What type of insurance am I looking for?

Factual Questions
1

So I’m a little unwise in the ways of the insurance industry and I’m looking around for coverage but I’m unsure what I should be looking for.

I’m a student from the UK currently living in Denmark and I only really have two expensive objects. My Laptop and my phone. Is it possible to get insurance for only two items, if so can anyone tell me what the terminology I should be searching for is?

Household insurance seems like a little overkill…

Thanks for any help you can give me.

2

Remember that replacing an accumulation of inexpensive items can be really expensive: I have a nice wardrobe of work clothes that I bought at thrift stores. I probably spent $100 on the whole set. But if my house burned down, it would cost me closer to $1000 to assemble a comparable wardrobe in a weekend: the thrift store thing only works when you go once a week and spend 2 hours finding 3 pairs of pants. The same for furniture: Our mattress and our kitchen table are the only things we actually bought new, but the rest is made up of fifteen years of gradual accumulation. If it burned up, it would cost a lot more–thousands–to replace it all at once. So don’t think about what you paid for your possessions, think what it would cost to go out in a weekend and replace all of them. Put that way, household insurance makes more sense–at least it does here in the states, where it is very, very inexpensive.

3

I don’t know what the insurances (assurances) are called in Europe, but there are a couple of options:

  • When you buy something expensive like a laptop, you can often purchase an extended warranty that includes theft. If you’ve purchased them recently, you could look into that.
  • I’m assuming that you are renting some sort of apartment/flat? In that case, there should be some sort of renter’s insurance that would cover all your possessions, and isn’t very expensive. (Again, I don’t know what the technical term is for this in Europe, it’s called
    “renter’s insurance” in the US.) Perhaps that’s what you mean by “household” insurance, but you don’t want to cover the house itself if you don’t own it or have responsibility for it. You just want coverage for the possessions/objects.

You can almost certainly buy individual insurances for each item, but it will frankly be more expensive than renter’s insurance, for less coverage. (If you walk into an insurance company and only want to buy insurance for one expensive item, they will be very suspicious, and the rates will be way higher because it’s unusual.)

4

It’s true that replacing all my stuff would cost quite a lot, but I don’t have much with me - I’m only here temporarily with most of my stuff being at my mum’s house in the UK. But I know while I’m here my stuff isn’t covered under her insurance.

I’ve checked out individual insurance for my phone but it seems unreasonable expensive (£10-15 a month). So I’ll have to check out whether a custom, limited policy costs more then a generic one.

I’m currently staying with my girlfriend who has her own total insurance. I really just want my laptop and phone protected against theft, loss and accidental damage when I’m carrying them around. I thought it might be a common situation so there were policies aimed at customers like me.

Thanks for the help!

5

Renter’s insurance might not cover the items if stolen or lost outside your home. Double check on that. Usually, renter’s insurance covers damages or theft which occurred in your (presumably rented) residence. Your automobile insurance may well cover having it stolen from your car, if you have one. Covering a mobile item like a laptop or cell phone against theft or loss in public places entails a good bit more risk for the insurer, and the premiums are likely to be relatively high compared to the value of the item. As others have noted, renter’s insurance is cheap, at least in the US.

6

I recommend talking to your mother’s insurance provider. Even if the coverage doesn’t extend to your temporary residence, you might be able to get a rider that does.

7

Thanks everybody, I’m looking into it what you’ve said.