Dorm Room insurance?

[cruisnfamily]

So can any of you that have "been there, done that" compare and contrast the various college dorm insurance programs for me?

Really, my daughter won't have too many valuable possessions outside of the laptop(as yet unpurchased), cell phone, Garmin car GPS, old ipod nano, inexpensive camera & maybe a boom box with ipod adapter. She does not wear expensive jewelry, play video games, or have any high end electronics. I would say the bulk of her stuff will be clothing.

So, with that in mind, anything I should know or consider?

I think I'm actually more interested in the whole concept of replacing it if it is accidentally damaged than I am in theft. She's much more likely to drop her laptop or spill something on it than to have it stolen I'd bet.

Thanks in advance for any help you can provide!

I read about this on College confidential and many posters seem to use CSI. Also, some use their homeowners but from what I understand, the homeowners deductible would apply which would be more than the cost of a laptop or cell phone.

 

[Christine]

Call your homeowner's insurance provider. Most likely, much of this will be covered under your current plan. I paid an additional $20 or something like that to have an electronics rider added to our policy. It covers my daughter's laptop while she's at college as well as replacing all our home computers should they fail. It has no deductible.

Our homeowner's policy also covers up to $24,000 of damaged goods for my daughter if she is away from home in school and renting an apartment. If I needed more coverage I could pay to have that increased.

I never knew anyone who bought dorm/renter's insurance for their kids. Everything seems to be covered under existing homeowner's policies.

 

[golfgal]

Your homeowner's insurance covers this. I WOULD schedule any electronics though-most policies have limited coverage for those if they are not scheduled. For many companies, scheduling individual items waives the deductible-but that isn't always the case. There would not be any coverage if she say spills a cup of coffee on her computer and fries her computer though. Sometimes extended warrantys from the computer manufacture are available for these things. Or, you can do what we did and tell your DD that if she breaks the computer, she has to buy the replacement. Colleges have plenty of computer labs all over campus so if she does break it, she will have access to something.

Oh, and the amount of coverage away from home that you have is usually dependent on how much your own content coverage would be--around here that is usually 10% of of your content coverage-but that could vary by state. In our policy, coverage in dorm rooms is not subject to that 10% and it is covered like it is at home.

Call your agent and ask how your policy works for this. As for scheduling the electronics, your agent will know what this is about and will need receipts from the computer, etc. when you get that.

 

[rgf207]

Anything in your daughter's dorm room should be covered under your homeowner's insurance policy.

 

[Christine]

There would not be any coverage if she say spills a cup of coffee on her computer and fries her computer though.

Mine does cover this, thankfully. Our Applecare policy did not.

 

[bdcp]

Our homeowners policy covered our kids stuff while they were away at college. And Yes, it did cover their computers also. We had to use it once when my oldest DS dropped his laptop.

 

[golfgal]

Mine does cover this, thankfully. Our Applecare policy did not.

Are you sure about that??? Typically insurance policies do not cover this kind of damage, especially by the owner of the equipment.

 

[miralys]

I never met one person in four years of dorm life who had actual dorm insurance (and most of these people had some nice swag!). For the most part (myself included) most loss during those years came not from theft but sheer carelessness (dropping things, spilling things, etc).

I agree with previous posters, check with the agency you have homeowner's insurance with. No need to pay extra for coverage you likely already have.

 

[Christine]

Are you sure about that??? Typically insurance policies do not cover this kind of damage, especially by the owner of the equipment.

Yes. I was actually SHOCKED when the agent told me this. I had her repeat it to me two times!!! It seems like you could really be fraudulent here.

The funny thing is, when my DD went to college in 2009 and moved to the dorm I didn't even talk with my insurance provider. We did not have the electronics rider. She spilled a drink on her brand new MacBook. The trackpad stopped working. We took it to the Genius Bar and they wanted over $700 to repair it so we did not repair it. It still works fine--just got her a mouse. I explained all this to the agent and she told me that, had I had the rider, that repair would have been covered.

 

[golfgal]

Yes. I was actually SHOCKED when the agent told me this. I had her repeat it to me two times!!! It seems like you could really be fraudulent here.

The funny thing is, when my DD went to college in 2009 and moved to the dorm I didn't even talk with my insurance provider. We did not have the electronics rider. She spilled a drink on her brand new MacBook. The trackpad stopped working. We took it to the Genius Bar and they wanted over $700 to repair it so we did not repair it. It still works fine--just got her a mouse. I explained all this to the agent and she told me that, had I had the rider, that repair would have been covered.

WOW--I agree, too open to fraud--although, by scheduling it you are paying more in premiums. Also, too many claims on scheduled items will get you dropped faster than anything on an insurance policy . and contrary to popular belief, it is pretty difficult to get dropped for too many claims.

 

[Breezy_Carol]

My 2 kids recently graduated college. We talked to our insurance agent and their things were covered under our homeowners policy. I actually have never heard of dorm insurance.

 

[ZephyrHawk]

Huh....my dorm room insurance was "if you break it or lose it or someone steals it we're not replacing it." That insured that I was very careful with my stuff.

 

[Toad_Passenger]

Huh....my dorm room insurance was "if you break it or lose it or someone steals it we're not replacing it." That insured that I was very careful with my stuff.

That was pretty much my rule, too. If something happened to it, I was buying a new one, so I kept things under lock & key, and was extra careful.

I have never heard of dorm insurance before, but, seeing as so many Homeowner's Insurance policies cover this stuff, I'm guessing my parents had it covered.

 

[Mrs.Malone]

Dorm room insurance? That sounds a little scammy to me. Maybe some people do need it but it probably takes advantage of a lot of people who don't realize that homeowner's insurance will do the same thing.
A friend's daughter's backpack/purse with cash, eyeglasses, textbooks, keys got stolen out of her dorm room and friend's homeowner's insurance covered it.

 

[FlyingDumbo]

In my dorm there was a lot of theft by opportunity. We were in a big city and people would piggy back into the dorm behind someone. Students often left their dorm room doors propped open or unlocked people would just grab what they could see and move away quickly. we caught a few. Here are some general safetly rules:

Always lock the door, even if your running downstairs to get mail for a second.

Don't prop the door open even when your in there, rapists and theives can get in.

Don't leave anything valuable in plain sight ever. Keep laptops packed away when not in use, and out in public don't put them down to go get coffee etc.

Introduce yourself to your dormmates/ floormates, if you all know each other you will know if someone unfamiliar sneaks on the floor. This was the number 1 way we caught people trying to steal stuff. People reported someone who did not belong there.

Be safe, use common sense.

 

[golfgal]

Dorm room insurance? That sounds a little scammy to me. Maybe some people do need it but it probably takes advantage of a lot of people who don't realize that homeowner's insurance will do the same thing.
A friend's daughter's backpack/purse with cash, eyeglasses, textbooks, keys got stolen out of her dorm room and friend's homeowner's insurance covered it.

Not scammy, just hitting a nitch market-much like trip insurance, hole in one insurance for golf tournaments, etc. They are pretty high profit policies for companies. We got all kinds of paperwork on various insurance policies when DS stared college (health and dorm insurance mostly). For some kids their parents don't or won't carry them on insurance once they leave for college so these are pretty low cost options for kids.

 

[cruisnfamily]

So you're all anti the insurance, huh?

I figure for $100 per year, everything is covered not just for theft but for accidental damage too. Spill a drink, drop it, whatever, it's replaced with just a $25 deductible.

http://www.collegestudentinsurance.com/

 

[tlbwriter]

hole in one insurance for golf tournaments

That's one I've never heard of!

Huh....my dorm room insurance was "if you break it or lose it or someone steals it we're not replacing it." That insured that I was very careful with my stuff.

Seems unfair to those who live with roommates. I could be the most careful person in the world, but have a careless/dishonest roommate.

 

[tasha99]

I'll be buying renters insurance for DD18, who is moving into an apartment for college. I'm a renter myself, and it covers more than just theft. What if she burns the place down making dinner? Unlikely, but she couldn't afford to replace an apartment. Would she be covered for that if I had homeowners? (Thinking of buying a house next summer). Her apartment is 100% in her name even though I'm paying--I didn't have to cosign or anything, and she's going to community college.

 

[golfgal]

That's one I've never heard of!



Seems unfair to those who live with roommates. I could be the most careful person in the world, but have a careless/dishonest roommate.

This is when common sense prevails then...

I'll be buying renters insurance for DD18, who is moving into an apartment for college. I'm a renter myself, and it covers more than just theft. What if she burns the place down making dinner? Unlikely, but she couldn't afford to replace an apartment. Would she be covered for that if I had homeowners? (Thinking of buying a house next summer). Her apartment is 100% in her name even though I'm paying--I didn't have to cosign or anything, and she's going to community college.

Most likely you won't have to buy a separate policy for your DD since she will be in college-your policy should cover her as well-just like a homeowner's policy will. The liability on your policy would cover her in the event she caused a fire-just make sure you have descent limits-it isn't expensive to add more. You should have at least $500,000, but more like $1,000,000.