Problems getting contents insurance to include student daughter

Lady_K

I have rang my broker that arranged my buildings cover to ask about getting contents insurance. I am one for shopping around on everything and would have arranged this myself but because I have old subsidense on the property I had to fight to get cover it was not easy. I ended up with zurich.

I asked her to make sure Zurich would cover my daughter for her belongings laptop etc while at university. They have rang me back and said the cover is for 5k and she must be in student halls but she is in private accom and the cost is £50.18 up until my buildings renewal date which is mid April so therefore its £50.18 for 2.5 months they didnt say what the cost would be for a whole year but that seems very expensive because thats the contents alone

The broker said she would need to provide her address but she will be moving in the summer to another student house and I've heard from other people that people in the household automatically get covered for belongings outside the home if theyt live in the house with you. I think you just have to add personal possesions to it

My sisters daughter got burgled while at uni in a private student house too and she claimed for her on her insurance she hadnt given an address or anything only the home one and she was able to claim with that.

Any ideas on how to go about it?

maclean2

Hi - try Saxon Insurance or Endsleigh Insurance who both specialize in students contents insurance.

Mikeyorks

Lady_K wrote:

... I've heard from other people that people in the household automatically get covered for belongings outside the home if theyt live in the house with you. I think you just have to add personal possesions to it

Thought this was well covered in your last thread. But it certainly is not the case that someone living away is covered on your contents policy .. unless specifically stated. For those companies that do it .. you need to have 'personal possessions away from the home' covered .. and then a specific statement to the effect 'if your children are at university or you have dependent relatives living in a nursing home - their belongings are also covered' .. or to that effect. As previously, M&S offer it .. so I would suspect other policies offered by their underwriters (Aviva Group) also do. But I don't think it's something that's easy to search for .. you need to look at specific policy data.

The option is to go for a discrete Uni policy as offered by Endsleigh and others.

Lady_K wrote:

My sisters daughter got burgled while at uni in a private student house too and she claimed for her on her insurance she hadnt given an address or anything only the home one and she was able to claim with that.

Perhaps it was on her policy, as you don't have to specify an address if it's 'bundled' into yours .... if not it was a fraudulent claim.

jennifernil

We have it on our contents policy, we are with Halifax. Otherwise I suggest you go with Endsleigh, they are not too bad pricewise, but it goes on the Uni accommodation postcode.

Lady_K

Thanx I am trying to avoid the ones that specifically cover students because they turn out very expensive when you had to add things on and they want a list of stuff you want covering.

The broker rang me back again saying that zurich told them as long as she has a locked door to her room she will be covered and it doesnt have to be the student halls. They still couldnt give me an idea of the total yearly cover only the £50.18 from now till mid April.

It looks like I might have to wait till the earliest March when I get the renewal letter from Zurich via the broker for the new years buildings in April. They can then get a quote for both contents and buildings combined including the extra cover for up to 5k, its called all risks cover. If its going to be as expensive as the cover for the 2.5 months though I cant pay that much its more than my buildings cover

Lady_K

jennifernil wrote:

We have it on our contents policy, we are with Halifax. Otherwise I suggest you go with Endsleigh, they are not too bad pricewise, but it goes on the Uni accommodation postcode.

Is it actual halifax insurance or with your mortage? as years ago I had it through halifax but it was really sun alliance

Thats probably why the quote we had from endsliegh was so high then because its classed as high risk area

t-elle

Have you looked at the cost of Barclays student possessions insurance? We got it for £49 including laptop and it covers while they are at home on break.
I thought our Barclays contents covered students, but thought wrong, so this was a decent price for what we wanted.

Lady_K

Thanx I'll check that out

jennifernil

Lady_K ours is a separate Halifax policy. We have our buildings and contents with them but our mortgage with Nationwide. Previously we had the insurances with M&S and they had similar cover. I think it is called "personal belongings, all risks" or similar.
Our daughter has a flat, which she owns, near Uni and rents out a room to another student. We have the furniture in the flat insured with Endsleigh, £4000 cover for £75. Yes, expensive compared to our home insurance, but you cannot really compare the two. Her buildings insurance is via a policy that covers the whole block of flats.
We just renewed with the Halifax and for £2500 of "personal belongings" cover we pay £21.97. This covers her personal stuff in the flat, and also us when we go away on holiday.
Endsleigh have several different rates depending on postcode, we are lucky that hers is the cheapest one.

Lady_K

Thanx, the broker that spoke to zurich for me only came back with a cover for 5k and that is more than we really wanted but I'm not sure if this is a standard amount of cover because even though I said it was more than we needed and the quote seemed high they didnt give an alternative. I'll look into m & s too I never thought of them

Lady_K

I looked at m&s and it came out a crazy price of almost £400 contents alone but I am now quite worried because I rang zurich direct to ask for a new quote without the broker as I was thinking of having the insurance direct now. She asked me some questions and mentioned I'm in a flood area, flippin heck what else is going to happen. I've been here 18 years with no flood but I do know the houses a long way down the street had a problem with floods about 15 years ago but that was sewerage water and the council have done something to prevent that now plus the road slopes down to that area and my house slopes up plus up even more as my drive slopes up from the road. I think my house actually just misses the flood area but coz its same postcode they are saying it is.

Because of the subsidence they told me they would advise me to stay with my broker and get them to find me the cheapest quote as they werent prepared to give me a quote! Now I'm worried that they may not renew my insurance in april or it might go up to a massive amount because they are saying I'm floodrisk. They even gave me an insurance brokers number to call for quotes. I'm quite worried as it seems they arent too bothered about covering me as they seem to be trying to get rid of me even

Do you think its a benefit having buildings and contents with Halifax? as I have my mortgage through them too