A Michigan renters insurance policy allows you to fulfill your landlord’s liability coverage requirement and protects you if any of your personal belongings get damaged.
To help you in your renters insurance search, the This Old House Reviews Team created this guide on the three best renters insurance providers in Michigan and tips for purchasing a policy.
The Best Renters Insurance Companies in Michigan
Here are the best renters insurance companies in Michigan based on their coverage options, years of experience, and affordable pricing:
- Lemonade: Easiest Sign-Up
- Liberty Mutual: Best Discounts
- Farmers: Most Customizable Coverage
- USAA: Best Membership Perks
Lemonade
Lemonade offers affordable renters insurance coverage in Michigan with plans starting as low as $5 per month. Using the Lemonade mobile app, you can sign-up for a renters insurance policy in under two minutes. If you ever need to file a claim, this same mobile friendly process applies along with quick payments.
Pros and Cons of Lemonade Renters Insurance
✔ Signing up for a policy takes only 2 minutes with the Lemonade app
✔ Policies starting at $5 per month
✔ Giveback program donates leftover money to charitable causes
✘ Newer to the insurance industry (founded in 2015)
✘ Online platform isn’t best for those that want support of an agent
Learn More: Lemonade Renters Insurance Review
Liberty Mutual
Liberty Mutual offers the most affordable renters insurance policies out of the providers in this review. You can get a policy starting at $5 per month, which is well below the national average of $15 per month. With that price, you’ll receive liability, personal property, loss of use, and medical payments to others coverage.
Pros and Cons of Liberty Mutual Renters Insurance
✔ Has over 100 years of industry experience
✔ Provides a variety of discounts to lower monthly premiums
✔ Offers choice of actual cash value (ACV) or replacement cash value (RCV) policy
✘ Website doesn’t specifically list covered events
✘ Offers only up to $25,000 worth of personal property coverage
Learn More: Liberty Mutual Renters Insurance Review
Farmers
Farmers offers your typical liability, loss of use, personal property, and medical payments coverage in all policies. What makes the company stand out is its non-smoking discount. The company also offers other discounts for bundling renters and auto insurance policies and for having safety features in your home.
Pros and Cons of Farmers Renters Insurance
✔ Provides six deductible options
✔ Offers a deductible as low as $100
✔ Doesn’t have personal property limit
✘ Offers only one endorsement for identity theft protection
✘ Has more expensive premiums than Liberty Mutual and USAA
Learn More: Farmers Renters Insurance Review
USAA
A USAA policy includes three of the four standard types of renters insurance coverage—medical payments to others, personal property, and liability. What USAA lacks in loss of use coverage, it makes up for with flood and earthquake coverage, which isn’t usually included in base renters insurance policies.
Pros and Cons of USAA Renters Insurance
✔ Policies start at $10 per month
✔ Provides up to $1 million worth of liability protection
✔ Offers up to $750,000 worth of personal property coverage
✘ Doesn’t offer loss of use coverage
✘ Only available for past or present military members and their family
Learn More: USAA Renters Insurance Review
What Michigan Renters Insurance Covers
In general, a Michigan renters insurance policy will have liability, personal property, loss of use, and medical payments to others coverage, along with additional coverage options called endorsements or floaters.
Here’s an overview of each type of coverage:
- Liability: Liability coverage protects you when you’re responsible for an event that causes property damage or bodily injury to someone. This coverage will likely also cover any legal fees if a person sues you.
- Personal Property: This part of your renters insurance covers the cost of replacing your items when one of the covered events damages them. An RCV policy will allow you to get new items, but it costs more than an ACV policy.
- Loss of Use: If an event forces you out of your apartment for repairs, you can get reimbursed for living expenses during that time. This will usually cover the cost of a hotel room or the cost of meals and laundry.
- Medical Payments to Others: When someone is injured in your home, your policy will cover a certain portion of their medical bills.
- Endorsements/Floaters: Every insurance company will offer at least one endorsement that allows you to customize your policy for an additional amount each month. This is similar to add-ons offered by home warranty plans. Common renters insurance endorsements include identity theft protection, earthquakes, and valuable personal property.
How Much Does a Renters Insurance Policy Cost in Michigan?
According to the Insurance Information Institute (III), the average cost of renters insurance in Michigan is $182 per year, or slightly above $15 per month. This puts the state average above the national average of $180 per year.
Factors to Consider Before Buying Renters Insurance
To find the best insurance policy, consider these factors when shopping around:
- Weather: Depending on where you live in Michigan, the annual snowfall may be more than 16 feet. This much snow can cause damage from its heavy weight, and cold temperatures can cause frozen precipitation and water damage. Make sure the policy you purchase covers these events so that you can survive the winter.
- Annual or semi-annual payments: To save money on your policy, you can choose to pay your premiums in full or split it into two or four premiums instead of 12. This saves you money in the long run because insurance companies add interest to each monthly installment.
- Personal information: If you have less renting history, have filed a lot of renters insurance claims in the past, have pets, or have a poor credit score, you may be considered more risky to insure, which will increase your renters insurance rate.
- Property information: The building you live in may increase your premium. For example, if your unit is older, doesn’t have safety features, and is farther than five miles from a fire station, you’ll be charged more per month.
Compare Top Renters Insurance Companies in Michigan
Our Conclusion
Lemonade, Liberty Mutual, USAA, and Farmers offer the best renters insurance for Michigan renters. Before purchasing an insurance policy in Michigan, we recommend contacting each company and getting a free quote so that you can compare your coverage and pricing options.
FAQs About Renters Insurance in Michigan
Our Rating Methodology
The This Old House Reviews Team is committed to providing comprehensive and unbiased reviews to our readers. This means earning your trust through transparency and having the data to back up our ratings and recommendations.
With that in mind, we created an objective rating system to score each home insurance company. Here’s what that review process looked like:
- We analyze the information on each company’s website. This allows us to determine what products and services are offered by each home insurance provider.
- We get a sample quote from the companies by either talking to a sales representative or by using the online quote tool. This tells us what a policy looks like and costs.
- We test customer service by talking to a company representative, finding out their hours of operation, and determining what technological features are available for customers.
- We update all of this information on a continuous basis, storing it in a proprietary database that allows us to compare dozens of home insurance companies against each other.
With this data, we created a rating methodology to score each home insurance company. Our rating system is a weighted, 100-point scale based on the following factors:
- Coverage (30): We rated home insurance companies higher if they offered the six main types of homeowner protection—dwelling, other structures, personal property, loss of use, liability, and medical payments to others coverage.
- State availability (7.5): Companies scored higher if they covered more states than their competitors.
- Customer service (15): This factor is based on our communications with the company representatives, as well as the companies’ claims and quotes processes, availability throughout the week, and customer service information found on their websites.
- Technology (12.5): Technology can increase the efficiency of filing and tracking home insurance claims. Companies scored higher if they had technology options like mobile apps and online chat functions.
- Reputation (20): We gauged trustworthiness based on years of experience and Better Business Bureau ratings.
- Additional benefits (15): Companies that offered optional features, like discounts and endorsements, scored higher than competitors that didn’t.
The This Old House Reviews Team has a full-time researcher who collects and regularly updates data points from every company to help us compare them on key factors such as coverage, service, and dependability.
To share feedback or ask a question about this article, send a note to our Reviews Team at reviews@thisoldhousereviews.com.