Insuring your student pad
Many young people will be looking forward to starting university in September – not just to add strings to their academic bows, but to enjoy a life away from their parents.
Many students who move away from home will no doubt take with them the contents of their bedrooms, which can often equate to thousands of pounds worth of goods.
Many students will take a laptop/PC, a mobile phone, an MP3 player, all of their clothing as well as other things such as musical instruments, digital cameras and a range of books.
What many young people don’t realise is that they’ll need to insure these items in case their new student home is burgled, floods or catches fire- if this happens you would have to replace the items yourself if you don’t take out the necessary home insurance.
Most students will move into a student house which will be home to a number of other students. As opposed to a normal house, you will only want to insure your own items – not the guy’s who lives down the hall.
You can take out insurance just for your own belongings, and remember that you don’t need buildings insurance – your landlord will already have this.
It’s important to add up the value of all of your belongings before you get an insurance quote. Many students only add up the value of their most expensive items, such as their laptop or mobile phone, however it’s important that you account for everything in case the worst happens.
Remember to add up the value of your clothing as best as you can – if your student accommodation gets severely damaged you may need to claim for this.
Also, if you have a large music or DVD collection, make sure you add up the value of that too. If you have a collection of 100 DVDs that represents around £1000 worth of investment, so make sure you include them in your insurance policy.
The same goes for any downloads that you have which you’ve paid for, for example if you have a big iTunes collection, you may be able to claim for them as well.
It is also advised that you contact your insurance company should you buy anything else of value that you would potentially claim for while living in your student accommodation. If you don’t mention any new purchases to your insurer you may not be able to claim for them – it may mean that your policy will be invalidated if you fail to mention these.
This is particularly important for students in technical or performing arts degrees, who can quite often find themselves sharing a room with all manner of expensive gear that they’ve acquired as part of the course.
I don’t want to sound like a harbinger of doom! The likelihood is that you’ll never need to claim on your insurance while in uni, but if you ever have to you’d best make sure you’re properly protected.