What a Stolen Bike Taught Me About Renters Insurance

Transcript

Madison, student at University of South Carolina: Knowing now that I might actually need renters insurance — and having gone through the process, especially knowing how much my monthly payments were versus how much I got out of it — it was definitely worth it. I'm happy that it's there to have my back.

My name is Maddie. I go to school at the University of South Carolina. I first heard about GradGuard because it was required as part of my housing through my university.

When I first found out I had to have renters insurance, I honestly didn't care about it very much. I was just like, that's fine, that's pretty standard — if something happens then I'm covered, but I don't think anything's gonna happen.

I had this bike that I would store in the bike locker room underneath my dorm room. I get to the bike room and it's not there. My super awesome, really nice Trek bike is missing. I was like, oh no, now this is gonna be on me — I'm gonna have to get some mid bike, because that's what's within my budget.

It actually never occurred to me to file a claim with GradGuard, because I had assumed my renters insurance was specifically for my dorm room only. But my dad was the one who noticed a charge from it and said, "Hey, you have renters insurance — you should file a claim with this."

I filled out a very brief application online with some basic descriptions. They let me know I had to file a police report before they could move forward, and the next thing I knew, it was all done, finished, and covered.

Knowing it was going to be covered and that it was actually going to work out was a huge relief. Bikes can get pretty expensive, especially if I were going to try to match the quality of the bike I used to have — that was a $500 to $600 bike. There was a $100 deductible that had to come off first, but besides that, I got the full value of my bike back.

I would most definitely recommend GradGuard to other students. I had a very easy and smooth experience myself, and it's really nice to have a backup if something goes wrong in life.