Guide To Student Contents Insurance

If you're moving away to College/University to study, the last thing on your mind will be insurance. But with students being a magnet for thieves as they carry laptops, smartphones and tablets to and from university each day can you afford not to be insured. On average each student takes around £4,000 worth of possessions with them to university.

What is student contents insurance?

There are normally 2 types of home insurance, buildings and contents insurance. If you are renting a room in a student house, flat or halls of residence (private or university), you will need your own contents insurance. The buildings insurance should be covered by your landlord, accommodation provider or university, as this covers the building itself that you live in for damage.

Contents insurance will normally protect your possessions against standard perils such as loss or damage caused by theft, fire, flood, storm, explosion or burst pipes.

Does your parents' home insurance already cover you?

Parents and students tend to assume that the students' possessions will be covered by the parents' home insurance policy. But this isn't generally the case and even where there is an element of cover there will be limitations so you will need to check ask your insurer questions such as:

• Will you (the student) be covered in a shared house?
• Are there any lock requirements? 
•  if so you need to check if your property has the locks and if not will your landlord allow you to put the sufficient lock on your door(s) or do that for you?
• Are your contents covered in communal areas or just your room?
• Will you be covered to take items out of the property - e.g. to and from university?
• If more than one child at University can you all be covered on the one policy at the same time?
• What are the limits/exclusions on the policy - e.g. are you covered for accidental damage or just theft?

Get your own student insurance

Cover4Insurance provides a specialist student insurance product that is tailored to university life, you can get a price in under a minute all they need to know is your postcode to start the process.

It allows you to pick and choose the covers that are important to you so you don't pay for cover you don't need. 

It also automatically covers you for things such as:

• Walk In Theft: "Walk in Theft" cover - basically there doesn't need to be a physical break-in to the property for cover to be in place. So, say somebody comes back with one of your house/flat mates walks into your room and steals an item then you are covered provided you report this to the police.
• Living in shared accommodation
• No specific lock requirements 
• Has a low standard claims excess of £10

Covers to look out for with student contents insurance

Walk In Theft

Check if your contents insurance covers you for "Walk in theft" cover. You can normally check for this by looking in the policy wording next to the theft cover and seeing if it excludes "Walk in theft" or states that theft must be by "forcible and violent entry". If it's included this means that you will be covered for burglary even if there is no sign of forced entry.

Possessions cover outside of your accommodation

Contents insurance will generally cover your possessions within the address you are staying (shared house / halls of residence) but you will normally need to purchase one or more of the optional extensions to the basic cover to cover items outside of the property.  Expensive items such as mobile phones, laptops, jewellery and pedal cycles will need to be added so that they are covered if they are stolen or damage away from the property - for example while you are at university or travelling to and from university.

Bike cover

A lot of students have a bicycle as it is a cheap way of travelling around. Your bike will not normally be-covered as standard so will need to be added to the cover. Check if there are any specific lock requirements to ensure that your cover is in-place when you lock it up outside university.

Accidental damage

Accidental damage cover could be invaluable as it covers you against accidents such as spilling a drink on your laptop. This cover would pay for the repair or replacement of your laptop.

Valuable items 

If you have an expensive watch or jewellery for example, you will need to be certain that you have covered it for its full value should it get stolen or damaged. Contents policies tend to have a maximum amount that they will pay for any single item known as the single item limit. So, you should check with the insurer what this amount is and is normally based around your general sum insured for contents. You can normally specify an item that exceeds this limit under the specified items section therefore covering it to its full value. Although this will more than likely increase your premium it could save you money in the long run if it has to be replaced.

Save money on your student contents insurance 

Pay upfront: It might be tempting to pay the premium over the year via instalments but by paying monthly you could be increasing your cost as you may be charged interest for the privilege. 

Value you possessions accurately:  Don't under insure your possessions as if a claim is made the insurer may reduce your claim by the percentage that you have under insured by (known as the rule of average) or even refuse your claim as you have under declared your belongings on the application form.

Get insurance from a specialist provider

Get 10% off student contents insurance from Cover4Students before the 31/10/2019 just click the quote button below

Get 10% Off Student A Contents Insurance Quote

You may also be interested by:

• Advice On University Clearing
• Things I Wish I’d Known Before Starting University
• Advice For Parents Whose Child Is Off To University
• Dealing With Homesickness