Cheapest universities for insurance: some pay £1,000 more

Students in London are lumbered with £1,000 more in insurance costs than the cheapest university locations to insure contents and cars, according to research

By Kate Palmer

There is a financial sting for students in London universities, who will be paying a £1,000 premium to insure their belongings when they are studying.

The cheapest universities to insure your goods – including a car and home contents – are St Andrews in Scotland, the University of Exeter in Devon and Bath University in Somerset, according to research by Moneysupermarket.

Insuring a car in St Andrews, for instance, costs £683 for the average 19 to 21 year-old who is lucky enough to own a car. For a student at UCL (£1,553) or Imperial (£1,742) the cost is considerably more.

Even to insure every day items like a laptop, mobile phone and other contents, London students pay around £80 more each year.

This is reflected in local crime rates, where thefts are more than four times as likely in London than in St Andrews (see table, below).

West country universities Exeter and Bath also boast the cheapest rates for insurance. In Bath, an average fresher can insure a car for £680 and their contents for £130.

- The UK's 10 ten cheapest universities based on living costs, accomodation and insurance

Cambridge University is the cheapest British university by accommodation costs, which Moneysupermarket's research also covered.

A Cambridge student pays just £100 a week on student halls. The priciest accommodation is available at UCL, where halls cost £255 a week.




Source: Telegraph