10 min read
12th July 2022

Student contents insurance | Student house insurance | Cover4Insurance

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What is student contents insurance?

Student contents insurance protects your belongings while you are living at university.

If you are a first-year student staying in university accommodation, you may already have contents insurance provided by Cover4Insurance.

If not, you can build a policy to suit you with our flexible cover options for student contents insurance.

Need help with student contents insurance?

We know that students are busy, that is why we’ve compiled a list of FAQs to help you quickly find what you need.

Here you can find out more about who needs student contents insurance and what it covers while you are living at university.

If you are a student at university, you will have all sorts of belongings to help make your student halls/house feel more like home.

If having to replace your favourite items does not sound like a promising idea to you or your bank balance, you may want to take out insurance to make sure that if anything did happen, you’re covered.

Remember: Not only is it a hassle to replace belongings after a mishap, but it can also be expensive – a cost you could do without, when you are living on a student budget.

Not only that, but students are often seen as “easy targets” by thieves as they usually own lots of valuable items.

Having student contents insurance in place will help make sure you are not left out of pocket should anything unexpected happen to the things you could not live without.

At Cover4Insurance, we automatically insure over 100,000 students via their accommodation provider, so you may already have a level of cover included with your university accommodation.

Check and confirm your cover by clicking here.

If you do not have cover, or maybe you’re moving into a student house, then our student contents insurance has been around for over 20 years

Being a student, this may be the first time you have had to get your head around insurance. So, we will try and break things down as much as possible for you.

Usually, student contents insurance covers the belongings within your student accommodation against the risks of fire, theft, and flood. Such items could include clothes, furniture, jewellery and electrical items.

If you are staying in student accommodation, you may already have cover for your belongings through your accommodation provider. You can check to see if you are covered here.

If you do not have cover via your accommodation provider, or you’re living at home or in a student house, you can still protect your belongings with student contents insurance just click here for a quote

Our student contents insurance will cover up to £14,000 of contents that you have inside your student home. You can choose the sum insured level that suits you, starting from £2,000. The standard contents cover includes protection against a range of perils including a loss from theft, attempted theft, fire, flood and more.

The standard contents cover also automatically provides a range of additional inclusive covers for replacement locks and keys, theft of items being transported to and from your student home at the beginning and end of term, university books and property on loan, up to £5,000 tenant’s liability cover plus legal liability up to £1,000,000.

Tenant’s liability covers loss or damage to your landlord’s fixtures and fittings which you are legally liable for under the terms of your tenancy agreement (excludes accidental damage which is available as an optional cover up to £10,000).

If you have student contents insurance via your accommodation provider, you can confirm your cover to find out the details of your policy.

If you’re thinking of covering your contents with Cover4Insurance as with most insurance policies, there are a few things that aren’t covered. These include, but are not limited to:

  • Your excess - which is shown below:
SECTIONEXCESS
Landlords Property Tenants Liability (Accidental Damage Claims Only)£100
Pedal Cycles Valued Over £1,000
Please note: no excess applies to replacement pedal cycle hire claims
10% Of The Pedal Cycle Value
Photographic Equipment Valued Over £1,000
Please note: no excess applies to replacement photographic equipment hire claims
10% Of The Photographic Equipment Value
International Student Repatriation Cover£75
All Other Sections£10
  • Items taken outside of your student home unless you have specifically chosen the optional personal possessions cover.
  • Mobile phones unless you have specifically chosen the mobile phone cover.
  • Cosmetic damage which does not affect the operation of an item.
  • Portable computers (laptops, tablets) unless you have specifically chosen the iPads, Laptops & Tablets cover.
  • Accidental damage to your contents in the home unless you have chosen our optional accidental damage option.

Once you’ve picked your standard contents insurance through Cover4Insurance, if there are additional levels of cover you think you may need, you can choose to add these on by selecting one or more optional covers:

  • Accidental damage — extends cover for contents inside your student home to include accidental damage. Excludes mobile phones.
  • Specified & Unspecified Items — covers personal possessions against theft and accidental damage cover for items that you take out and about. Covers anywhere in the UK. Excludes mobile phones, laptops, pedal cycles, musical instruments and photographic equipment as separate optional extensions are available for these items
  • Mobile phone cover — theft, accidental damage or accidental loss cover anywhere within the UK.

A student contents insurance policy through provides 12 months of cover. The standard policy covers your possessions inside your student home.

If you add on optional personal possessions cover for your belongings, your items can be covered inside and outside your home within the UK.

Additional mobile phone cover will also cover your phone inside and outside of your student home against theft, accidental damage or loss anywhere within the UK

You can choose between paying in full or by monthly instalments.

Yes, we cover the cost of replacing items as new, except for clothing, household linen, rented household goods and college / university / school / educational establishment property on loan, where a deduction is made for wear and tear. Mobile phones and games consoles are also dealt with differently please see how we settle claims for them below.

You will need to make sure you choose an appropriate ‘sum insured’ value based on your contents’ current, new replacement value.

How we settle claims for mobile phones and games consoles

If a mobile phone/games console cannot be replaced with an identical mobile phone/games console of the same age and condition, we through our preferred suppliers, will replace it with one of comparable specification or the equivalent value considering the age and condition of the original mobile phone/games console.

Yes, £5,000 of tenant’s liability cover is included within the standard content’s insurance. This will cover loss or damage to your landlord’s fixtures and fittings that you are legally liable for under the terms of your tenancy agreement. It also includes accidental damage to fixed glass, sanitary ware and ceramic hobs in a fixed kitchen.

If you would like Accidental Damage cover for the landlord’s household goods, furniture or furnishings then you would need to select the optional cover “Accidental Damage to Landlords Property | Tenants Liability”

Yes, we can cover your mobile phone as part of the policy, just select the relevant optional cover “Mobile Phones | Cover Anywhere Within The UK” your mobile phone will then be protected against a range of perils including theft, malicious damage, or accidental loss anywhere within the UK.

There is also no age limit for mobile phones so if you have an older phone i.e., 3+years it can still be covered.

Yes, we can cover your laptop, tablet or iPad as part of the policy just select the optional cover “I-Pads, Laptops & Portable Computers | Cover Anywhere Within The UK” You’ll be covered for theft, or accidental damage anywhere within the UK.

There is also no age limit on for laptops, tablets or iPads on the policy so if you have an older item i.e., 3+years it can still be covered.

  • Opting for additional cover can extend protection to include accidental damage, plus also insure your items outside of your student home.

If you are heading to university, this may be your first time taking out an insurance policy. If so, it is important to make sure you fully understand the details of the policy you’re signing up for before you buy.

Have a think about the following before getting your student contents insurance quote:

Take the time to find out if you already have cover in place for your personal belongings – after all, you don’t want to be paying for cover you don’t need! There are two main things to check:

Find out whether you’re covered under your parents’ or guardians’ home insurance (check out our blog post on this!).

Check if you already have contents cover in your student accommodation. You can then decide if this cover is enough, or whether you need to top it up.

It can be difficult to judge what level of student contents cover you’re going to need at university, and it’s easy to underestimate the value of your belongings – particularly your clothes and personal items. Here are some things to think about:

Add up the cost of your stuff.
Spend time calculating the full value of your possessions before you get a quote. This is so you can make sure you are not under-insured if you need to make a claim.
Consider additional items.
Consider whether you need cover for any additional items you might be taking to university, such as your tablet, laptop, or mobile phone – remember that these may not be included as part of a standard contents insurance policy.
Find out where you are covered.
Find out if your things will be covered whilst you are out at university. If not, is this enough cover for you?
Get to know your policy.
Finally, read the full details (T&Cs) of the policy to understand the cover you are getting.

It is important to double-check the details you have provided to make sure your quote is right. Things like your level of cover and personal details.

Check our social media feeds to see if any discounts are currently available

Here are some tips if you need to make a claim:

  • Be clear - It is important to be clear about exactly what happened. This is so things are consistent when telling your story to your insurance provider.
  • Take photos and videos – Take photos and videos of whatever you are claiming for as soon as the damage happens. For example, damaged gadgets. The more evidence you have, the quicker it will be for an insurance company to process your claim.
  • Make yourself aware of the wait times - Once a claim is reported our claims team will try their very best to carry out repairs ASAP to make things as convenient as possible for you.

Once you move away from home, you may find that your belongings are no longer covered under your parents’ or guardians’ home insurance policy – and even if they are, it may not provide the level of cover you need. For example, your belongings may only be protected inside your university halls of residence, not whilst you’re out with friends or at lectures. It is a good idea to check with your parent’s home insurance to see what the situation is.

Before taking out your own policy, you should also check whether your accommodation provider has arranged any insurance for you whilst you are staying with them. If they have, this cover is sometimes provided by us, and you can find out whether you already have any student cover in place here in just a few seconds. – Confirm your cover

If you do already have cover in place, it is still important to check what is/isn’t covered. You can then decide whether you need any additional protection whilst you are out and about at university.

If you do need extra cover, we also provide and Essential Insurance policy where you can just take out the additional cover you need. For example, cover for your pedal cycle, mobile phone, or items outside of your room. Ideal for people that just need a top up to their university cover.

If you don’t have cover through your accommodation provider, maybe you’re living in a student house or a halls without cover, you can buy student contents insurance yourself.

Just click here for an instant quote – only needs your postcode to give a price


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