimore, via York and Parkville. PA 581 takes you around the city between I-83 and I-81, and I-81 runs northwards to western New York and south through Virginia. Just a few miles up I-81, you’ll find I-78, which will take you to Allentown, through the untamed wilds of New Jersey, and straight through the Holland Tunnel, or to I-95 if you’re headed farther afield. Harrisburg, PA really is everywhere you want to be.
Harrisburg, PA zip codes include 17101, 17102, 17103, 17104, 17110, 17111, and 17120. As of today, the area code for Harrisburg is 717, one of the original area codes assigned in 1947. It once covered all the way up to the PA-NY state line, but much of northeastern PA has been split to 570. Harrisburg, York, and Lancaster are predicted to grow so much in the next few years that another area code split is expected within 3-5 years. Chances are strong that Harrisburg, Dauphin County, and Lancaster County will retain 717, while York and Cumberland Counties and their surrounding areas including Gettysburg and Adams County will find themselves reprogramming phones to accommodate their as yet undetermined new area code.
Speaking of things that new residents of Harrisburg really need to be aware of, you don’t have to do everything at the DMV. You can get your license at the DMV, and then go to a messenger service (“Tag and title shop,” as they’re commonly known) to handle registering your vehicle, dealing with the title, and all of the other minutiae. Generally, the people at a tag and title shop are a bit more relaxed and you’ll have a more pleasant experience than you would at most DMV offices. If you do have to go to the DMV, or PennDOT as it’s known locally, you’ll want to make sure to bring your checkbook or a Visa or MasterCard, as most PennDOT DMV locations do not accept cash under any circumstances!
Harrisburg is younger than Pennsylvania as a whole, with a median age of just 32 years as compared to the statewide median age of 40 years. Median household income hovers around $32,800, which is generally sufficient for a middle-class lifestyle in Dauphin County and the surrounding area. If you still watch television, you’ll be happy to know you have a wide selection of affiliates such as WPMT (Fox 43, York) and WGAL (NBC 8, Lancaster) to choose from.
The median home value in Harrisburg is only about $86,000 which makes it easy to live on the median salary, figuring a mortgage should be no more than about three times your annual income. The median value of a home has actually increased by about fifty percent in 2000, but housing is still practically a steal here. At a median rent of just $755 a month, it’s easy to afford to live in Harrisburg. With plenty of culture, easy access to the world, and of course Hershey Park an easy drive down US 322, you’ll love living here.
The Susquehanna River runs through the area, and technically the Harrisburg area includes Dauphin, Cumberland, and Perry Counties for a total metropolitan population of well over half a million people. Many of those people work in government, given that it’s the capital, but manufacturing, steel, and service are also significant sectors of the economy. Many of the local factories hire through employment agencies, so it can be easier to get a good job in Harrisburg than in other parts of the country.
Harrisburg is also home to the PA Farm Show, the largest indoor agriculture expo in the country that doesn’t charge admission. A good rule of thumb is that if there hasn’t been much snow yet that winter, you can safely bet there will be a ton of snow for Farm Show Weekend.
We know you’re going to ask, so we’ll just say it and be done with it: Three Mile Island poses no danger whatsoever to human health, and quite frankly never did, even when there was serious tension about a potential release back in 1979.
The City of Harrisburg has had some financial misdealing but is beginning to recover. They never really had a significant impact on the economy at any point, only on the business of the city government itself. Some audits were alleged to be missing, a few transactions were perhaps rather more complicated than they might have needed to be, and a heavy dependence on derivatives such as swaps combined to make it more difficult than necessary to tell exactly how much debt the city was really dealing with.
In this time period, Harrisburg spent a great deal of money building a plant to convert trash to electricity, and that money could have been spent more wisely. The plant itself does not actually generate income at this point, technically it has a significant debt. It’s also conveniently separated from city finances as a whole, so that’s not really reflective of the condition of the business of the city. Harrisburg settled the SEC’s questions, filed a Chapter 9 bankruptcy which was dismissed, and eventually was placed into receivership. From this point, the worst of things were exposed, and it became an upward climb to bring the city government back to fiscal stability. Asset sales, write-downs of debt, leases of city assets, and bond sales are part of Harrisburg’s road back to glory, and the city is well on its way to making that plan a reality.
It’s worth noting that even at the worst, the city’s finances didn’t affect the economy. Jobs still were available, investments were still made in Harrisburg, and it’s always been a growing city. Harrisburg is a great place to live with great opportunities surrounding it. But don’t forget to protect yourself with Pennsylvania Renters Insurance from Effective Coverage. Harrisburg, PA renters insurance is an affordable, easy way to give your family the protection they deserve.