Insurance for new 50 inch plasma TV....

princess_kassidy

Hiya, Im wondering if anyone has any knowledge on TV insurance please?! We have just bought a Panasonic 50 inch plasma from Comet for £599 and were offered 5 year warranty cover for an additional £169.99...we have signed up for it with the option to canx within 30 days. I have been looking online to check out other prices but havent had much luck! We do want some kind of cover as we have no contents insurance and have 2 kids under 3 so the chances of accidental damage are somewhat higher than most!! Any advice or experiences would be very much appreciated!! Thankyou muchly!

iamana1ias

Why on earth would you not have contents insurance? Could you afford to replace everything you own if you lost it?

iamana1ias

Can't imagine the warranty would actually cover accidental damage.

PNPSUKNET

only about £160 a year for contents insurance, inc accidental damage to portables.

dunstonh

If you bought 5 things from Currys costing say £500 each, then thats £2500. Chances are one may have a short life but the rest will go on years.

28% of the cost (using your figures) goes on extended warranty for 5 years. So, 28% of £2500 is £700. By not paying for extended warranty, you have £700 extra in the bank which you earn interest on. If one thing does fail in the first 5 years you are still £200 better off, plus interest, plus the fact that most electrical items go out of date quickly and replacements are cheaper (i.e. in 3 years time the cost of the same TV will be about £400).

Extended warranties are largely a waste of money.

princess_kassidy

Ok, well we have never really had much worth insuring before to be honest and we have seperate buildings insurance. Im aware contents insurance is very reasonable and this is something we are going to do. Although a contents insurance might cover us for theft it will not cover the TV if there is a problem such as screen burn outside the usual manufacturers 1 year warrenty or if one of the kids scrapes a small toy across it etc etc...i was really just wondering if anyone else had compared prices with online insurers or if anyone had had any experiences with warrenties from stores like Comet....thankyou

dwsjarcmcd

dunstonh wrote: »

If you bought 5 things from Currys costing say £500 each, then thats £2500. Chances are one may have a short life but the rest will go on years.

28% of the cost (using your figures) goes on extended warranty for 5 years. So, 28% of £2500 is £700. By not paying for extended warranty, you have £700 extra in the bank which you earn interest on. If one thing does fail in the first 5 years you are still £200 better off, plus interest, plus the fact that most electrical items go out of date quickly and replacements are cheaper (i.e. in 3 years time the cost of the same TV will be about £400).

Extended warranties are largely a waste of money.

Couldn't agree more! Get some contents insurance, it will be much better value anyway

Edit to say include Accidental Damage and it will cover kids damaging it

iamana1ias

princess_kassidy wrote: »

contents insurance might cover us for theft it will not cover the TV if there is a problem such as screen burn outside the usual manufacturers 1 year warrenty or if one of the kids scrapes a small toy across it etc etc...

Have you thought of putting it out of the childrens' reach or keeping them away from it?

princess_kassidy

Thankyou Dunstonh, I did suspect that it was largley a profit making machine but they really know how to play on your weaknesses in these places!

princess_kassidy

Thankyou Iamana1ias but as I said before i am after sound advice/experience with regards to insurance products nothing else

dacouch

princess_kassidy wrote: »

Ok, well we have never really had much worth insuring before to be honest and we have seperate buildings insurance. Im aware contents insurance is very reasonable and this is something we are going to do. Although a contents insurance might cover us for theft it will not cover the TV if there is a problem such as screen burn outside the usual manufacturers 1 year warrenty or if one of the kids scrapes a small toy across it etc etc...i was really just wondering if anyone else had compared prices with online insurers or if anyone had had any experiences with warrenties from stores like Comet....thankyou

The salesman has very strict targets to sell the Whatever happens.

It does not cover your child scratching it, it sounds like he gave you the kid scratching it and the screen burn as examples of what it covers. If he did he has wrongly advised you as scratching is specifically excluded.

The Whatever happens product is not an Insurance backed product, they basically put some of the amount you pay into a trust fund to pay the claims. If they run out of money to pay the claims then you would have to rely on Currys topping it up which is not guaranteed. It is not regulated by the FSA, you do not have the benefit of the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (Which covers regulated firms should they go bankrupt) and you don't have the benefit of the Financial Ombudsman should you not be happy with a claim.

An Insurance backed product is regulated by the FSA, you have the benefit of the Financial Services Compensation Scheme, you have a proper system of making an official complaint. Should you not be happy with this you can then take it on to the Financial Ombudsman. The Insurance Company have to ensure that at all times they have sufficient funds to pay claims (This is checked by the FSA).

Dunstonh has produced a good calculation on the costs of a warranty, personally if you have no contents cover I personally would recommend that taking out a contents insurance policy would be better for you overall in that it will cover your contents not just the TV. Obviously a contents policy does not cover mechanical breakdown but you have some protection under the consumer laws

Currys have chosen not to go down the route of a proper insurance backed product to maximise their profits. My opinion would also be it's also so their staff are not bound by the same regulation when selling a product that someone who is regulated by the FSA is.