<p>Hi!</p>
<p>I know I have read about this on here but can’t locate the thread…anyone have any suggestions or advice for insuring kid’s laptop, cellphone, camera, and all those goodies?</p>
<p>Do you recommend a lock for the laptop?</p>
<p>You might look at this, but I am not recommending it. I have seen this suggested on CC before:</p>
<p>[CSI</a> College Student Insurance Home](<a href=“http://www.collegestudentinsurance.com/]CSI”>http://www.collegestudentinsurance.com/)</p>
<p>It is a reasonable price and will protect your kid’s belongings while away at school. I have purchased it for one son, and will for the other one when school starts next year. </p>
<p>I haven’t submitted a claim yet, but I purchased it after son’s laptop flew off the bunk bed, and the other son’s friend knocked his digital camera off his desk. </p>
<p>I think it will be well worth it in the future.</p>
<p>The other option is to add a personal articles rider to your homeowner’s policy. Get a price on each option.</p>
<p>I was more worried about filing a claim with my homeowners insurance policy. Once you do, it is highly likely premiums go up, we have found. The other thing is that with kids and their possessions, a loss, a theft or damage can happen even more than once in a school year - and the deductibles were very low with this insurance. It will cover things that even a homeowner’s policy won’t touch.</p>
<p>My S2 got his bike stolen, midway between the first and second semester, in addition to the flying computer. Had we had the policy, a $50 deductible would have provided him with a new one - and his bike was way more than $50 to purchase!</p>
<p>We’ve bought in to [CSI</a> College Student Insurance Home](<a href=“http://www.collegestudentinsurance.com/]CSI”>http://www.collegestudentinsurance.com/). Quite happy with the cost - under $150 a year for $5k worth of replacement insurance.</p>
<p>Our insurance company told us NOT to purchase additional insurance – as long as our S lives in a dorm, his things are covered as if he lived at home. I think the laptop coverage on our policy is limited to $2500 – which would more than cover a new one if something happened to his current laptop.</p>
<p>Also, check your credit cards. Some have a 90-day no Qs asked insurance covering your items purchased from loss, theft, accidents, you name it. We have used this a few times when kids did things like having their glasses fall into the ocean & get washed out to sea, washing their retainers in the washer & dryer, and COULD have used it to claim for the charger D lost when she went visiting friends over Spring Break (forgot to make claim until too late).</p>
<p>So far, we have never purchased any policy covering our kids & just tell them to watch their stuff. S did have a phone stolen so we sent him an old one as a temporary replacement & over the summer he repaired two broken phones to make one “good” one, which he has used since. Their laptops are covered for mfgrs defects for 3 years (for S) & 2 years for D (hers is one year HP & 2nd year AmEx). He has tried using the warranty service several times for his laptop problems–1st year was Sony, 2nd year was Costco, 3rd year is credit card. He’s hoping that given the history credit card company (AmEx) will say laptop is not repairable & just credit back our account for the full purchase price. They have written that recommendation in the records but we will have to see what happens after Sony has a chance to provide an estimate.</p>
<p>My folks are having their desktop HP sent back to HP for free warranty servicing (it’s 2 years old) under HP & Costco Concierge service. After it passes the 2 year mark, it will be covered for an additional year by AmEx. </p>
<p>In general, we never buy insurance for things we feel we should be responsible for and can absorb the loss (or do without), but that’s just us. Have not checked whether anything would be covered by our insurance as so far S’s phone & D’s charger have been the only two casualties. Everything else is being done under warranty.</p>
<p>Before purchasing any insurance, be SURE you know exactly what the terms are, deductibles, whether you’re getting replacement cost or there will be depreciation from the time you purchased the original item, etc. We’ve always found the deductibles for cell phone policies rather defeat the purpose of having insurance (but then we’ve always gone for free phones).</p>
<p>The difference between CSI (which we bought) and our homeowners insurance is that CSI covers accidental damage - my d checked her laptop in her luggage rather than carrying it on. Needless to say, it was broken. CSI covered it while homeowners wouldn’t have. It also covered a stolen camera at replacement cost rather than depreciated cost as would homeowners.</p>
<p>I bought it because I could see the ever popular “coffee in the keyboard” incident with her laptop, or the “roommate borrowed my expensive Northface and ruined it” incident. I’m very glad I had it.</p>
<p>Please remember that most homeowners’ insurance policies don’t cover damage from misuse or accident. Homeowners’ polices will typically only replace an item if it is lost or stolen (usually after obtaining a police report to evidence the loss).</p>
<p>I’m talking about a personal articles policy (PAP) that does cover accidental damage. It is billed separately from the main policy and has no deductible. You send the company receipts showing the value of the items and the premium is based on that value. It is the same type of policy that is used for expensive jewelry, gold coins, and other things that have only limited coverage in the underlying policy. Of course, insurance companies vary with regard to the type of coverage offered in these riders. I have State Farm and am only relating the type of coverage that they offer.</p>
<p>Edited to add - The proper name is Personal Articles Policy - nor Rider so I changed the above. It is actually a separate policy, but most companies won’t write it unless you have your homeowner’s insurance with them.</p>
<p>We have NSSI. Our homeowners company could not beat the combination of the price, the coverage and the deductible. For accidental damage or loss of a laptop, camera, iphone, the coverage was unmatched. It covers the computer dor damage due to dropping, liquid spills. It covers the stuff in the car, on a trip. </p>
<p><a href=“http://www.nssi.com/[/url]”>http://www.nssi.com/</a></p>