Back-to-school is here! Many students are leaving the family nest and moving into a new apartment. Are you one of them? If so, have you thought about getting insurance coverage that’s suited to your needs? Assurances Groupe Vézina invites you to take a quick look to see what your needs might be.

You may be covered under your parents’ Home insurance policy

Are you temporarily leaving home to be a full-time college or university student? If so, you may be covered under your parents’ Home insurance policy. Nevertheless, ask your parents to check their coverage with their insurance broker. The student coverage offered by certain insurers is sometimes limited to students up to age 18.

Normally, your property coverage amount should correspond to 10% of the insurance amount provided under your parents’ policy. For example, if their contract indicates a $50,000 insurance amount, your property will be insured for a total value of $5,000 in the event of a loss. Is all your property worth more than that? Your parents can increase their coverage. As well, your parents’ insurance, which also applies to you while you’re a student, should include Civil Liability coverage. It’s very useful in the event of unintentional bodily injury or accidental damage to someone else’s property.

Home insurance for tenants

If you are not covered under your parents’ insurance contract, you will need to take out your own insurance to protect your property in the event of theft, fire, water damage or vandalism, etc. It has the added benefit of including Civil Liability insurance.

Obtaining Home insurance is important. If you’re not convinced, calculate how much it would cost you to replace all your property items: dishes, clothing, food, furniture, computer, textbooks, etc. Also consider the damage to the property of other tenants if you accidentally started a fire or caused water damage. You’d be in a financial pickle, wouldn’t you? That would limit your spending for quite some time!

To calculate the amount of coverage you need, you should ideally take the replacement value of your items into account (not their current value), since most insurers include a Replacement Value endorsement. This means that, in the event of a loss, your property would be replaced by new items.

Finally, if you have one or more roommates, you must inform your insurer and have the names of everyone living with you recorded in your contract.