Whether we like to admit it or not, most of us are joined at the hip, almost literally for jeans wearers, to our mobile phones. With all of us being so reliant on these rather expensive mini-computers that we carry around in our pockets, mobile phone insurance has become a massive market – particularly across the last decade as phone technology has gone from strength to strength.
These days, mobile insurance is more or less an essential alongside your phone, but if you’re one of the few still chancing your arm without it, then perhaps it’s time to reconsider.
What is mobile insurance?
Mobile phone insurance is a specialist policy format that covers the cost of repairing or replacing your phone in the instance it’s damaged, lost or stolen. Your average policy should cost you about £10 a month, though the cost will depend on the phone you have and the level of cover you’re looking for. Excesses are usually fairly small – around £50, and you can get numerous optional extras on your policy, including accidental damage, water damage and screen cracking cover.
Because of the relative inexpense of cover and how valuable phones tend to be to people, not only financially but also to their day-to-day lives, getting insurance is a bit of a no-brainer.
Reasons you should get it
There are a number of reasons why mobile insurance is a no-brainer move for most mobile phone users:
- Protect the cost of your phone: if you’re signing up to the latest phone release, the likelihood is you’re either going to be sat on a two year, £50 a month contract or paying about £1,000 up front. If you lose or damage your phone for whatever reason and don’t have insurance, you’ll find yourself in a hole after making a big financial commitment up front. Insurance allows you to get the value you paid for from your phone deal, no matter what happens.
- Modern smartphones are easily broken: one of the reasons iPhone insurance is so popular is because of how easy iPhone screens are to break and how costly they are to fix. For the same reason you’ll probably buy a good case to protect your phone against everyday knocks and drops, you’ll want to get insurance, too.
- It’s a must for clumsy folk: if you’re someone with a track record of calamitous drops, leaving your possessions behind or maybe just getting a bit too rowdy on nights out, mobile insurance is a must to protect you against yourself.
- It’s a must if you rely on your phone: so many of us use our phones for pretty much everything these days, from talking to friends and staying up to date with socials to paying bills and online shopping. Beyond the financial distress that comes with a broken or lost phone comes a level of emotional distress for a lot of people. Phone insurance gives you peace of mind in this regard, as you know you’ve got a quick and painless replacement policy in place should anything go wrong.
If you’re the careful sort and don’t own a particularly expensive phone, you might be better off without the monthly cost of insurance. However, with so many of us carrying around the latest technology and prone to the occasional accident, mobile phone insurance tends to offer more pros than cons to the average phone user.
