Insuring Gadgets

[DTMark]

I've seen the TV adverts for "protectyourbubble.com" and at that time I thought that:

1. The policies must be so full of clauses as to be useless, or

2. The policies would be so expensive as to not be worth bothering with, or

3. The company would be bankrupt soon

.. since there's a fad for the latest thing, it would seem very easy to claim for loss, get paid out, and move on to the next new gadget.

I'm about to buy an expensive mobile phone outright and I'd hate to lose it or damage it. Then I thought about that advert..

To insure an iPhone 5C 16GB including loss is £90/year.

I am tempted to go for the policy but I haven't spent hours reading through it all. It looks quite straightforward.

Does anyone have one of these policies or something similar?

Is it "too good to be true"? (if you call £90 good..)

[Deft]

Got to be cheaper adding it on your contents insurance surely? Rule of thumb is around 1% of item cost per year. That's roughly what it is for my wife's engagement ring.

[onlyme2]

Got to be cheaper adding it on your contents insurance surely? Rule of thumb is around 1% of item cost per year. That's roughly what it is for my wife's engagement ring.

Plus make sure you protect the phone from obvious damage causing events. A decent case - something like an otterbox and none of this cracked screen nonsense.

[erat_forte]

Got to be cheaper adding it on your contents insurance surely? Rule of thumb is around 1% of item cost per year. That's roughly what it is for my wife's engagement ring.

I thought the rule of thumb was, can you afford to replace it out of your own pocket? If yes, self-insure.

[LiveinHope]

Only insurance I have is car insurance and third party for myself when on a horse.

Paying out for insurance in case I lose/break or have something stolen doesn't appeal and underwriting others' risk really doesn't appeal.

[justthisbloke]

Insurance is a bet. What makes you think you'll win against the house?

And if you were to claim and get win, how much will that increase the premia you pay for other bigger insurance contacts you have or may need?

I've sometimes wondered if it would be in an insurance company's interests to use small item contacts as a loss leader to sense individuals willingness to claim (or carelessness). They could afford to lose a few 500 pound bets if they tweaked the 250,000 pound household bets based on the info. However, 90 quid ain't no loss leader - I pay not much more than that to insure a thirty grand car fully comp. So my conspiracy theory bites the dust.

[DTMark]

I thought the rule of thumb was, can you afford to replace it out of your own pocket? If yes, self-insure.

If it came to it, I doubt I'd fork out all that money on another one, I'd go back to the one I have now. Would be a bit of a shame though..

Insurance is a bet. What makes you think you'll win against the house?

I managed to drop my tablet computer thing and it fell onto concrete and the display got smashed.

I also dropped a previous mobile phone although it only put a small dent in the corner, but could have been worse.

I plan on keeping the phone for years/as long as the buttons and battery hold out, at least.

And I think this is the "cheap" plastic iPhone not the more sturdily built one.

[The Generation Game]

Only insurance I have is car insurance and third party for myself when on a horse.

Paying out for insurance in case I lose/break or have something stolen doesn't appeal and underwriting others' risk really doesn't appeal.

Sounds like me talking to the salesman in the mobile phone shop.

"I don't do non-compulsory insurance as I assume that the actuary has correctly assessed the risk and I don't have overheads / profit margin to consider."

[OnionTerror]

If it came to it, I doubt I'd fork out all that money on another one, I'd go back to the one I have now. Would be a bit of a shame though..

I managed to drop my tablet computer thing and it fell onto concrete and the display got smashed.

I also dropped a previous mobile phone although it only put a small dent in the corner, but could have been worse.

I plan on keeping the phone for years/as long as the buttons and battery hold out, at least.

And I think this is the "cheap" plastic iPhone not the more sturdily built one.

Its roughly £380 to replace an iPad Air screen via Apple..

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-26191956 8 hours to replace an ipad 2 screen..and its a complete faff...they make it obtusely difficult, so you have to go back to the manufacturer to get it fixed.

Squaretrade offer a two year warranty for £99 http://www.squaretrade.co.uk/uk-iphone

You may well find that if you think you're covered by your house insurance, that you have a massive excess, so it gets to the point that it isn't worthwhile..

[LiveinHope]

I plan on keeping the phone for years/as long as the buttons and battery hold out, at least.

So, when the amount you have paid on insurance exceeds the cost to buy a new phone, will you still keep paying insurance ?

[QP1]

Doesn't the iPhone have "Find my phone" (check the GPS location via the web) and remote ringing to help you find it if you forget/mislay it? And a remote wipe to make it much less attractive to thieves? (I would imagine it is difficult and time consuming to unlock).

Given it will be out of date in a year (actually the 5C's internals were a year out of date when it was released ) I think you'd be very unlucky to lose/break it before something just as good could be had for the equivalent of 2 year's insurance cost.

£90/year sounds like a total rip off to me...

[Dorkins]

Sounds like me talking to the salesman in the mobile phone shop.

"I don't do non-compulsory insurance as I assume that the actuary has correctly assessed the risk and I don't have overheads / profit margin to consider."

"or 6 to 20% insurance premium tax to pay HMRC".

Come to think of it, somebody should really tell the ONS about all the imputed insurance people are giving themselves.

[OnionTerror]

So, when the amount you have paid on insurance exceeds the cost to buy a new phone, will you still keep paying insurance ?

I personally don't see the point of upgrading a phone every five minutes...for instance, is there a huge amount of difference between a Samsung Galaxy S2 vs S4 or a iPhone 4 or 5? I mean they still operate as a phone...and the difference, according to bidvoy is £95 second hand to £270...I've got an iphone 3GS...Admittedly I can't get ios 7, nor 4G (not that its in my area yet)...I have no qualms in having a two or three year old phone, rather than trying to trump my mates with the latest iphone J or whatever...If I can get the web on it, take the odd photo and get my emails, job done...The rest is all marketing cobblers..

[LiveinHope]

I personally don't see the point of upgrading a phone every five minutes...for instance, is there a huge amount of difference between a Samsung Galaxy S2 vs S4 or a iPhone 4 or 5? I mean they still operate as a phone...and the difference, according to bidvoy is £95 second hand to £270...I've got an iphone 3GS...Admittedly I can't get ios 7, nor 4G (not that its in my area yet)...I have no qualms in having a two or three year old phone, rather than trying to trump my mates with the latest iphone J or whatever...If I can get the web on it, take the odd photo and get my emails, job done...The rest is all marketing cobblers..

Quite, I'd neither pay insurance or upgrade. Until a new technology arises I can't see that the iPhone 4s I bought on ebay will not cater for my needs.

I use the iPhone for work (internet and e-mails) (about £40 pa) and for phone calls I use my old trusty Sony Ericsson k750i, as its battery lasts a week (about £30 pa - most people call me).

[DTMark]

So, when the amount you have paid on insurance exceeds the cost to buy a new phone, will you still keep paying insurance ?

In weighing this up...

I waited a year to see the price of the 4S model fall. It hasn't. They just don't go down in price. Even second hand ones aren't much of a discount from the new price.

Have no desire to change in next few years. I'd go back to my 3GS and stick with that were it not for the fact it's given up now as it's ancient.

So although it's a ridiculous amount of money (£469) if I can actually hold onto it and it's in good condition, actually, in terms of ownership - what I'd call the Mercedes versus Renault effect - the total cost of ownership shouldn't be that high because the resale value should be high.

As long as I don't lose it or break it.

So £90 a year might not be so bad to protect that.

I shall pore over the Ts and Cs later on..

[OnionTerror]

Quite, I'd neither pay insurance or upgrade. Until a new technology arises I can't see that the iPhone 4s I bought on ebay will not cater for my needs.

I use the iPhone for work (internet and e-mails) (about £40 pa) and for phone calls I use my old trusty Sony Ericsson k750i, as its battery lasts a week (about £30 pa - most people call me).

I paid £120 for my iphone 18 months ago, and my basic phone plan (with unlimited data) from three is £12.90 a month...People think of nothing of spending £45 a month on a two year phone contract - nearly £1100 on a phone over two years...

When 4G becomes more widespread, I may be tempted to upgrade again, but I'm not bothered at the moment...

[R K]

Straight line depreciated value over, say, 5 years would be c. £90.

So you'd be paying £90 p.a. to insure against an average depreciated value of c £90 p.a.

I have no idea what the market value would be over the life of the product, but clearly the numbers change from nearly new (close to £500 loss value) out to 5 years old (close to £0 value, presumably) which in turn might suggest the value of an insurance policy to you in each year.

For instance, paying £90 to insure against an item worth, say, £90 wouldn't make sense unless you expected to claim against it (and were allowed to) at least once p.a. and so on........

Looking at it the other way around, over 5 years you'll pay c. £450 in insurance premiums. So how often do you expect to claim on average? I've never in my life claimed once every 5 years for anything. Perhaps I ought to........

[OnionTerror]

In weighing this up...

I waited a year to see the price of the 4S model fall. It hasn't. They just don't go down in price. Even second hand ones aren't much of a discount from the new price.

Have no desire to change in next few years. I'd go back to my 3GS and stick with that were it not for the fact it's given up now as it's ancient.

So although it's a ridiculous amount of money (£469) if I can actually hold onto it and it's in good condition, actually, in terms of ownership - what I'd call the Mercedes versus Renault effect - the total cost of ownership shouldn't be that high because the resale value should be high.

As long as I don't lose it or break it.

So £90 a year might not be so bad to protect that.

I shall pore over the Ts and Cs later on..

On average, you can get a 3GS for £65

http://uk.bidvoy.net/%22iPhone_3gs%22_16gb/9355

or get an iphone 4S 8Gb for £155

http://uk.bidvoy.net/%22iPhone_4s%22_8gb/9355

I have seen some got deals on Nokia Phones for less than £100 (although they're Win 8, which I'm not too enamored about), and you can get some really good deals on Android dual SIM phones...Have a look on hotukdeals...

[QP1]

I personally don't see the point of upgrading a phone every five minutes...for instance, is there a huge amount of difference between a Samsung Galaxy S2 vs S4 or a iPhone 4 or 5? I mean they still operate as a phone...and the difference, according to bidvoy is £95 second hand to £270...I've got an iphone 3GS...Admittedly I can't get ios 7, nor 4G (not that its in my area yet)...I have no qualms in having a two or three year old phone, rather than trying to trump my mates with the latest iphone J or whatever...If I can get the web on it, take the odd photo and get my emails, job done...The rest is all marketing cobblers..

I usually keep my phones for a while (think my last one, an iPhone 4 was 3 years) but it's an immature market and significant improvements are coming thick and fast in some areas (e.g. camera on my new phone is a massive advance). I suspect I will replace my current phone after only a year as I do see a value to having a phone with fitness tracker-like capabilities built in (requires new multi-core chips so as not to eat the battery life) and an even better camera, but with that in mind I bought a phone that wasn't stupidly expensive this time around (factor in the resale value of my iPhone 4 and it only cost about a hundred quid to upgrade).

Plus, for something you carry and use every day is it not unreasonable to feel like a change, not every 5 minutes, but maybe once a year?

Oh, and consider yourself lucky you can't get iOS7 - that was the reason I dumped my iPhone4...

[DTMark]

I paid £120 for my iphone 18 months ago, and my basic phone plan (with unlimited data) from three is £12.90 a month...People think of nothing of spending £45 a month on a two year phone contract - nearly £1100 on a phone over two years...

When 4G becomes more widespread, I may be tempted to upgrade again, but I'm not bothered at the moment...

Was given my 3GS in exchange for an ADSL router I no longer needed.

Was old already but also very heavily used so sadly I had to give up with it. Dropping it once didn't help the Wi-Fi, I think it displaced the board and connector inside.

I make very few calls on it so it's on PAYG (I use VOIP and Skype video most of the time - our home connection is 4G and it's 20 Meg upstream so it's plenty quick enough)

It's really a little pocket computer that I'm after that does phone calls. The 3GS did that perfectly. I mourn its passing

All of this, coupled with the fact that I don't "do" direct debits, means a contract won't work for me.

It is mostly on the basis of retained value that I have somehow managed to convince myself to spend the equivalent of a brief trip abroad on a mobile phone.

[DTMark]

On average, you can get a 3GS for £65

http://uk.bidvoy.net...gs%22_16gb/9355

or get an iphone 4S 8Gb for £155

http://uk.bidvoy.net..._4s%22_8gb/9355

I have seen some got deals on Nokia Phones for less than £100 (although they're Win 8, which I'm not too enamored about), and you can get some really good deals on Android dual SIM phones...Have a look on hotukdeals...

This is replacing a 6 month old Windows 8 phone.

The OS is great. It doesn't quite have the nice touches of the Apple OS but it's perfectly usable and nice to use too. It's fast, stable, looks nice, does just about everything well.

There's only one slight snag which, had I known about it, would have caused me to decide differently:

Windows phone apps can't save data to the SD card. This is a problem with audio books. They're about 300Meg each and the phone only has about 4GB of internal memory.

That sounds quite good until you realise as I have now that you can only save a few audio books on it before it helpfully tells you that the memory is running out and you should save to the SD card. Except you can't, by design. So the 8GB SD card remains nearly empty and now it's full. It has reached the end of its useful life for what I need it for.

I did look at buying second hand but frankly I'm just too cynical about complete strangers selling mobile phones. I put out a call to everyone I know to see if anyone is willing to part with a very good condition 4S model but that drew a blank.

[OnionTerror]

I usually keep my phones for a while (think my last one, an iPhone 4 was 3 years) but it's an immature market and significant improvements are coming thick and fast in some areas (e.g. camera on my new phone is a massive advance). I suspect I will replace my current phone after only a year as I do see a value to having a phone with fitness tracker-like capabilities built in (requires new multi-core chips so as not to eat the battery life) and an even better camera, but with that in mind I bought a phone that wasn't stupidly expensive this time around (factor in the resale value of my iPhone 4 and it only cost about a hundred quid to upgrade).

Plus, for something you carry and use every day is it not unreasonable to feel like a change, not every 5 minutes, but maybe once a year?

Oh, and consider yourself lucky you can't get iOS7 - that was the reason I dumped my iPhone4...

I don't really "do" phones...blokes I work with get all teary eyed over their new htc blah de bla or their xperia z's, and I think, I don't really care...A friend of mine gets angry if I dont text back within 3 nanoseconds...I could easily break my phone at work, so I don't really want to carry an all singing all dancing one anyway...

You can't escape them..there's something slightly unsettling whereby you can be contacted wherever you are, 24 hours a day....they are however much more convenient than a payphone..

[QP1]

I have seen some got deals on Nokia Phones for less than £100 (although they're Win 8, which I'm not too enamored about), and you can get some really good deals on Android dual SIM phones...Have a look on hotukdeals...

I went from an iPhone4 to a Nokia Lumia 920 and miss nothing about the iPhone. Better (larger) screen, camera and speakers, plus faster and smoother and IMO more pleasant to use (glance screen, double-tap to wake, back button for navigation, wireless charging, off-line GPS navigation with free maps for everywhere, etc). I guess not completely fair to compare the iPhone4 to the Lumia 920 (a couple of years between them) but for me it was a significant improvement at less than half the price of an equivalent (32Gb) 5s.

Big software updated (WP8.1) coming in a couple of months which will close the 'feature-gap' (e.g. adding a notification centre and a voice assistant) and all current WP8 devices are guaranteed to get it.

[OnionTerror]

I went from an iPhone4 to a Nokia Lumia 920 and miss nothing about the iPhone. Better (larger) screen, camera and speakers, plus faster and smoother and IMO more pleasant to use (glance screen, double-tap to wake, back button for navigation, wireless charging, off-line GPS navigation with free maps for everywhere, etc). I guess not completely fair to compare the iPhone4 to the Lumia 920 (a couple of years between them) but for me it was a significant improvement at less than half the price of an equivalent (32Gb) 5s.

Big software updated (WP8.1) coming in a couple of months which will close the 'feature-gap' (e.g. adding a notification centre and a voice assistant) and all current WP8 devices are guaranteed to get it.

Does it come with office / outlook? Although isn't the app store a bit lacking?

[QP1]

Windows phone apps can't save data to the SD card. This is a problem with audio books. They're about 300Meg each and the phone only has about 4GB of internal memory.

According to leaks, WP8.1 (which allegedly will run on all current WP8 devices and should be released in a few months) addresses the issue of saving apps on SD cards. If you can tough it out till the update you can save yourself £400+ on a 5C (which will still only give you 16Gb less whatever iOS7 takes up these days).