Richard Goodwin 10/01/2017 - 5:07pm

When is insuring your phone a good idea? Always – especially if you travel a lot, live in a city or are accident prone

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Insuring your mobile phone – or your PC, tablet or anything electrical and prone to theft – is a massive pain and, for the most part, a big expense most people do not want to undertake.

If you’re careful, most people don’t need insurance for their phones. But, if you live in a city, like London, which is rife with pickpockets, insurance could well be your friend in the long run.

I’ve lived in London for 10 years and in that time I have had my phone stolen four times; three from my pocket and once from my bag.

I didn’t have insurance then, so the phone was a dead loss. And in the first two instances I had an 18 month contract attached, so that sucked.

Best Time To Insure Your Phone

Once I got out of the contract-death-cycle and moved onto the freedom of rolling monthly contracts, I decided it was time I got some insurance. More for piece of mind than anything else, really. Because when you’re buying a phone outright, you really don’t want to lose it.

Insurance is still a BIG deal if you’re on contract, though. Doubly so, I’d argue, because at least when you lose a phone you own it’s your loss.

When you lose a phone that’s on a 24 month contract without insurance you have no choice but to continue paying the contract – even if you don’t have a phone. I’ve done this twice; it’s not much fun.

Best Insurance For Your Phone?

I have no idea. There’s MILLIONS of insurance companies out there – way too many to list, mention and review. All I can do is pass on some thoughts on the one that I have been using for the past couple of years.

I asked around my friends and family for their thoughts on what to use, but most didn’t have insurance for their phones, so I took to Google and began reading reviews. Lots of reviews.

After far too long reading about insurance, I eventually settled on Insurance2go, a UK-based insurance group that specialises in consumer electronics like phones, tablets and laptops.

Insurance2Go: What I Liked

I like doing things online. It’s just easier. I also like knowing I am getting a good deal, so when I started setting up my insurance I was pleased to not only see exactly what was and wasn’t covered, but also how much the same coverage would cost from its competitors.

The insurance is pretty cheap as well. You can pay monthly or just do a one off fee. I opted to pay it off in one go, as I’d rather just get it out the way. But the average cost of insuring a phone starts from as little as £4.99 a month.

Go for comprehensive cover, which is slightly more expensive, and you get cover for things like accidental damage, malicious damage, liquid damage and even for damage to your phone’s accessories. 

What's malicious damage? Probably something a bit like this:

I opted to go for the fullest possible package, as I’m prone to dropping my phones both on the floor and in bodies of water like the toilet, the dog bowl, and, when I’m on holiday, the sea.

The BIG draw for Insurance2go is that they have a 100% rating on TrustPilot. Always a good thing. The other is that they claimed to pay out 97% of the time. Again, all good stuff – especially for an insurance company.

Laptop Insurance From £2.99 A Month

As I said earlier: Insurance2go do more than just phones. They also have very compelling packages for laptops and tablets. I haven’t insured my laptop yet, but I am planning a trip in a couple of months, so I will definitely be getting some then.

For a MacBook, you’re looking at £2.99 a month. And that covers everything from theft to water damage. You can read more about the laptop coverage on the Insurance2go website.

Do You Actually Need Insurance, Though?

Six years ago, I would have said, ‘No, absolutely not!’

But now that I am older and wiser, I have changed my tune. If you live in a city, travel a lot or are worried about losing/damaging/destroying your phone/laptop/tablet, then you should probably look into this kind of thing.

It’s cheap, easy to set-up and once it’s done it’s there, covering your ass in case something bad goes down.

I got burned one too many times with my phone, getting it stolen, being out of pocket and still having to pay the contract, so I decided I’d do something about it and never put myself in that position again.

Yes, it costs money. But so does getting your cracked screen repaired or buying a new phone when some scumbag steals yours. At least with insurance in place, you know that if something like this does happen it’s not the end of the world as you’re fully covered.