Students urged to take out insurance for their laptops
Thu, 02 Sep 2010
Students will be taking expensive valuables such as laptops and cameras to university in the coming weeks. Although these products are likely to be included on parents' home insurance policy, many insurance policies will have fine print that must be adhered to.

Many insurance policies will have a total value limit of £1,500 per item. Those with a netbook, tablet, iPhone 4 or iPad will be covered. However, students with more expensive laptops such as the Alienware M11x or Apple Macbook Air will only be covered on the first £1,500 of their machine. Some insurance providers may have even lower single item upper limits of £1,000.

What's more, students using their parents' home contents insurance policy will usually only be covered for items in a locked room. That means that if your laptop is stolen whilst you're in the library, from the student common room or from Starbucks, you won't be covered. When you come to make a claim, many insurers will require evidence of forced entry. Accidental damage or loss often isn't included either. Should you lose your laptop on the bus, you won't be covered.

To make sure students' possessions are fully covered, providers such as Endsleigh, endorsed by the NUS offer tailored student contents insurance which covers personal belongings such as laptops, netbooks and phones. Jonathan Stoddern from student website Studento.com stated that "insurance companies usually don't cover students if their door isn't locked; which means that if your laptop goes missing whilst you're having a party, you're unlikely to be able to claim. Student contents insurance allows you to insure your belongings at university whether your room is locked or not, and for accidental damage, meaning that students will have peace of mind whether they're at the library, or at a communal party."

It pays to have insurance as a student. However, before you get to your accommodation it may be worth checking whether basic contents insurance comes with your halls of residence. Roughly 80 universities offer contents insurance cover as part of their weekly rent.

Sadly, private accommodation will most certainly require contents insurance.

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