Financial Advisor

Home insurance – Student protection

Picture the scene: you’ve just received a letter offering you a place at the university of your choice. As you happily begin to plan the next few years of your life a stray thought enters your mind: “How safe will my possessions be?”

Herein lies the problem. The majority of university students spend their first year in halls of residence, where security is not always the most important item on the agenda and the possibility of theft is always on the cards.

Given that the average student now owns a laptop, mp3 player and mobile phone as a bare minimum you can see the risk that this poses. The current consumer society means the average student is also likely to also have in tow a TV and DVD player (plus film collection); not to mention a collection of potentially expensive clothes and many other “essential” items.

Statistics released by the Home Office show that one in three students are victims of crime each year. They are also three times more likely to be burgled than a homeowner, which makes the need for some sort of protection even more relevant.

This is where your parent’s home insurance policy can come in. Many insurers now offer several thousand pounds of cover for policyholders’ children while at university. The average policy could offer you around £3,000 worth of cover in the event of a burglary while at university.

This should certainly be enough to replace your electrical items, although I would advise you to regularly back up your work as a precaution against theft and malfunction.

To ensure your valuables are as safe as possible, try to stick to the following:

• Ensure your valuables are not visible through the window
• Inquire as to whether locks have been changed since the last occupant left (more applicable to shared accommodation)
• Find out if you are covered under your parents’ home policy
• Check the small print of said policy for individual item limits and total offspring allowance.

For many students, the last thing on their mind when starting a university course will be house insurance and it can be all too easy to forget to check if you have any existing cover in place. The question is; can you really afford to replace all of your possessions?

If you are a university student you are at high risk of burglary, home insurance is certainly a recommended product.

You may find you are covered under your parents’ house insurance policy whilst residing in university accommodation.

You may think home insurance is a topic for your parents, but believe it or not it may be more relevant to you than you think.

Tag: home insurance, house insurance