Have you got home insurance?
It is good to have a home insurance
Asking a student if they’ve got home insurance might sound a bit crazy, but it is a question you need to ask yourself. Why - I hear you say? Well, whilst you’re staying away from home at college the possessions that you have brought with you to beautiful Hampshire still ought to be covered by insurance against theft, accidental damage, loss or even damage/loss through fire.
Now of course, being a young student you’ll undoubtedly think none of that could happen to you or your property. Or perhaps you alternatively think it’s the college’s responsibility, or your family will already have taken care of it. Whilst the latter might be true the former almost certainly isn’t, Hampshire College does not insure your property against any losses.
Fortunately crime statistics at Hampshire College are very low. However, it is your property and your responsibility - not Hampshire Colleges. Quite probably your family had your possession covered under their household insurance when you were at home. But, see the problem now; you’re no longer actually at home with most of your possessions.
Heaven forbid of course but just say your laptop/computer was stolen - would you be able to go straight out and get a replacement one without having to take out another loan?
If your family has home insurance ……
The first thing to establish is does your family already have home insurance and then are your possessions covered whilst they’re with you in your college accommodation. If the answer to both of those questions is yes - then you’re OK - your possessions are insured.
However, if you purchase anything of significant value it’d be best to check with your family if the insurance company needs informing as it might affect the premium payable.
If you need to arrange home insurance.
Apart from gathering information about home insurance, the first thing to do is to prepare an inventory of all the valuable things that you want to insure that are kept with you at all times or that are left at your accommodation.
This should include anything that is of value to you especially items like: jewellery, computers, TV & DVD player, music systems, instruments, sports equipment or any expensive equipment essential to your studies. The inventory will serve two main purposes:
- If you were to lose everything, in say a fire, you’ll have a list of exactly what needs replacing. In the event of losing something by theft, having a record number of its serial number is also a good idea when reporting it to the police.
- The inventory will also help an insurance company assess how much value to place on your property for insurance purposes.
Having photographs of your possessions might not be a bad idea also. That way if you do need something replacing you’ll be able to show the insurance company the condition it was in so that they do not try and reduce their payout too much, due to depreciation of the goods over time.
Getting home insurance
You’ll probably find the best home insurance deals by looking online, but you could also use yellow pages or follow up an advert in a paper to find home insurance deals. Presuming you’re going to look for your home insurance online you need to decide what sort of deal you’re looking for.
You’ll probably come across many different types of home insurance offers. This can make it difficult to decide which really is the best home insurance deal, as none of the offers are identical. For example you might see an offer that’s for theft only, then another higher priced one that’s to cover theft and fire …..
I’m sure you can see how all the different combinations of cover could produce a confusion of offers. Quite simply I’d recommend taking out a home insurance policy that covers all the possible eventualities - theft, accidental damage, fire …. etc.
The one thing about insurance is that it is not a certainty that it will be needed, you may never make a claim against your policy, but if you do need to claim you can’t possibly know if it would only be for theft, or any one individual reason rather than another.
This is the difference between an insurance policy and an assurance one. Home insurance covers you for the possible loss of a possession. ie it might occur. Whereas if you have to life assurance - at some point death will occur.