Content insurance for DD living in halls

[nada2106]

My DD is starting Uni in September and we are all excited! She will be staying on the campus, will have a single room for herself. However, we are not sure about content insurance. Does she need it? Do things get stolen even in the campus.
Thanks a lot.

nada2106 some halls automatically have contents insurance included in what you get for the hall fees so check that. Also your contents insurance will often include a student offspring’s cover in university halls so worth checking with them as well.

And things definitely still get stolen on campus - so beware open windows on the ground floor, and unlocked rooms. Flat mates frequently leave corridor/flat doors unlocked. Laptops and expensive devices the most frequent things to be taken.

I remember getting mine cheaply from the bank I had my student account with. Definitely worth it for peace of mind. Most also cover items outside her room so handy if she has a laptop she may take to the library etc.

Lots of insurance companies offer student insurance. Shop around for the best deal. Do cover everything that might get lost and phones, computers and bank cards are the most likely. We added in DDs clothes and other belongings too because it made little difference to the cost. I woud never assume things won't go missing, even from a library. A thief came into DD's post grad university library and made off with her purse. She was surrounded by other students but the thief blended in and, even worse, had a pass card to get into the library! Insure her belongings.

When I was at uni, I had my contents insurance with Endsleigh. It covered me at uni, home, out and about and on holiday for my 3 years away. It covered me when I dropped my phone down the loo at home over the Christmas holidays, so it's not just about theft.

And campus will be rife with bad people unfortunately. Anyone can get on a uni campus and the libraries at least are usually open to anyone.

My DD had student insurance through Endsleigh too. Life saver when she spilled coffee over her laptop and it stopped working!

Check the uni website - certainly all the ones my dc have looked at include contents insurance.

If your DC is going to be riding a bike check carefully on insurance for that, in particular the liability cover (remembering the recent case of the chap who had an idiot using a phone step in front of him). If you're not happy with it, organisations such as cycling U.K. do a good policy for a reasonable price.

I had a purse nicked from uni halls when I returned after a vacation - the procedure was to dump your bags in your room and then go and get the key, it never occurred to me that this provided a perfect opportunity for thieves.

My house insurance has always covered dc away at uni, check that first before you take out extra insurance

Does anyone know of any companies that will insure a student under the age of 18? Specifically bicycle (I think gadgets are covered under either our house insurance or her accommodation insurance but she rides her bike to college and work.

Our household insurance (Admiral) covered ds in halls and in shared house as long as his room had a proper lock . Will check but assume the same for dd.

Firstly, delve deep in the uni's website. DD's firm provides it, it even includes a musical instrument!

Dd's college doesn't.

It’s not contents it’s possessions insurance that’s needed. Some Halls of Residence allow you to purchase it as an extra.

It’s not contents it’s possessions insurance that’s needed. Some Halls of Residence allow you to purchase it as an extra

You dont need to buy it, look at your home insurance , every home contents policy i have had has included cover for dcs possessions at uni, something like 5K worth.

As others said, our home insurance covered both ours DCs at uni, as long as they had separately locked room. The only thing that wasn’t covered there were the already separately specified ie valuable, musical instruments for one of them , for we which bought very good coverage ( ie covered tours and performances). The bike insurance part didn’t apply either.

Bicycles are specifically excluded on ours. They are covered for theft either at home or at her term time accommodation but ot whilst elsewhere (college, work, station bicycle rack etc) We pay extra for personal posessions and it excludes bicycles outside the home.

I had to get it but check with the university just in case.

Definitely be aware that people can let in anyone and everyone even if the door has fob/card/code access, people can tailgate to get in so they will need to keep their room locked and windows closed if they're not in it.

Thieves can be quite creative! Someone in my halls followed the standard advice of "don't leave your laptop out on your desk" but left his window open. His laptop (and assignments on it!) was then stolen in its bag from his chair by someone fishing it out through his window, hook-a-duck style, using the handle of his laptop bag and presumably a long pole.

(His window has bars over it as ground floor)

Thank you all! Will definitely check our insurance and DD is checking if she gets any automatically with a room. Thank you again.

Endsleigh are a leading provider for the student market. They're flexible and cover stuff that other companies don't. DS2 still has a policy with them and doesn't live in halls.

Our NFU policy covers DC in uni owned accommodation if they keep their doors locked. Saved me a fortune!