Students Contents – What’s not covered
The most common exclusions are for things such as bicycles, mobile phones and musical instruments. Be very careful to check that these items are covered if you are taking them to university.
Another issue will be the length of cover – some policies are restricted to term time only as they assume that the possessions are taken home out of term time and are covered by the parents policy during this time. If you are leaving items in situ this might not be suitable for you and you might also need to recheck the parents sums insured too.
One of the major problems is ‘walk-in theft’. This occurs when there is a theft with no evidence of forced entry and is often excluded from insurance policies. This is a particular problem for those students living in shared accommodation or halls of residence. Cover can be arranged to include walk in theft, but you will need to ask your insurer to add it to your policy.
Most Insurers will extend a Student policy to include accidental damage. This will cost more, but as most claims fall under the heading of accidental loss or damage is a worthwhile addition.
The other area to consider is cover for items which are being taken out of your rooms – this will often be the majority of the possessions that a Student has. Remember that a standard policy only covers these items when in the students room, so this could prove a valuable extension to most policies.