Hi, I’m Mark Goodwin. And one of the questions we often get this time of year is how to ensure your child’s belongings when they’re headed off to college, maybe to live in a dorm room and you just bought them an expensive laptop computer, printer. And you’re worried about what happens if that item gets stolen, vandalized, or if there is a fire. Well, the way we cover those items is if you have a renter’s policy or a homeowner insurance policy and your child lives with you, then coverage extends from that policy to the belongings they have in a dorm. Typically, it’s 10% of the amount of insurance that you have on your contents at home. So let’s say you have $200,000 of coverage. Then $20,000 would extend to your child who’s at the dorm. If they have some expensive items there, like maybe jewelry or sporting equipment or musical instruments then we may want to talk about specifically ensuring an item like that.
Now, let’s say your child leaves their stuff in the dorm, and they go abroad for a period of time, or maybe they come home for a period of time. If it’s more than 45 days that they’re not living in the dorm then your policy is going to stop providing coverage. So you would need to look for a rental facility to put those items in, or just bring them back home to where you live until your child is back in the dorm.
Let’s say your child decides they’re going to rent an apartment or a house off campus. A lot of times that landlord is going to require that they get a renter’s insurance policy. We can certainly help set that up, it’s not expensive. $15 a month, roughly is going to provide what is needed. In addition to covering their contents it’s also going to provide liability protection for the premises there. So if there’s a slip and fall or something like that, and somebody gets hurt that policy has bodily injury liability as part of it that would apply in that situation.
So hopefully that answers your question about what to do in that case. We’re always here to answer your questions. 740-387-8335. Or you can email service@egoodwininsurance.com.
Call eGoodwin Insurance in Marion OH at (740) 387-8335
