So your children are off to uni! Living away from home for the first time… No doubt a major change to the family dynamic (and domestic sound levels), but does your home seem terribly empty simply because your son or daughter has gone – or because he or she has taken so much household stuff with them?
While having familiar possessions around them will help your son or daughter get settled in and acclimatise to their new surroundings, how do you sort out insurance, especially when they may be in halls of residence or sharing a house?
Many of our clients say that they were so busy sorting out the tenancy agreement for their child and getting them prepared for university that insurance becomes an afterthought – not a good plan especially when tenancy agreements can make your child (and, by extension, you) responsible for damage potentially caused by others they are sharing with. What’s the best way to cover what they take with them, what they may buy while they are there, plus any possessions that are not stored in the property such as a bike or even a car if they are lucky enough to have one?
When it comes to insurance, you won’t be surprised to learn that students and their accommodation are considered high-risk in many ways! So our focus at Fairweather Insurance is to advise on the best and most cost-effective ways to effect cover, making use of your own, current policies wherever possible.
While limits and terms of cover will vary depending on the insurer, essentially the focus will be on students’ personal possessions being an extension of your main property insurance. We find that many policyholders do not realise this and may be arranging (expensive) standalone policies, not realising that the cover may already be built into their existing home insurance policy.
Most insurers do offer the cover you need as an extension to the main home insurance policy. However, the cover offered by this extension may not always match the cover the main home benefits from. For example, the policy may be subject to restrictions in respect of contents kept in student accommodation such as low single item limits or an exclusion in respect of damage to high value items, such as laptops. Some may even exclude cover for laptops or mobiles altogether. Accordingly, it is a case of understanding the scope of cover that is already offered and any restrictions and limitations that may apply so we can assess what is the right policy for you and your children in their particular accommodation.
Bicycles and other items should be covered as long as they fall within the scope of the general policy wording. For example, if a bike needs to be a specified item due to being valued over a certain amount and it is specified accordingly on the policy, then it will almost certainly be covered if taken away to university (although be aware that there may be specific conditions regarding how it needs to be secured or protected when not in use).
In relation to cars; the questions asked when we arrange the car insurance should clarify who actually keeps the car and what it is used for. We would ask who the main user is, if it is kept at a different address to the main home and the nature of use by each driver. This way we can make sure the car is appropriately and correctly insured based on the actual usage.
Our overall approach is that with the range of insurers and products we can access, we do not offer standalone contents policies for students but instead focus on identifying a suitable home insurance policy for the main residence which can extend to cover contents for your child while they are away at university.
So, talk to the Fairweather Insurance team for expert help and guidance. Then chill out and relax (assuming your child has left you a chair to relax in) and enjoy the opportunity to select your own music for once…. safe in the knowledge that everything you unloaded to their student digs is properly insured and protected.
