A third of students fail to insure their belongings

A third of students fail to insure their belongings despite taking possessions worth more than £3,500 with them to university, a survey showed.

The average student has belongings worth £3,548 in their university accommodation, with the total pushed up by the large number of students with high value items such as laptops, iPods, digital cameras, televisions and DVD players.

But despite the high value of their possessions, 34% of students admitted they did not have home insurance to cover them, and 10% said they were not sure if they were insured or not, according to Sainsbury's Bank.

The group warned that with up to four people often sharing the same house, student properties provided rich picking for burglars, making students vulnerable to break-ins.

Ben Tyte, manager of Sainsbury's Home Insurance, said: "With an estimated one in three students falling victim to some sort of crime each year, it's worrying that so many students go off to university without any insurance cover in place for their possessions.

"However, before splashing out on insurance, students should certainly check to see if their parents' household contents insurance policy might provide cover whilst they're studying away from the family home, and also to check that this cover will be adequate should they need to make a claim."

The survey found that students at universities in the South West had the most expensive possessions at an average value of £5,122, while those in the South East had the lowest value at £2,669.

People studying in London were the least likely to have their belongings insured, with 48% admitting they did not have any home contents cover.