To: marcus+@CMU.EDU
cc: bovik@cs.cmu.edu
Subject: renter's insurance
Date: Thu, 02 Jun 94 14:38:42 -0400
From: Dean_Grannes@MINSK.MT.CS.CMU.EDU

Marcus,

I've had renter's insurance through State Farm for a few years and
have been relatively happy with it.  For something like $150/year I
get up to $20,000 FULL REPLACEMENT value on everything in my apartment
and a low $100 deductible.  It also covers liability for things like
if someone is visiting me and falls down the stairs or if my
negligence causes problems elsewhere in my building (e.g. my bathtub
overflows or my pipes burst or something).

There are two things to consider:

1) try to get a full-replacement policy if possible.  It's cheaper to
get market-value reimbursement, but that means that anything that gets
stolen or damaged is depreciated before they pay you back, so you end
up paying a lot more to replace your stuff.  My new mountain bike was
covered under my renter's policy, so when it was stolen from my office
(it wasn't even in the apartment) less than a month after I bought it
(major bummer), I was reimbursed the $600 it cost to replace it, not
the $500 it cost to buy it (since I got it at a closeout sale).

2) the deductible.  Standard deductible is either $300 or $500 (I
don't remember which).  I pay about an extra $30/year to bring the
deductible down to $100.  In my case, it was worth it, because I had a
claim right away (my bike), and it saved me over $200 in deductibles,
but that's something you may want to consider.

My agent is Tom Donahue, 351-3305.  His office is 4063 Greensburg
Pike, but I've never been there.  I just conduct all my business over
the phone or through the mail.

->Dean<-