Every man loves his man cave. It’s the space you’ve spent time furnishing, decorating, and kitting out. Even if you don’t usually spend much money on yourself, you’ve probably got some prized possessions in your man cave.
As such, you want to guarantee that your man cave and everything in it is insured. If you own your home, homeowners insurance will cover the room and its contents. But what about if you are renting?
This is where renters insurance comes in. Renters insurance is designed for people who do not own property but still want to cover their possessions. To get your man cave and its contents insured, you need to know what’s covered by renters insurance.
Let’s get into what you have covered if you already have insurance and what you need to do to cover any extras.
What does renters insurance cover?
When you’re renting a home, the property itself is covered by the landlord’s insurance. However, only the contents they own are covered by their insurance. Anything you own, from furniture to clothing, is up to you to insure. Renters insurance provides a cheap way to do so.
With renters insurance starting for as little as $5 a month, you can cover all your possessions, even when they are not in the home itself. This will cover most of the items in your man cave, including costly decor, rugs, and furniture.
Renters insurance also covers personal liability, so if you accidentally cause harm to someone else in your man cave (or anywhere else in the state), your insurance will pay the claims made against you.
However, there are some things which may not be covered by standard renters insurance.
Insuring electronics
Most of your basic electronics like smartphones and laptops will be covered by a standard renters insurance policy. So, you’re covered if you lose your phone or it is stolen from you, even if it is not stolen from your home. But some particularly expensive items may not be covered.
While for women these items tend to be jewelry, men are more likely to spend big on technology. That’s not to say that men don’t spend on jewelry for themselves, but your man cave is more likely to be home to a VR headset than diamond earrings.
Expensive TVs, gaming consoles, and other specialized electronics may be too expensive to be covered by standard renters insurance. You will have to specify these extras to your insurer and pay an extra fee for each. It’s worth it, considering how much you’d lose out if they’re stolen and you cannot claim for them.
Insurance vs. Warranty
Insurance will not pay for everything. If your electronics have hardware or software issues, for example, you can’t claim from insurance for repairs or replacements. This is the job of a warranty or extended warranty. Insurance will pay if your electronics get destroyed in a fire or in certain other ways.
Not all damages are covered by your warranty, either. The point of a warranty isn’t that you get repairs for free. The point is simply that you have recourse to get your items repaired if they don’t last the way they are supposed to or turn out to have production faults.
For this reason, extended warranties are not the best investment. An extended warranty covers you if something goes wrong with your item once it is outside of the span of time covered by your original warranty.
However, this cannot simply be repairs based on expected wear and tear or by damages caused by neglect. Only issues that can be considered the fault of the producer and are not to be expected over this amount of time are covered. In other words, you will rarely find a use for an extended warranty.
Protecting your man cave is a major priority, especially as it is where you keep your most prized possessions and is key to your rest and relaxation. With renters insurance, you can cover all your possessions, although some may come at an extra cost.
