Mobiles
Mobile Phone Insurance
By Ewan Sanderson
May 24, 2005, 15:42

As the cost of your mobile is heavily subsidised if you take out a contract, it is easy to miscalculate the potential cost of replacing your handset should it be stolen or lost. It could cost you hundreds of pounds, and that’s before you consider the cost of any calls that are made from it before you report it stolen.

But this doesn’t necessarily mean you should rush out and get an insurance quote. If you don’t think you are likely to ever lose your phone you may not want to insure it, although you should bear in mind that, according to some crime experts, a mobile is stolen every 45 seconds.

Home contents insurance

Taking the precaution of using a security code to lock your phone when not in use at least saves you from the usually very high extra costs incurred before you report a theft. There is also the added security of getting some cover through your home contents insurance. If you take an “all risks” addition to your policy, this should cover your phone from loss, theft or accidental damage outside the home.

The minimum level of insurance is usually around £1,500 and costs between £20 and £35 a year. If your phone is lost or stolen, your insurer will either replace it or give you the cash for a new one.

The main problem with this option is that a replacement will probably take ages to sort out through your home insurance company, requiring a great deal of paperwork and leaving you with no phone in the meantime.

A mobile insurer specialist will get a new phone out to you in 24 hours.

Mobile insurance

If you are prone to losing your phone then it is well worth considering mobile phone insurance. It costs between £25 and £100 a year depending on the level of cover and who offers it.

You have two basic options:

• To take out cover with your network provider (T-Mobile, O2, Orange, etc)
• To take out cover with an outside insurer.

The advantages of option 1 are clear. You are only dealing with one company, they can sort you out, getting a replacement mobile out to you immediately. The only problem is that you might not get the kind of cover you are looking for.

T-Mobile, Vodafone, Orange and Virgin, all reserve the right to replace your lost or stolen phone with a second-hand model, providing it is of “equivalent specification”. This cover may be cheaper, but you may not want a refurbished phone.

Carphone Warehouse, which offers its own policy, will provide you with a brand new phone in place of your stolen or lost one.

Note. Many people believe that if they lose their phone they are not covered by their network insurance policy. This is no longer the case as most networks do now cover loss and accidental damage.

The following all cover loss and accidental damage: T-Mobile, Virgin, Vodafone, Orange, O2.

If you are not happy with your network’s cover, have a search on Europinions to find a host of outside mobile insurance providers.