<p>Does anyone have a good source for this? It's my biggest worry since it's so easy to make off with one. The computer store at son's college recommended Square Trade, but it turns out they don't cover theft/loss.</p>
<p>Thank you!!</p>
<p>I’d go with a general policy covering ALL of your student’s belongings as such policies are very reasonably-priced and would likely be more cost-effective than a policy just for the computer. My son has a policy with CSI and when someone stepped on his laptop last year and broke the screen, CSI covered all of the $500 repair cost (less our $50 deductible) within a few days. I was very impressed by their prompt service.</p>
<p>[CSI</a> College Student Insurance Home](<a href=“http://www.collegestudentinsurance.com/]CSI”>http://www.collegestudentinsurance.com/)</p>
<p>NSSI also offers this type of student policy, but I don’t have any first-hand knowledge with this company:</p>
<p>[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>We’ve had CSI for the past three years.
They cover lots of stuff.
Keep receipts, it makes things easy.</p>
<p>We use NSSI and filing a claim was easy with receipts and a police report.</p>
<p>It’s been discussed on here before.</p>
<p>My opinion is that insurance is to assume a risk that would be financially impossible otherwise. A $450 or $2000 laptop repair / loss is something that my family could handle on our own, so we will not buy insurance when our kids are in college.</p>
<p>My D has also had CSI for three years and made claims the first two years that were paid promptly and with no hassle. The first was for a damaged camera for which she received replacement money. The second was for a damaged computer and they paid to have it fixed - the bill was over $1000. I recommend CSI very highly and am just about to renew her policy for next year.</p>
<p>Just saw the post above. My D’s policy has cost about $180 per year and we’ve received around $1400 or perhaps a bit more in claim payments. The deductible was only $25 on each claim. For us, it was a great deal.</p>
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<p>Insurance companies love it when people post things like this because it makes it sound like a great deal. In your case, it was. But the average person that buys a policy doesn’t file $1400 in claims each year, otherwise, the insurance cost would go up a lot. The insurance companies make a lot of money from selling insurance, so the average claims per year must be much less than the premium.</p>
<p>You’re right of course. Part of our mathematical equation involved knowing our own D and the likelihood of loss* or damage. For our very careful selves, we have high deductibles on both car and house insurance and we try to never make claims.</p>
<p>Incidentally, I think one way CSI probably keeps rates low is that they count on kids not to get their act together to make claims. In my D’s case, she knew we were not going to buy another camera or computer so she was very motivated.</p>
<p>*This is a kid who lost every single item of her uniform clothing in middle school which we still don’t understand as she never arrived home naked!</p>
<p>We have computer insurance as an extra on our homeowner’s insurance. I think it covers up to $3000. for any one incident. It even includes spilling a soda on it and ruining it. I think it costs us about $10.00 a year extra. It even included our DD’s computer when she was at school. We think it is a good deal.</p>
<p>I actually had Lo-jack put on my D1’s computer! I figured she was most likely to leave it somewhere and it would be taken. I was very glad it didn’t happen but I bet if we didn’t have lo-jack I would have needed it.</p>
<p>Check with your homeowner’s carrier. We found our son was well covered by our current policy. Like silverlady, we’ll add special computer coverage and might even schedule separately items like his camera and bike. For less than $40 per year, those items will be covered with only a $50 deductable.</p>
<p>If you do it as an add-on to your homeowners any/all claims will be held against you forever (or at least a very long time). A separate policy seems like the best option to me. My older son is very careful with his things. I don’t think I will insure him. My younger son however has lost everything he owns at least once. I will definitely get a policy for him.</p>
<p>We paid CSI for three years with no claims, so we’d be on the side that it isn’t worth it. Then DD spilled a big cup of coffee on laptop. CSI required her to provide a letter from the campus IT guys saying that it was damaged by liquids, and a reciept from the original purchase. They payed with no extra questions. Is $150/year for three years worth the one claim for $1200? for us, obviously, yes.<br>
Plus it doesn’t affect our homeowner’s as a claim. Plus D got a “hot” new computer for the replacement cost.</p>
<p>Well the theft insurance policy is really quite interesting. What are the terms for a computer to be considered missing? Morality aside, whats stoping a father and his son from “losing” a mac book and getting a replacement one so both will have a pair of laptops?</p>
<p>^Maybe the fact that the insurer want a copy of whatever report was filed with the police/campus security? Maybe because most people would not think committing insurance fraud is okay?</p>
<p>We did the NSSI policy for D last year but chose a slightly higher deductible and paid around $80 to insure everything. It was less than State Farm wanted to add a rider to our homeowners, plus I don’t like to file claims with them for small stuff. I wasn’t as concerned about a single incident like camera loss or laptop breakage, but pipes are known to break, sprinklers go off, roofs leak, etc. and losing multiple items at once would have been a cash drain. It was worth the peace of mind, especially when I read that dozens of dorm rooms had been vandalized over winter break and a roof leak had caused damage to other rooms.</p>
<p>Good point sk8rmom, maybe I will even insure my “careful” son (I’m sure by calling him that I have increased the odds that he will do something dumb :-). </p>
<p>I do agree with jasonInNy and wonder how many people cheat the system. So few people seem to have much in the way of morality today.</p>
<p>FYI-My son just bought a Mac for himself, he purchased the Mac Care Warranty for 3 years which includes original prelacement parts and service at a local Mac store or actual Mac repair center. He will be a freshman this fall so we called our insurance company to confirm that theft or accidental loss (dropped computer, water damage from spillage, theft, and or loss ) is covered under our homewoners policy (personal belongings). We would have to sacrifice the policy deductable if a claim was filed. If the laptop is stolen you would need a letter of proof of theft from the school or a police report, for damage you would need a letter or confirmation from a authorized repair shop that the computer is no longer useable. I hope this helps, my opinion is there is no a need for a seperate insurance policy for a computer. As always parents and or students should do what they feel most comfortable with.</p>
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<p>Could you afford to replace his stuff in the event of a flood or fire? If so, then I’d forgo insurance to protect against this catastrophic loss. Very, very few students have their items destroyed by a sprinkler or fire and it may make sense to assume that risk.</p>
<p>If your kids are careless (not uncommon in college) and you are very careful about saving receipts and turning in claims, insurance may not be a bad idea. The only downside is that is allows a student to get away with careless behavior instead of learning the hard way why it is important to take care of and protect your stuff.</p>
<p>The number of catastrophically damaged rooms at my college was about equal to the number of students who have died while at college – and I hadn’t heard anyone suggest buying a life insurance policy on their student.</p>