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When you’re a kid, trampolines are a fun and carefree toy. They bring endless amounts of joy and excitement, and you rarely think of them as being anything but uninterrupted fun. But when you get older, you unfortunately face the less fun realities of trampolines: They’re dangerous, and they can leave you liable if someone gets hurt on one. Suddenly they’re not quite as fun.
But just because they’re not quite as fun doesn’t mean you don’t want to have one. There are still plenty of reasons to want a trampoline, especially if you have children. It just means that now you have to be a little bit more aware of the dangers.
And that brings us to renters insurance. If you rent your house, apartment, or condo, and you want to have a trampoline, then you’re probably wondering how that will impact your insurance. Here’s everything you need to know.
It’s just like homeowners insurance
When it comes to owning a trampoline, renters insurance is exactly like homeowners insurance. Every company will have a different policy, but it will be consistent between homeowners and renters insurance. So if you’re having a hard time finding out what your renters insurance policy is for trampolines, just check the company’s homeowners insurance policies.
A trampoline can raise your premiums
Renters insurance may seem complicated on the surface, but at its heart it’s a very simple concept. The company issuing your insurance policy is assuming financial risk by insuring the house, apartment, or condo that you are renting. The amount that they charge you (in other words, your premium) is based on the amount of risk that the company is assuming. The more risk, the higher your premiums, because your insurance company isn’t going to want to lose money on you.
When you add something dangerous, such as a trampoline, to your home, you increase the risk of the place you are renting. That increases the financial risk that your renters insurance company is assuming, which in turn increases how high your premiums are.
A trampoline can void your renters insurance
In some cases your renters insurance can be voided due to owning a trampoline. If you don’t yet have renters insurance, and you’re looking to purchase some, you might find that disclosing the presence of a trampoline will make some companies unwilling to offer you a policy.
More importantly, a policy that you do have can potentially be voided if you purchase a trampoline without informing your insurance company. That can be devastating if you don’t find out that your policy is voided until something happens and you need to use your renters insurance.
A trampoline can force you to take certain precautions
Many companies will still issue renters insurance if you have a trampoline, but you’ll have to prove that you’re taking precautions to limit the danger. Among some of the precautions you might have to take are setting up a protective net around the trampoline, placing the trampoline on top of a soft surface, limiting the amount of kids on the trampoline at one time, and only allowing children to use the trampoline when under direct adult supervision.
With a number of insurance companies, taking those precautions will lead to receiving renters insurance that only has a slight increase in the premiums, or sometimes no increase at all.
Ultimately, how a trampoline impacts your renters insurance depends on your insurer. So when in doubt, contact your insurance agent and ask about your renters insurance policy and trampolines.
