Three surprising reasons why contents insurance is important for students

If you’re a student, you might not think you need contents insurance. You’re just flatting, you don’t have that much stuff, and how likely are you really to lose it all in a fire – right?  

At MAS, we encourage all students and flatters to look into getting contents insurance. We’ve seen students claim for all the classics – phones, laptops and bikes are the most common items that are lost or damaged – but we’ve also paid out for snapped javelins, lost stethoscopes, and even a spa pool that was somehow stolen from a flat. These can be costly to replace so it's good to know you can list a specified item where your Electronic & Sports equipment (e.g phones & laptops) is above the $5k per item limit or the $8k per item limit on bikes. 

There are a few surprising things you might not know MAS contents insurance will cover, which could save you a whole lot of stress and cash.

We provide new replacements for your lost or damaged items 

By a long shot, the most common thing students claim for on their contents cover is cellphones. Lost, stolen, dropped, stood on, gone through the washing machine, submerged in curry (yes, that’s from a real claim) – if you can think of a way to damage or misplace a phone, we’ve seen it.  

One of the best things about having your contents insurance with MAS is that our contents cover is ‘new for old’. This means if your phone can’t be repaired, we’ll replace it with the nearest equivalent item available that’s substantially the same as your phone was when it was new.  

If you don’t have this kind of contents insurance, your insurer will only pay out your phone’s current market cost – which, if you’re still rocking a good old iPhone 6, won’t be a lot.  

There’s no excess on personal health items 

We don’t charge an excess on personal health items, and claiming for these also won’t affect your no claims bonus. This policy includes things like contact lenses, prescription glasses and sunglasses, and hearing aids, as well as orthotics, knee braces, dentures, walking sticks and wheelchairs, all of which can be pretty expensive to replace if they’re not covered by insurance. 

Glasses top the claims in this category, and if you’re someone who wears them every day you’ll understand why it’s so important that you can replace them quickly if they’re lost or damaged.  

The same policy applies to locks and keys, including access cards, if they’re lost, damaged or stolen. So if you’re locked out of the flat, don’t stress too much – MAS won’t charge you any excess if you need to pay for replacing your lock and keys, and your no claims bonus won’t be affected.  

We cover legal liability for accidental property damage  

MAS contents insurance policies also include cover for your legal liability if you cause accidental loss to the property of others. This means if you’re flatting and accidentally damage the place, (or if you’re house sitting for a friend and accidentally start a house fire, as we saw in a recent claim from a student), you have up to $10,000,000 of cover available towards that property damage.  

It’s important to remember that this policy only covers accidental damage, so if you intentionally damaged your or someone else’s property, you won’t be covered.  

If you’re a student, flatting or renting, find out more about why MAS contents insurance is right for you.