Two Tips To Help You More Accurately Assess The Value Of Your Belongings

In the event your property is damaged or stolen, the value of your rental insurance policy will determine the amount you receive to put towards replacing your things. Purchasing a policy with a value slightly higher than the actual cost of your belongings would be smartest. The unfortunate reality is that many people fail to accurately assess the value of their belongings and end up with an insufficient policy amount. Here are a two tips to help you more accurately assess a value for your belongings.

Don't Overlook The Small Stuff

When assessing the value of your belongings, don't get stuck on the larger items. Some renters make the mistake of only totaling up the value of larger items, such as furniture, televisions and computers. However, you likely have a number of smaller items in your home that are valuable as well and will come with a considerable cost to replace.

Take your kitchen, for example. If you have a high-powered blender, stand mixer, microwave, rotisserie and a single-cup coffee machine, the combined value of all these appliances could easily total well into the upper hundreds of dollars, if not more than a thousand. In the event of an issue, you don't want to only have enough money to replace the larger items in your home, you want enough money to be able to replace everything.

Figure Value, Not Cost

When assessing the value of your items it's important for you to understand the difference between the cost and the true value of an item. What you paid for something isn't necessarily its true value. When you are setting limits for your policy you want to ensure you have enough coverage to replace the item based on its actual value.

For example, say you purchased a large, flat-screen television as part of a holiday sale promotion. You only paid $299 for the cost of the television based on the sale, but the regular price of the television is $899. You don't want to only receive $299 in your policy value for the replacement of the television. You need to account for its true value of $899. If you aren't sure if what you paid for any item is its real value, research.

Don't get stuck with a policy that is not designed to meet your specific needs. Rental insurance providers, like Advanced Auto Insurance, give you the power to determine how much coverage you need. Make sure you are planning for the unexpected.