<p>I'm sure this has been discussed in the past, but here goes. I checked our homeowners policy and my d will be covered in her dorm but we have a very high deductable. I'd prefer to get a dorm policy with a low deductable mostly to protect her laptop. Any experience or suggestions? Thanks in advance.</p>
<p>you might be able to get a special rider on your homeowner’s policy for the laptop. I did that on my renter’s insurance (which has a $500 deductible, and wouldn’t cover accidental damage). It costs about $30 a year for the rider, covers accidental damage and loss/theft both at home and away, and only has a $100 deductible.</p>
<p>We’ve been very happy with College Student Insurance ([CSI</a> College Student Insurance Home](<a href=“http://www.collegestudentinsurance.com%5DCSI”>http://www.collegestudentinsurance.com)). My daughter accidentally broke her laptop cover; they fixed it - wouldn’t have been covered under our homeowner’s policy. Her camera was stolen; they replaced it (at replacement, not depreciated, value). Easy to deal with. </p>
<p>And they cover possessions even abroad; many policies don’t.</p>
<p>We’re looking into this, too. A friend of ours who’s in the insurance industry as an adjustor said you also want to keep in mind liability. He says your homeowner’s policy will probably cover as far as replacement for stuff. He says that where people get into trouble is the liability issue, make sure that’s covered, too. For instance, last year the dorm next to my son’s had a fire. A girl had lit up illegal candles and started a fire in her room. The damage, thankfully, related to the flames was contained to her room. However, the sprinkler system went off on her suite and several suites around hers. A lot of water damage occurred to the stuff of several different suites. Not only was she dealing with her own stuff but the liability related to others …</p>
<p>We’re looking into a separate renter’s policy now. One that each kid would take out in his/her name, with liability attached … but also to get it out from under our names and our policy. We’re trying to put an extra layer of separation between them and us, not that it would totally work. But we also figure that our deductable is high, and we wouldn’t want something leveled against our own policy, especially not here in FL where insurance companies drop you on a whim. Still researching though … which reminds me, I gotta call our agent back. </p>
<p>zebes</p>
<p>We have NCCI for a student policy. You can get covered for accidental injury (spills, drops) for laptop, cellphone, MP3, everything.</p>
<p>Like Chevda, we have used CSI for two years now. My D made a claim on her broken camera the first year and was given replacement value with no hassle. </p>
<p>Last year we had a policy for $8000 with a $25 deductible at a cost of $185, including the $5 processing fee. If I recall correctly, that was an increase of perhaps $5 over the first year. Incidentally, CIS has some special deal now where if you install computer tracking security software (which they provide) and your computer is stolen, your deductible is waived.</p>
<p>We’ve been very happy with CSI.</p>
<p>I wish my folks or I had known to get renters’ insurance when I was in college. During Christmas break, the pipes froze and broke over our room, and water poured in. I didn’t lose TOO much, but my roommate did. The dorm said, sorry, it’s not our problem!</p>
<p>Our State Farm agent suggested a Personal Articles policy – only about $60 per year covers her new laptop, a somewhat pricey necklace that she wears all the time, and her digital camera. They’re all covered against loss, damage, or theft, even if she’s responsible for the damage, $0 deductible, and it doesn’t charge against our homeowners policy. They needed copies of the purchase receipts for each item, as well as a serial number for the computer and the camera.</p>
<p>If she was in an apartment I’d get her a renters policy, but she’s covered by our homeowners policy if something major happens in the dorm. We live in a university town, and every year or two there is a fire that takes out all or a chunk of an apartment building, and in almost all cases the students renting have no insurance and are lucky to get out with not much more than a blanket. (Scary how the fires are almost all at night.) At the point where D does have an apartment, mom and dad’s housewarming gift is going to include a battery operated smoke detector (since in at least two cases in our town the electrically wired ones didn’t go off in recent fires), a carbon monoxide detector, and the first years premium for the renters policy.</p>
<p>Question to the CSI policy holders (since I’m too lazy to go to the website and read the legal mumbo-jumbo): does the policy cover theft/damage on campus only? D’s campus is the most uneventful place in the universe, but she takes classes and has a job/project off campus, so I was wondering if it would make sense to buy her a policy. Thanks.</p>
<p>I’m just about to purchase the CSI policy and I have a question for policy holders who have made claims - what proof of ownership do they require for a claim? </p>
<p>I didn’t see anything on the website about needing to provide purchase receipts, serial numbers, etc. that you would need for homeowner’s claims, such as the State Farm policy that arabrab mentioned^</p>
<p>BunsenBurner, though I haven’t purchased yet, they do cover off campus, at home, and overseas.</p>
<p>When my D made a claim to CSI on her digital camera (one day she pulled it out of her purse and the screen was damaged) she did need a receipt and was able to look back on Amazon and find it. She had to submit that plus a photo of the damaged camera (had to use someone else’s camera obviously to do that) and I think that was all. One thing that made me happy was that she did all of that on her own. She got the check quickly and bought herself a new camera.</p>
<p>Arabrab, when your D gets her apartment, don’t give her the smoke/carbon monoxide detectors, INSTALL them yourself. One of my Ds has had hers in the package for a year now. Unfortunately, she lives out of the country so I can’t hang it up myself.</p>
<p>I just went through this with my insurance company when I called to ask about a renter’s policy for this fall (my daughter is an incoming freshman).</p>
<p>I was told that she’s covered for up to 10% of the value our home contents are insured for (no way she takes $40K worth of stuff with her to school, so that’s covered) and all I needed to do was add the computer rider to our policy. In my case, coverage for any theft or accidental damage is covered up to $3,000 for only $8 per year.</p>
<p>Thanks to all for the tips. I looked at CSI and NCCI and it looks like NCCI covers cell phones. Does anyone know if CSI covers cell phones as well? It’s not clear from the website it they do.</p>
<p>I’m still navigating through the CSI website to the legal mumbo-jumbo, but at least in the three examples cell phones were included:</p>
<p>[Premiums</a> and Coverages](<a href=“http://www.collegestudentinsurance.com/coverages.php]Premiums”>http://www.collegestudentinsurance.com/coverages.php)</p>
<p>Another vote here for CSI. We took out a policy for my son and had a great experience with them. The computer screen on his very expensive laptop was damaged when the laptop got stepped on. (Don’t ask how!!) All he had to do was fill out a short on-line claim form and email them a picture of the damaged screen, the repair estimate, and a copy of our credit card statement (to prove ownership). He received a check for $600 (full cost of the repair) in less than a week.</p>
<p>Even though his stuff was covered under our homeowner’s policy, we have a very high deductible ($2,500) so we couldn’t collect unless he lost virtually EVERYTHING in his dorm room. Also, our homeowner’s policy would not have covered this accidental damage.</p>
<p>NCCI covers computers, cell phones, MP’s etc. They cover the goods anywhere the student is with their stuff: dorms, car, home, STUDY ABROAD or TRAVEL ABROAD. For only a little more they cover not just theft, fire etc they cover accidental damage like spills, drops, loss, anything. We could not beat the covereage even with the personal articles additional to our homeowners, and we could not beat the price. And it eliminates making homeowners claims–which in our State is a BIG DEAL.</p>
<p>When we made a claim against our CSI policy, we didn’t need receipts - we didn’t have any. Of course, a receipt makes things easier! However, for the laptop, all they needed was a copy of the front page of the owner’s manual. For the camera, the same - luckily she had that. For other personal property, they said a photo of the item would be sufficient.</p>
<p>Additionally, my d’s camera was stolen at a frat party. The campus cops wouldn’t take a report since it would be futile - no one would ever find it again. Theft claims generally require a copy of the police report. My d was able to file the claim anyway, stating these facts. CSI deemed them sufficient, and they paid the claim. </p>
<p>I’m very pleased with their service and coverage.</p>
<p>sunnyflorida, does NCCI cover lost items (CSI excludes them)? Could you please provide a link to their website?</p>
<p>ooops. NSSI. Sorry about that. here it is. [Affordable</a> Laptop Insurance, College Student Insurance, Personal Property, & Laptop Theft | National Student Sevices](<a href=“http://www.nssi.com/]Affordable”>http://www.nssi.com/)</p>
<p>sunnyflorida, thanks! Looks like CSI is the one for us, since NSSI covers bicycles only up to $500 (CSI says up to $2000 without special declaration). And neither covers lost items, which is not surprising.</p>