Renters insurance works for you when appliances work against you
College students living in the dorms can count on their renters insurance to kick in when appliances kick the bucket and spark a fire. Faulty appliances are often the source of dormitory fires, and it pays to be prepared in case smoke or fire sprinkler water damages the personal property you have in your room.
For example, last March, hundreds of students were forced to evacuate a Marshall University dorm after an air-conditioning unit malfunctioned and filled rooms with smoke, according to The Huntington Herald-Dispatch. Fortunately, firefighters intervened before the smoke or fire spread beyond the room in which it started. But that room was damaged and at least one student was displaced and had to find a new room.
In another example that did far more damage ($35,000 worth!), someone left an iron plugged in on a countertop, burning a computer and setting off the fire sprinklers. An article in The Blade provided more details:
"Toledo firefighters responded to a call of smoke on the sixth floor of the UT dorm about 10:10 a.m. Battalion Chief Gerald Takats said a student had left an iron on when she left for the day. He said the student, who had left Toledo, telephoned another student in the dorm about an hour earlier to say she might have left the iron on but the warning was unheeded. The chief said there was burn damage to a countertop and to a computer that was on the counter, but the majority of the damage was from the large amount of water that was released by the sprinkler."
At a Baylor University dorm, it was a clothes dryer on the fifth floor that set off the sprinkler system and forced residents to evacuate, according to the Waco Tribune-Herald. The fire marshal speculated that lint built up and caught fire, burning clothes in the dryer, the Tribune-Herald reported.
What's similar about all these cases is that there was no catastrophic fire -- these massive dorms weren't reduced to a pile of ashes. However, property was still damaged in each case. Smoke and water from fire sprinkler systems likely damaged or destroyed clothes, computers, cell phones, and other personal property of the affected residents. Without renters insurance, those residents will be paying out of pocket to replace their property. With renters insurance, on the other hand, those residents would be able to file a simple claim with their insurance carrier to get the property repaired or replaced.
The expert agents at Purves & Associates can work with you to determine how much renters insurance coverage you need. They will shop around several different carriers to find the most affordable policy that best meets your needs. Call today -- the quote is free!
