Does anyone have any experience with dorm room insurance? I am primarily looking to insure stolen/lost electronics, a bike, and, to a much lesser degree, D’s clothes.
Is it worth getting, and, if so, any guidance on where to look?
No or low deductibles would be great.
TIA
In our opinion yes - each kid has used it once to date and they are now juniors in college. Quite reasonable at a little over $150 a year (or a bit less) for $5000 in coverage and $50 deductible. Did not change after a claim was put in from year to year. Does not impact our own policy, as we used a separate company for specific dorm policy - not sure if we can list recommendations here. One kid filed a claim for stolen airpods - stolen right out of her hands when she was walking down the street and she had to file a police report and one for a left laptop in the library (her dumb mistake) and also had to fill out a police report - both were paid back full value. Will also cover if damage occurs in dorm room like broken water pipe, fire etc - once you add up all your kid’s belongings it made sense to us. Good life lesson to go file a police report too and manage the process.
Yes, and if you have one phone issue it more than pays for itself.
I can’t remember who we used, sorry. But do try and find a plan that covers phones.
Also, some people say they would just use home insurance, but small claims on homeowners insurance are generally NOT a good idea.
I only insure things if the event happens, it is a financial catastrophe for me.
@mynameiswhatever you might get some helpful info from this thread.
No. Who’s taking your kids clothes… Lol.
Most credit cards have an extra warranty on things like computers. That’s the expense.
Don’t think anyone is hesting the mini fridge?
Outside of a dorm then yes.
Thanks, @thumper1.
I agree it’s not a good idea to claim on our homeowner’s insurance.
I just got a property-only policy with a low deductible and annual premium that covers Ds electronics, bike, and clothes, etc. for theft, damage, or loss. It also covers accidental damage like dropping a phone in the sink, screen cracks, etc.
We had an issue with water damage to a laptop while on a college tour and just before essay season started. This policy would have covered that, among many other things.
Check your current home owners insurance policy. Ours automatically covered our D when she was living in the dorm.
I did, but the deductible was high, and I think there is an issue if you make too many claims.
In CA right now, we’re just lucky to have HO coverage! The insurance companies are looking for ways to drop coverage.
For the price I just paid and the low deductible, primarily for Ds electronics, it’s worth having a cheap separate policy.
guess you haven’t been to college lately - laundry room theft at both my kids colleges happens several times a semester !
Lol. Both kids graduated the last few year but yikes. What kind of places are you sending your kids to 
?
But there’s always a target /Walmart somewhere close by…
In our case, with the water damage to D’s laptop, we wound up buying a new laptop on the way to Boston. With this policy, it would have been replaced or repaired for a $50 deductible.
If your kids have expensive musical instruments with them…get both theft and loss insurance. There are companies that specialize in this. It will require a recent appraisal of the instruments.
One is an athlete at an Ivy and her teammates clothes were picked through from the washer - guessing the logo’’ed sports stuff won’t show up around campus, but the high end work out clothes will blend right in. At least 3 other parent posts about laundry thefts on the facebook page this year - all women’s clothes. At the LAC it is a mix including a picky thief that goes through the laundry and leaves behind what they don’t want. It is really sad as it seems to be classmates with dorm access.
Our credit card just replaced my daughter’s computer that fizzed out and paid us $500 more then we paid for it since the repairs were more then the computer was worth. We got $1899 back to our credit card… Crazy…
Lots of people forget to check their cc policy. I did until someone reminded me.
That’s crazy… My daughter went to 2 lacs (transferred junior year) and just never heard about this.
Definitely, for expensive things like musical instruments, it’s worth it to have specific coverage. D doesn’t have any of that, so her coverage is pretty basic (and cheap!)
Aren’t these for a short period of time? I just looked it up, and the max coverage period I saw was for 120 days after the purchase.
Nope. Ours was 2 additional years after the Costco 2 year warranty… Many are like this. They add at least a year after the manufacturer warranty but if at Costco it’s after their additional warranty or if you get an Mac it’s after their Apple care warranty.
As an example of our Chase card.
But that’s an extension of the manufacturer’s warranty, which wouldn’t cover water damage or dropping the unit, would it?
I guess you can get Apple Care Plus, but when you have multiple Apple devices, that can get quite expensive.