I just checked, and for my apartment they come in at about half of my current renter's insurance for similar coverage. Maybe it's highly dependent on location, or maybe I'm just way overpaying for renter's insurance. Unfortunately for them, switching away from the bank that already handles 95% of my finances isn't worth saving $100/year.

(Keep in mind that I am just an engineer and don't deal directly with policies.)

My understanding is that it is generally considered that renter's insurance is too high at most large carriers. There are historical reasons for this which I won't go into (and I don't understand all of them anyway). The carriers don't change this because:

1) Lowering renter's insurance premiums would require raising premiums elsewhere (e.g. homeowners). Raising rates causes customers to leave.

2) Renter's insurance is fairly cheap as it is and people don't price-shop all that much.

3) Shifting premiums brings regulatory scrutiny and you have to do it right (and legally). It's not worth the hassle.

I think Lemonade started largely with renter's insurance to take advantage of that gap. It's one of the things that put fear into the major carriers.

Before I started working in the business space I knew almost nothing about insurance (and didn't care). It's been fairly interesting and I have more empathy for the carriers than I used to; they aren't quite the blood-sucking maggots that some maintain.

>Maybe it's highly dependent on location, or maybe I'm just way overpaying for renter's insurance.

Or maybe Lemonade is like many other "tech" companies, and is selling their product below costs in the hopes of growing into profits. From a consumer standpoint, gambling with your insurance in such a manner is scary.

> Or maybe Lemonade is like many other "tech" companies, and is selling their product below costs in the hopes of growing into profits.

This is exactly what they're doing. Take a look at their losses from claims. Brilliant marketing though, especially for an insurance company.

Given the relatively small size of their book, a few outlier claims can destroy all their economics. It should regulate over time.

It’s unlikely the estimate varied much from what other insurers would offer you, assuming you were comparing the same building materials and coverage. If Lemonade were so expensive, their loss ratio from the S-1 would be much better and they’d have fewer customers.

(Anecdotally, they are offering me about 95% of what I pay Geico for similar coverage, and without the auto insurance discount.)

Renter's insurance doesn't cover the building.

Right, which means I was quoting homeowner’s insurance. Renter’s insurance is priced closer to the possessions replacement portion of homeowner’s.