Don't let your child leave for college without this

Parents Forum
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<p>Student property insurance (AKA dorm insurance). Count me as a new found believer!
I heard about this here on CC last year and it seemed like a good idea, so I purchased a $4000 policy for my S to cover his laptop, guitar, ipod, etc.</p>

<p>Fast forward to January – S informs me that he kicked over a soft drink and his very expensive Macbook Pro was no longer working. Took it to the Apple Store, where of course they told him that accidental damage was not covered under his warranty. Although I had the dorm insurance, I assumed it wouldn’t cover accidental damage (I knew my homeowner’s policy didn’t) and paid out of pocket for the repair – almost $1400 – ouch. Son was paying us back painfully slowly.</p>

<p>A few weeks later (again here on CC) someone mentioned a laptop being accidently damaged and getting their student property insurance to pay. I checked my policy and saw that accidental damage WAS covered. I almost kicked myself, because my son had already gotten the repair done and paid for it without filing a claim – I figured they’d never reimburse us after the fact. I decided I had nothing to lose, though, so I contacted the company, explaining the situation.</p>

<p>They wrote back that we could still file a claim, and sent info on how to fill it out on-line. My son filled out the form, attached the documents (receipts, repair bill, tuition bill). Within hours, they told us the claim was approved. We are being reimbursed the entire amount minus the $50 deductible. The check has already been mailed out 3 days later. I’m SO glad we purchased this insurance and that the company was so responsive. </p>

<p>Now you might think that you are covered under your homeowner’s insurance for any damage to your child’s property, but you may want to think twice about going this route because
1) Homeowner’s insurance generally doesn’t cover accidental damage – college students (and their friends) are rough on things.
2) Even if the item is covered, homeowner’s insurance often has a high deductible (mine, for example, is $1000).
3) Even if the claim is larger than the deductible, you may not want to put in a claim for relatively small amounts, as it may lead to an increase in your rate or even cancellation</p>

<p>So, kudos to CC for letting me know about student personal property insurance and to the company, College Student Insurance (CSI) for their great customer service. If I can save one CC parent from an unanticipated repair bill, I’ll have returned the favor</p>

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<p>Thanks. I will be looking into this. How much are your premiums?</p>

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<p>I’ll add: after insurance, a roll of duct tape is the #2 item on the list of things your child should not leave for college without. :D</p>

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<p>Our kids have been using laptops since they were ten. All of those laptops are still fully functional. We require them to use external keyboards and mice. I do the same. If you have a spill, you take out a $10 keyboard and/or mouse. I’ve spilled soup at my workstation and did take out the keyboard but none of it touched the laptop.</p>

<p>I would suggest reading Warren Buffett’s take on insurance. It was from an annual report many years ago. If you are generally careful and avoid risks, you can save some money every year to go into a self-insurance fund - when you have a loss, you take it out of your insurance fund. Many companies do this for the various kinds of insurance that they provide.</p>

5

<p>We haven’t needed to file a claim, but consider the CSI insurance cheap enough to get it for DD. $94 for $4000 worth of coverage with a $50 deductable. Rates vary according to where the school is. Your kid may be very careful but others will be around.</p>

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<p>Inquisitive Mom: we paid $118 for $5000 policy, $25 deductible. D goes to school in NYC, lives off campus. We use this company: <a href=“http://www.collegestudentinsurance.com/[/url]”>Filing a Claim;

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<p>Our home insurance said they covered dorm rooms, however if our son moves off campus next year, we’ll need to get him something.</p>

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<p>Thanks. DS is emptying out our living room and populating his new digs. I just emailed him that he should investigate renters insurance.</p>

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<p>You see, this is just one of the reasons I love CC. My S will be heading off to college next year and no one would describe him as ‘careful’ with anything. We will definitely purchase insurance to cover his laptop, ipod, etc. Thanks for the very helpful information!</p>

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<p>DS will be in Japan this summer for an internship. He has insurance through CSI and I was so pleased to go to their website and learn that his property is covered worldwide so he’ll be covered over the summer. Thanks so much for this thread - I hadn’t thought about insurance for his laptop, etc, while he’s in Japan until I saw this thread. And I am so happy to learn his stuff will be covered!</p>

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<p>Compare the student insurance with a personal articles policy through your homeowner’s policy. The personal articles could be cheaper and also covers accidental damage. A claim on the personal articles policy doesn’t affect the homeowner’s insurance. It is very cheap and is based completely on the price of the article insured. Most people only think of them for jewelry but you can add lots of things very cheaply. It covers the articles no matter where they are.</p>

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<p>Does student insurance cover musical instruments?</p>

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<p>The policies I’m familiar with cover musical instruments - both the student property policies and the personal articles policies.</p>

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<p>We have policies for both our music kids. I have a bit of a scary story, though.</p>

<p>My S recently had his fairly new recording device (H-2 Zoom) stolen. Took him a few days to realize it was missing. Dad said don’t worry, it’s covered on the policy. He pulled out the policy to check, and discovered that last year, we had upgraded the policy to add S’s new mega-bucks instrument in June; then we changed D’s policy in July; and then when the policy renewal came up in August, somehow it got OVERLOOKED. S’s two megabucks instruments, along with his laptop, recorder, etc, had not been covered since August. (They are now!)</p>

<p>S, ever practical, pointed out that we probably saved the cost of the H-2 by not paying the premiums for 6 months, since nothing worse happened. It was a fairly cheap way, all things considered, to discover that the policy had lapsed. Oh the nightmares if it had been an instrument that disappeared.</p>

<p>By the way, we had to have all the instruments appraised in order to have them insured for more than a base amount ($2500, I think).</p>

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<p>Re post #4-- using the external keyboard and mouse (and monitor screen) can be made easier with a docking station in the dorm room if the student wants to take the laptop to class.</p>

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<p>Momof3
I have nothing but great things to say about CSI. I just wish they were available for S now that he has graduated.
Anyone have suggestions?</p>

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<p>Regarding musical instruments, we added a rider to our homeowners insurance with Allstate when son took his tenor sax to Europe a few years about. I called to make sure we still have it and that it covers dorm room. Evidentally it covers dorm and airlines etc. Seems a good deal at $26/year… up to $15K (ha, his sax is nice…but not that nice!).</p>

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<p>Our insurance agent suggests that we get a “scheduled item” policy for items that we want to protect including theft loss and damage. You can list any items you want on the schedule, including items belonging to your kids,or even your friends, my agent said, whether they live at home or not. I am thinking of getting one for $5000 to include computers and cell phones for each member of the family ( my 2 kids have lost 4 cell phones already, including 2 iphones) and some jewelery items that I wear daily. This policy is not part of the homeowner’s policy and if you file a claim, it won’t negatively impact your homeowner’s claim records. However, you can purchase this policy in conjunction with a homeowner’s policy. This is not a stand alone policy. The premium quoted to me was something like $10 per $1000 insured, with a small( I forget the $ amount) deductible.</p>

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<p>Also, remember that some credit cards also offer FREE insurance coverage for 90 days of any purchase if something happens to the item FOR ANY REASON. We were pleasantly surprised it covered S’s retainer that broke in the washing machine, D’s glasses the were swept away by the ocean, and other items. It WOULD HAVE covered the charger D lost for her laptop if she had filed the claim in time!</p>

<p>Some credit cards also offer free extended warranty, which can be VERY valuable on electronics, such as laptops. We have used it to our advantage several times.</p>

<p>While I’m on a tear, some credit cards even offer FREE travel insurance at no extra charge when you use their card to make the purchase. It can all add up quite nicely, when unexpected things happen, even if you “self insure,” as our family prefers.</p>

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<p>Update:
We paid for CSI for 3 years with no claims, so don’t know how they worked then. This spring D spilled water (or another liquid) on her laptop. Jumped through the hoops of having campus computer folks certify that the laptop was damaged by liquids and that it couldn’t be fixed, and us sending in the original receipt. They sent a check for a new computer.
I can’t say this enough to new dorm residents and their parents. Cough up the $120 or so for dorm insurance. You don’t want your kid’s claims on your homeowner’s tab.</p>