Worth claiming laptop repair on accidental damage insurance?

gendav

Hi everyone, I have a laptop that got damaged after squash was spilt on it. My insurance agreed to send it off for repair/replacement. It was a macbook early 2015 model worth around £650 max now. I was told it was repairable and it would cost 520 for the main repair plus 60 to replace the battery as it wasn't in good condition. My excess is 350 and I can choose to take the cash. Is it worth going through insurance to do this? Or does claiming on accidental damage put your insurance up a lot?

MalMonroe

This reminds me of one of those old maths problems at school. How I hated them! For me it wouldn't be worth repairing that laptop when it's only worth £650.  You could take the cash, would it be £230? But as you say your insurance premiums would probably increase. By how much I don't know. 

That really is a high excess though, you can get much more reasonable insurance policies for Macs. The excess on my £5500 car is only £100. It might be worth shopping around a bit next time. 

If it were me I'd swallow the loss, not claim and either pay for the repair and battery myself or buy something a bit cheaper.  Accidents do happen but that excess is prohibitively high - that's just in my opinion, though, of course.

gendav

Thanks for the reply! The only reason I was a bit unsure is I have never claimed anything on insurance before so not sure if claiming this would actually be worse in the long run. I guess its difficult to know!

AnotherJoe

My experience of smallish claims like this is that your rates get increased and then even if you move insurers you have 5 years of answering yes to the "have you made any claims in the last 5 years"  and no doubt getting penalised each time and so they will get their money back off you that they passed out initially.

At that level of loss given the large excess I'd be thinking the universe wanted me to buy a new Macbook. The new Apple chipped ones are getting rave reviews. Xmas is coming up. Treat yourself.You've got a head start of maybe £500 to put towards a new one from not having to pay increased premiums over the next 5 years.

Sandtree

Is your policy not new for old? If you were to claim why wouldnt you have it repaired instead of taking a cash settlement? If they decide its unrepairable and you’ve new for old then its current market value is irrelevant.

Impacts on premiums tend to be a percentage rather than an absolute amount so “is it worth it” will depend a little on what your current premiums look like. 

The other issue... you’ve already made a claim as you say the insurers sent it off; you need to check with them if you now withdraw the claim does it still count as a claim against your insurance, in some cases it will in which case the boat has sailed on the decision of if to claim or not.

Penelopa.Pitstop

Is it contents insurance? You already told insurer about the damage and opened the claim. Whether you fix it or not, your premium will go up for couple of years. Considering £350 excess, I don't think it was worth claiming, because you will probably pay more for insurance in next couple of years, than actual repair will cost.
You can ask them to repair it now,since it's too late for any other decisions. At least you will get new battery and some other hardware.

gendav

My insurance company told me it would show as an 'incident't and not a claim since I have not gone through with it. Do the 'incidents' also increase the cost of ensure.

Thrugelmir

Sounds as if the battery is a replacement not a repair as is salvageable. 

elle_may

My daughter had her Mac laptop in her bag and her lunch, which was a tub of beans of course the lid came off and seeped into laptop. As it was a few months old and cost £1000 and she was at uni and needed a good one. We claimed on accidental and after a few laughs with assessor, he had not heard that before, we sent it away and it was repaired. They asked us before if this is what we wanted as she had not backed up recent  few days and it was important. 
 Anyway we were told if they repaired it they would give us 6mths warranty to see if it was good and if not they would replace it under new for old. It was fine. As for  premiums  only £5 increase with them next year. 

EdGasketTheSecond

No point having insurance if you don't claim. I'd say claim and be more careful in future. I doubt your insurance will go up by anything like £230.

gendav

Thanks for the advice everyone, maybe Ill just claim and be more careful next time!