Do you have insurance for your mobile?

zuzuspetals

In 13 years I've never lost, broken or had a mobile stolen. I've got a samsung galaxy s3 on its way to me and I'm thinking I might insure this one. I've never had mobile insurance before and think I would prefer it seperate to my house insurance.

There are a few companies out there but I wondered if anybody uses one that they would recommend? I've heard bad things about protectyourbubble

Thanks

gjchester

zuzuspetals wrote: »

I've never had mobile insurance before and think I would prefer it seperate to my house insurance.

Thanks

I'd really suggest you put it on your house contents, many people have all risks already, so it won't cost anything else (maybe a processing fee) to add it.

chanz4

Why do you think you will break it, whats changed? I self insure, put the money aside each month

zuzuspetals

I'm more worried about breaking/losing or having this phone stolen because it is more valuable than any other phone I've had before!

I read that home insurance providers are slower to sort out claims for mobiles and that there can be a large excess. Also, if I had to make a claim it might affect the price of my contents insurance the following year.

Mat_Lock

Comes as part of my Halifax Ultimate Reward Account. But I've never lost or damaged a phone ever

MarkBargain

Bear in mind the value of the phone will drop dramatically, so I doubt it's worth the money in premiums to cover it specifically. Just get house contents insurance to cover it.

Bingolingo

I have insurance through the retailer I bought the phone from.

It's expensive but I have an expensive phone and, in the space of 3 months, have already had to claim. The cover's been good for me as it was literally a couple of days from making the claim (very simple and quick) that I received my replacement phone. The replacement was absolutely perfect and my accessories were replaced with new accessories.

I'm not sure I'll keep it up for much longer and will probably switch to http://www.helpucover.co.uk/product/gadget-mobile-phone/ soon as, with the phone getting older, I'm less fussed about a perfect like for like replacement.

Things to remember:

Know the LIMITS of your insurance so you can figure out if it's suitable. - i.e. accidental damage apart from when caused by immersion in liquid; theft - apart from unattended in a public place etc. No more than ONE claim for theft per 12 month period, no more than 2 claims per rolling 12 month period etc. NO CLAIMS in 1st 14 days of cover etc.

Be VERY aware of the claims process and time constraints. Some bank account policies require a claim to be made within 48hrs. That's OK but factor in getting a crime ref number if you're making a theft claim. If you miss a deadline the insurer will most likely not pay out. Network insurance is better for this (i.e. make a claim in store and get a decision in store) but you pay much more.

Think about whether or not you would be happy receiving a replacement which is not 'as new' (no insurer will give a brand new replacement) i.e. may be a different colour or have some obvious marks from prior use.

Excess - what is it? Is there an extra excess to pay if you make a claim in the 1st 3 months?


There's no substitute for reading the Ts & Cs.

easy

I was looking at this a few weeks ago, as I have an S2 (current replacement value about £320), my son now has a £90 HTC smartphone and a £150 samsung tablet, so I was thinking of insurance for all of them. Best option I could find was a policy which would cost £9.99 per month, and examining the terms, I figured they would find a way of weaseling out of paying most claims.

I happen to have a building society account which has lain unused for a while with £130 in it - an 'emergency fund'. So I have decided to put £10 per month into that as my 'gadget insurance fund' instead. If nothing happens to any of our kit, I'll be £120 up on the deal. If my son's phone or tablet gets broken or stolen, we already have the means to replace one or other of them (mind you, I would be having a stern word with him first, and probably make him put some money up towards the replacement).
If my S2 has a problem, there will be enough to pay for a repair, or if it can't be repaired or is stolen, I'll have to make do with a cheaper phone - tough, that's life.

But really, I thought hard about it, and came to the conclusion that specialist gadget insurance isn't worth the money.

Oh, just to add, I've had my S2 for a year now, and I must say that I do look after it far more carefully than I did my previous dumbphones - I am just naturally more aware of it (mind you, I really like it!), so I don't consider myself particularly at risk of losing it, or carelessly letting it get broken.

MillicentBystander

The insurance industry make their dosh out of people who fear what in all sane and sensible probability won't happen actually does happen. I guess the lesson is don't buy a non-essential item that costs so much that it not only adds extra costs in the form of insurance but also extra stress in the form of fear of losing it to someone who covets it. In other words, in my very humble opinion, if you feel the necessity to insure an item as frivolous as a consumer electronic it's not really worth purchasing it in the first place. Again, imo, something like a smartphone should be fun and if your fear of losing/breaking it is great enough to force you to pay massively over the odds of probability by insuring it I do question the wisdom of the purchase.

MBS - proud owner of a £66 Huawei G300

Herongull

MillicentBystander wrote: »

The insurance industry make their dosh out of people who fear what in all sane and sensible probability won't happen actually does happen. I guess the lesson is don't buy a non-essential item that costs so much that it not only adds extra costs in the form of insurance but also extra stress in the form of fear of losing it to someone who covets it. In other words, in my very humble opinion, if you feel the necessity to insure an item as frivolous as a consumer electronic it's not really worth purchasing it in the first place. Again, imo, something like a smartphone should be fun and if your fear of losing/breaking it is great enough to force you to pay massively over the odds of probability by insuring it I do question the wisdom of the purchase.

MBS - proud owner of a £66 Huawei G300

I couldn't agree more! You can get really nice android phones for almost nothing if you look around.

There was a deal on Orange San Francisco II a month or so ago. About £50 for the phone and some good quality "free" headphones and around £10 cashback, making the cost of the phone itself less than £20.

The SF II and also the T-mobile Vivacity are really ZTE Crescents with some mobile company bloatware. You can unlock them yourself and if you root them and upgrade the rom (removing the bloatware in the process) you have a great phone for almost nothing.

I can't understand why people pay an absolute fortune for a phone that puts you at risk of being mugged and thereby creating lots of stress and anxiety whenever you use it outside the home.

There is also the risk of the phone getting broken, and in any case, it will out of date in 12 months time as some other phone will be the latest "must have".

I'd hate to lose my Crescent as I love it, but at least it would be cheap to replace if anything did happen.

Bingolingo

@Millicent
@Heron

Of course there's no point insuring a budget handset but I think the point of the OP's post was that he's now carrying the best part of £500 worth of smartphone in his pocket and everywhere he goes.

Insurance is a personal choice additional to the ownership of a phone. And he's already made the decision to buy an S3 so....

Thanks for your opinions on the ownership of expensive phones.