iPhone insurance?

Been looking at insuring my new iPhone 3G and I'm a bit put off by the terms and conditions. I've looked at insurance from O2 and Carphone warehouse and both state that in the event of damage they may replace the phone with a similar model.

If I insure an my phone then I want it replacing with an iPhone, not something similar.

Thoughts? I personally think I'd be better off sticking �30 a month in the savings account if they're going to have stupid clauses like this.

I don't know how much iPhone insurance is, but when I've been offered insurance on some of my previous phones I found it laughably expensive - I could probably insure the contents of my house to �20k for the sum they were quoting!

If you have home contents insurance you might be able to add mobile phone insurance to that for a reasonable fee (if it's not included already).

Daylight robbery! Regardless of the Ts&Cs, for that money you could start a second �30 a month contract and have a usable spare iPhone!

Insurance is usually only worth while for things you really couldn't afford to replace yourself, and couldn't live without. An iPhone doesn't match either of those criteria for me. I'll take good care of mine, keep my money, and if I ever need to replace it *I* can decide what I want to do.

Cheers. I'm glad I'm not the only person thinking the insurance is a bit pointless, especially the poor cover on offer.

I've never broken or lost a mobile phone and therefore I'm not going to start now.

�30!! I did read your �30 figure but assumed you'd rounded up a figure of, say, �10 to a nice sum to put in a savings account. �30 is unbelievable.

I know two people with original iPhones who have claimed using their iPhone insurance; friend 'a' (claimed about a fortnight after the original iPhone was launched) got a replacement original iPhone, friend 'b' who claimed a few days ago got 3G iPhone as a replacement for their original iPhone.

That clause is simply so O2 don't have to keep stocks of old phones which they can't source any more. But �30 a month - who's quoted you that?

I took the O2 insurance because at present the 3G iPhone feels much too much like the target of attention - some light fingered pikey's far too likely to try and half-inch it at the moment...

I looked at some of the alternate phone insurance policies - the ones I contacted all wriggled out with phrases like "We won't be able to replace that as O2 won't let us buy them as replacements", "This is mobile telephone insurance, that's an iPod/Smartphone", one of the companies sent me a list of their replacement phones - replace my 16Gb iPhone with a W910i - no thanks.

My home insurance wouldn't cover the piephone either because it's a Smartphone not a mobile phone.

I don't recall exactly what I was quoted by CPW for insurance, because I was laughing too much. But I do know it was a silly monthly figure, not very dissimilar from the total monthly plan rate.

I'm not sure what the policy is, but the high end policy isn't cheap, but that means you never get a reconditioned phone and the phone is delivered to you worldwide, no need to find a shop.

But anyway, iPhone is rumoured be out on PAYG for about �300 and so that's not too bad.

In reply to:

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for about �300 and so that's not too bad.

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The last PAYG mobile phone I bought was �14.99 from Woolies... to hell with paying 300 quid

An iPod touch is about �180.

I'm used to paying for SIM free phones. Cost a lot but give you freedom and you can sell them way before they're worn out and worthless.

All I ask from a mobile is that it can make and receive calls and texts- �14.99 is quite enough to pay for that and when it needs a new battery I'll bin it

just done mine tonight, got it from a site called iphoneinsurance.net cost �5.88, it covers it for everything so I'm happy with that

Did you mean http://www.iphoneinsurance.co.uk/ £5.88 per month

think they must be part of the same group as http://www.iphoneinsurance.net has the same fsa details on the bottom of the site

I think there is a larger iphone insurance group. I got mine at http://www.iphoneinsurancecover.co.uk (and am very happy with it) and they have the same FSA details so I guess the different sites are all part of their marketing. The cover is good though

           £5.88 x 18 months = £105.84

              + theft excess = £130.84

               + loss excess = £155.84

 + claim while abroad excess = £180.84



         Total cost of cover = £105.84 - 180.84

   Cost of a new PAYG iPhone = £342.50

 Cost of cover as percentage = 31% - 53%



          Implied claim rate = At least 1 in 3!

Unless you are seriously accident prone, phone insurance isn't worth it.

And if I lose my iPhone in 4 or 6 months?

£300+ to replace vs £5.88 x 4 months = less than £25

£75, actually, because of the excess, and unless you plan to leave the next one uninsured, you can start counting the £5.88's again.

I choose not to insure my iPhone, but the cost of the handset is not necessarily the main risk.

My last phone (which wasn't an iPhone) was stolen, and the thief made £180 of calls in the relatively short amount of time before I discovered it had gone. So not only did I have to buy another phone, but I had to pay the bill as well. The bill could have been a lot higher. Some of the better insurances cover you for the cost of calls as well as for a replacement handset. It's worth checking the details so you know exactly what you're getting for your money. You then have to compare the cost with the risk and make your own choice!

I'm a lot more careful with my phone now, and always have a PIN number on it which could at least slow a thief down a bit and prevent an even bigger bill before I realise it's gone!

Edited by rushmere (Tue 27-Jan-09 22:01:27)

why not just cover it under your house contents policy? my phone is covered with mine already, no extra premium so virtually free.

ok, i have to buy a new phone, then claim the money back, but that's not a big problem. not sure whether calls made after a theft are covered. maybe.

I got mine at iPhone insurance cover a few weeks ago because it works out at £4.41 a month for the year.

There are some other helpful sites around like my iphone insurance and iphone insurance uk. Getting it on my home cover just doesnt make sense to me - call me a cynic bubt what is going to happen to my house insurance premium next year if I claim? Probably far worse than the cost of the iphone insurance itself.

i paid an extra 17p on my house insurance to cover my iphone.