Renters insurance coverage calculator: what your belongings are worth

Most renters pick a personal property limit by guessing, and most guess low. The way to stop guessing is to add it up — not what you paid, but what it would cost to buy it all again tomorrow. Tick what you own and the total builds as you go.

Find Out What Your Stuff is Really Worth

Check the items you own to see their estimated replacement cost. You might be surprised how fast it adds up!

($1,200)
($800)
($500)
($450)
($700)
($300)
($400)
($350)
($600)
($500)
($1,500)
($200)
Your Estimated Total:
$0

How to read the total

Treat the figure as a floor for your personal property limit, not a ceiling. It is a replacement-cost number: what you would spend buying the same things new. That matters, because policies come in two flavours and the difference is large.

  • Replacement cost value (RCV) pays what it costs to buy a new equivalent. Your three-year-old laptop is replaced with a working laptop.
  • Actual cash value (ACV) pays what the old item was worth after depreciation. The same laptop might settle for a fraction of what a new one costs.

RCV costs a little more per month and is almost always the right choice for a renter, because the whole point of the policy is to put you back where you were. Ask which one you are being quoted — it is not always stated.

What this cannot tell you

  • Anything with a sub-limit. Jewellery, watches, firearms, cameras, musical instruments and collectibles are usually capped at a low figure regardless of your overall limit. If you own something valuable in one of those categories, it needs scheduling separately, and this total will not warn you.
  • Your liability exposure, which is often the bigger risk. Personal property is the part people think about; liability is the part that pays if someone is injured in your home or you damage the building. It is priced separately and it is cheap to raise.
  • Your deductible. The first slice of any claim is yours. A total that is accurate does not mean the cheque will match it.
  • What your landlord requires. Many leases set a minimum liability limit, and it is often higher than the default on a cheap quote.

Related reading

Ryan Hearn is a licensed insurance producer in California, licence #0L14758. This page is educational and is not a recommendation to buy any specific policy. Insightful Coverage is an independent publisher, not an agency, broker or carrier.