Renter’s Insurance in Naples – The 5% Deal!

We are two days away from moving into a new house here in Naples. This is not by choice. We’ve lived in a lovely house for three years now, but there is a ground-water contamination problem and most of the Americans living in Casal di Principe have been directed to vamoose as soon as possible.

We found a gorgeous house, though, so I’m not too upset. We lived dangerously and didn’t have renter’s insurance in the Casal house, but I decided we should have it in the new place. MOH said, “Sure, fine, set it up.” I called our friendly neighborhood Geico representative, Sam, to find out what we needed to do.

Here’s how the conversation went:

Me: “I’m interested in getting some renter’s insurance for our new house.”

Sam: “Yes, please come in so I can explain it to you.”

Me: “You can just explain it over the phone. I don’t want to take anymore time off work than necessary.”

Sam: “It is better if you come in.”

Me: “Please just tell me about it.”

Sam: “Okay. You need to write down everything you own and how much it is worth. For all of your electronic devices we need serial numbers.”

Me: Silence from me.

Sam: “That is all.”

Me: “Okay. I can do that.” Seriously – I was supposed to come in for that?

Sam: “Let me make you aware, though, that if you do not have receipts for every item you own, you will only receive 5% of its value.”

Me: “You need a receipt for everything.”

Sam: “Yes. Otherwise, if you submit a $30,000 claim and do not have receipts, you will receive $1,500.”

Me: “Thank you.”

Really. I mean I have SOME receipts. For SOME things. Not enough to make it worth getting this fabulous deal on insurance, though. I didn’t even ask what the rates were. MOH said we should just list every item we own as having a one million dollar value. Cute.

AFN airs several commercials regarding this topic reminding us of the importance of having this insurance. The commercials talk about the usual two options: covering the current value of the items (not encouraged), or covering the replacement cost of the items (encouraged). I know we had renter’s insurance in the states that didn’t require us to have receipts for everything we own. I guess I’ll start keeping receipts. For everything. Just in case. Now I’m researching on-line overseas insurance options.

Thanks, Geico Naples for taking such good care of us!!