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Mobile Phone Insurance



Chinman3000

Well-known member
Sep 28, 2011
1,267
As delivery of my iPhone 6 nears I have been thinking about insurance.

I have never lost or broken any of my previous phones and therefore dont believe it is necessary.

My question is though, whats to stop you from taking out insurance IF/ONCE you lose / break / have it stolen?

Do the companies have any way to prevent this? Im sure they dont need to see the phone first?!
 






Gazwag

5 millionth post poster
Mar 4, 2004
30,093
Bexhill-on-Sea
As delivery of my iPhone 6 nears I have been thinking about insurance.

I have never lost or broken any of my previous phones and therefore dont believe it is necessary.

My question is though, whats to stop you from taking out insurance IF/ONCE you lose / break / have it stolen?

Do the companies have any way to prevent this? Im sure they dont need to see the phone first?!

I would imagine, as you have to tell them the IMIE (or whatever the acronym is) number they can easily check with your provider how long you have had the phone and would probably be suspicious if you have had the phone six months and just happen to pay for the insurance the exact time you dropped it down the toilet.

Most bank accounts insure phones nowadays, assuming they have been registered with the bank.
 


mwrpoole

Well-known member
Sep 10, 2010
1,504
Sevenoaks
I recently took out insurance and had a look around to see what's on offer. All of the one's I looked at had a 14 or 21 day no claim period, so you take the policy out and you can't make a claim during that initial period. That probably goes some way to covering the potential 'fraudulent' claim.

They all had quite hefty 'excess' charges. I can use my household insurance but again an excess applies. Also many of them didn't cover 'loss' but only theft. 'Loss' could be added but at an additional cost.

I opted eventually for an Amex personal possessions policy. Its £12.99 per month but I can register as many phones, ipads, watches, jewellery etc as I wish. Cover is up to value of £1500 and there's no excess. Accidental damage & repair is also covered. Only limit is 3 claims per year. My main purpose was to insure 2 IPhones, as they are 'leased' from O2 rather than being on contract and have to be returned after 12 months, any damage is assessed and charged back. This scared me a bit hence the insurance. The fact that Ipad's the kids have are covered as well as my watches was a real bonus.
 








Colossal Squid

Returning video tapes
Feb 11, 2010
4,906
Under the sea
I had always been of the same opinion. Never needed it in the past because I'm generally very careful with my phone, but figured if the worst came to the worst I could just take out a policy, give it a few weeks, and then make a claim.

Frustratingly my beloved HTC One M8 developed a crack in the screen recently through no fault of my own. It was just having a charge and suddenly cracked. Looked it up online and apparently this isn't an entirely rare occurrence but of course HTC won't go anywhere near it, insisting there's no problem and that any screen damage that occurs must be the fault of the user.

Looked into the insurance thing and discovered that you generally have to have only recently purchased a phone for it to be eligible for a policy. Presumably this is the most effective way of weeding out the rogues like me.

I imagine if you take out home contents insurance however, it'd be allowed. Similarly if you get one of these bank accounts that includes insurance I can't imagine there'd be a restriction on the age of your handset.

As for me, I can either pay HTC £180 to fix their own faulty handset or a guy in the local mobile unlocking shop says he can do it for £80. Obviously of the two choices it's a no brainer but I'm still livid I'm expected to sort this myself and I've a good mind to fix it then sell it and instead buy a different phone. Trouble is ANY other phone right now would be a downgrade, so I'm stuck waiting for somebody to come along and release the new best phone ever
 




Creaky

Well-known member
Mar 26, 2013
3,834
Hookwood - Nr Horley
As delivery of my iPhone 6 nears I have been thinking about insurance.

I have never lost or broken any of my previous phones and therefore dont believe it is necessary.

My question is though, whats to stop you from taking out insurance IF/ONCE you lose / break / have it stolen?

Do the companies have any way to prevent this? Im sure they dont need to see the phone first?!

Errr? - Your conscience ???
 


edna krabappel

Well-known member
NSC Patreon
Jul 7, 2003
47,228






D

Deleted User X18H

Guest
I recently took out insurance and had a look around to see what's on offer. All of the one's I looked at had a 14 or 21 day no claim period, so you take the policy out and you can't make a claim during that initial period. That probably goes some way to covering the potential 'fraudulent' claim.

They all had quite hefty 'excess' charges. I can use my household insurance but again an excess applies. Also many of them didn't cover 'loss' but only theft. 'Loss' could be added but at an additional cost.

I opted eventually for an Amex personal possessions policy. Its £12.99 per month but I can register as many phones, ipads, watches, jewellery etc as I wish. Cover is up to value of £1500 and there's no excess. Accidental damage & repair is also covered. Only limit is 3 claims per year. My main purpose was to insure 2 IPhones, as they are 'leased' from O2 rather than being on contract and have to be returned after 12 months, any damage is assessed and charged back. This scared me a bit hence the insurance. The fact that Ipad's the kids have are covered as well as my watches was a real bonus.
The no claim period is generally a franchise. A specialist broker could arrange temporary cover diene this period for a fortuitous loss.
 




Paul Reids Sock

Well-known member
Nov 3, 2004
4,458
Paul Reids boot
My home insurance is through kwikfit and they added gadget insurance for about £1.40 a month. If I claim (which I have had to a few times for the mrs) then the excess is only £15. It covers all damages, loss and theft.

As a side note it doesn't impact on my home insurance if I claim and keep a no claims on it
 





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