Leaving home

captain_scott

My son leaves home next month for his second year at uni. He wants me to insure his PC as it is going with him. Value is about £3000.00. Any ideas about insuring one item?
Thanks.

CakeCrusader

It might be wise for him to do this himself and to get contents insurance for the rest of his items too (student properties are often broken into so it may be helpful to have full cover for his phone etc). He'd need to make sure that his policy covers items taken away from his student home (like his phone if that was ever stolen) as well as the computer as there's often a max amount for one item with many insurance companies.

sheramber

What about his other belongings?

My contents insurance covered my student son's belongings while living away, as long as his room had a lock.

Savvy_Sue

I can't help feeling that whoever does the act of insuring may need to declare this as an item, rather than as part of his general possessions ...

CakeCrusader

Savvy_Sue wrote: »

I can't help feeling that whoever does the act of insuring may need to declare this as an item, rather than as part of his general possessions ...

It's highly likely that this wouldn't be covered as part of a household contents insurance policy as 'items taken away from the home' is usually an add on policy, and I doubt it will cover anything taken away from the home for 32 weeks of the year. It's worth chatting to your insurance company though.

silvercar

It may be easier t insure it through a gadget insurance policy. I know American Express have such a policy, but you would need to check the coverage.

CakeCrusader

I'd be inclined to check out how much it would cost for all of his belongings, not just the computer. As I said above, student properties are rich pickings for burglars, they take TVs, phones, designer clothes as well as computers. In a non student house there may be only one TV, 2 laptops etc in the whole of the house, but in a student house there's one per room.

sheramber

CakeCrusader wrote: »

It's highly likely that this wouldn't be covered as part of a household contents insurance policy as 'items taken away from the home' is usually an add on policy, and I doubt it will cover anything taken away from the home for 32 weeks of the year. It's worth chatting to your insurance company though.

It was specifically stated as cover for student belongings away from home.

e.g. Tesco current contents insurance Contents at college or university

We will pay for loss or damage to contents belonging to you or a member of your family, when they are in halls of residence or any other term-time accommodation in the UK - up to a value of £5,000.

agrinnall

sheramber wrote: »

It was specifically stated as cover for student belongings away from home.

e.g. Tesco current contents insurance Contents at college or university

We will pay for loss or damage to contents belonging to you or a member of your family, when they are in halls of residence or any other term-time accommodation in the UK - up to a value of £5,000.

But is there a single item limit? £3000 is a lot for any contents insurance to cover, the ones I've taken out over the years rarely cover anything worth more than £1500 when out of the home, and in recent years they have asked specifically about computers at lower limits than that.

sheramber

You would need to read the policy to find out.

captain_scott

Many thanks for the reply's. I will start with our contents insurance. We are with LV. He says he is not bothered about his phone etc just the PC as he had it built this year. Will let you know how I get on.