Mobile Phone Insurance

For the last two weeks I have been researching on few types on insurance plans that are designed to meet the needs of cell phone users. During that period, I have encountered few communities that believe that insurance for cell phones is not something that you really need and to them, cell phones are things or devices that have the same value like other daily utilities such as your shaver, electric toothbrush, or maybe your coffee maker. Since this topic is quite interesting, I dug for more stories and found out that there are also other communities that take cell phone insurance as something that you do need.

It is common to hear some sales pitch from the sales rep when you go shopping for a new cell phone. To be honest, it is not uncommon as well to hear them keep on advising you to buy their insurance. I am sure that you all have heard most of the common things about cell phone insurance; they will replace the cell phone whenever you lost it or it got stolen, they will repair the cell phone if the phone is damaged due to accidents, and so on. You will feel that the need to purchase the insurance is as important as buying the external memory card but instead of paying off one-time payment for the memory card, you have to pay extra $5 or more every month for the cell phone insurance.

Most of the time the cell phone insurance came from a third party insurer, in other words it is not something that is designed by the cell phone manufacturer. When this is the case, the policy is different than the manufacturer or the store’s own policy. This is where the trick is. When something happens to your cell phone, for instance the cell phone’s display screen is damaged; you will first call up the cell phone carrier. You will then be asked to call up the insurer since the policy is between you, the cell phone owner, and the cell phone insurer. The insurer will then explain to you that there might be a possibility that the cell phone model that you own is no longer being produced and they agree to send you another cell phone.

Does that sound like a good deal to you? Well, it is not to me. If I am using a Motorola V3x cell phone, which would also means that I love the cell phone more than other types. What’s the point of getting a replacement if I don’t get what I previously had? That is not fair, don’t you think so? But can you really argue when the cell phone is damaged due to your own negligence? And the most important part is, did you really read the policy first, thoroughly, when you purchase the insurance for your cell phone? Some did, and some did not. Those who read, they might not purchase the insurance in the first place. Those who did not, they might have missed a part or clause somewhere in the policy saying that the insurer has the right to replace the cell phone with any other different model.

Some people would think that it is a good investment when you insure your cell phone. Hey, why not, instead of buying a new cell phone, you will get a replacement which could be a better deal? Well, in this case, you should first understand how the insurance works. Why an insurance company would design a policy that will not bring them money? Insurance for your cell phone may be designed so that if something happen to your cell phone, you can make a claim for a replacement. There is a limitation to that; you can only attempt to claim once or twice a year. This is to avoid some greedy people from making fraud claims.

Making the claim is another issue. You might have to go through a lot of processes to ensure that the claim is considered valid by the cell phone insurer. There are times when you will feel that the process it takes to make one single claim is going to be a tedious one and you might end up not claiming anything. Imagine, the insurer might want you to produce a black and white proof that you have lost your cell phone. In order to do so, you may first lodge a police report saying that your cell phone has been stolen. After that, you may have to fax in the copy of the police report to the cell phone’s insurance company. And then you have to wait for maybe at least a week before you can get a confirmation from the office that your cell phone will be replaced and you will have to wait for about another week to receive the new cell phone. It will be a lot worst when the cell phone you will be receiving does not match the quality of your previous cell phone.

Another community that I have found during my research has thrown in an interesting suggestion about getting insurance for your cell phone. Whenever you purchase a new cell phone, please make sure that you ask the store about the cell phone’s warranty. There are possibilities that the manufacturer of that cell phone has offered replacement of the cell phone in the situation where the cell phone is malfunction. Most manufacturers do this as part of their initiatives to obtain feedbacks from the cell phone users about their cell phones in order for them to produce a better cell phone in the future.

Another way to save up your money on the cell phone insurance is by making sure if the store does have its own replacement policy. I bet that most stores have their own replacement policy though their policy might not cover for many months. This is good enough actually, and I will tell you later on how to insure your cell phone in a rather conservative method. I always love to find alternatives to what are offered by some people so that the methods that I use will always to my own benefits. Furthermore, I have more controls over what I am doing and I feel a lot more comfortable doing so.

Have you ever thought that you might have covered the cell phone lost or stolen issues in your other insurance plan? Think about it, if you lost your cell phone which you put in your car, that would means that it might has been insured in the auto policy? Have you ever thought about that? Why pay for more to protect your cell phone when it is covered elsewhere, right?

Getting insurance for your cell phone might sounds like a good idea, but the problem is, cell phones these days are not as what they used to be in the past. For instance, you might be buying a brand new Nokia N97 cell phone today. In the next six months, the cell phone is no longer something new and no one really cares about the cell phone since Nokia has introduced more and more brand new models and the furthermore, all the new cell phones have more great features and more stylish. So, let’s say that you lost your cell phone in about 20 months after buying it. If you paid $25 per month for the insurance, you have paid about $500. Of course, if you can get the same model as a replacement, it will sound like a great investment. Think about it again, twenty months from now, how much would your Nokia N97 cell phone worth? Would it be $500? I can surely bet that it could be lesser than that. So, is that a good investment to purchase insurance for your cell phone?

As far as I am concerned, it might be a good investment in the case that your cell phone is a really extreme and expensive one. Please read between the lines, it might. Remember, the contract that you signed might say that they will replace the cell phone you lost with a comparable one. You might not get the same model and there are also possibilities that you will get a cell phone that is not as good as the one you had. There are many things can be disputed when we say that a cell phone is “good” or “bad”. There are also cases reported that the insurance company replaced the lost cell phones with refurbished cell phones. Oh yes, if that is the case and if it ever happens to me, I will be the first one to sue the insurance company LOL.

Have you thought about the cell phone accessories? As far as I am concerned, the insurance company is going to replace the cell phone only and not the whole set. Would the replaced cell phone compatible with the old accessories such as the headsets, the cell phone charger, and so on? If it is the same model, you would not have much trouble. If it is not (which is true in most cases), you may then have to shop for those accessories that are going to be compatible with the new cell phone. You might then end up paying more than what your previous cell phone worth.

Based on what I have read so far, there are many cons to buying insurance for your cell phone. However, I don’t really oppose the idea. There are times when it is good to get one especially you really are one of those who keep on forgetting where they put the cell phone or that you keep on dropping your things at a daily basis. You might be those who need to get the insurance for your cell phone. If you don’t, then I will the first to be mad at you when you lost your cell phone. If you know yourself, and you know that the possibility that you would lose your cell phone is pretty high, then you should cover your cell phone.

The insurance for the cell phone may also be a good idea for those who travel a lot and most of the time the cell phone sits in the baggage. You know how those guys work in the airport, and there are 90% chances that the cell phone might got damaged. Traveling abroad is another thing; there are possibilities that the insurance would not cover out-of-the-country-scenarios. So you have to check with the insurance company about this.

There are also companies that are decent about insurance for cell phones. T-Mobile insurance for the cell phones are quite good and reasonable enough to be paid for. Third-party companies such as TalkCover and CUSC UK are specialists in offering cell phone insurance for many years. From what I heard, these cell phone insurance companies have exceptional track records and so far there are only few complaints against them.

As I said earlier, there are few factors to be determined before you can decide whether you do need cell phone insurance or not. The only person who can decide on this is only YOU. You know yourself a lot better than any other persons in this world. You know better whether you would drop your cell phone a lot or not in a month. If you are buying the cell phone for your child, then it might be a good idea to insure the cell phone as the child has more potentials to damage the cell phone or lose it.

For prepaid cell phone users, I don’t think that you should get insurance for the cell phones. Why? You don’t have to worry much about the stolen cell phones’ airtimes to be used without your consent since once they are used, the poor thief can’t make fraud calls anymore. You should consider another way to insure your cell phone which is what I am going to discuss down here.

Rather than paying for the insurance to cover your cell phone, you can always put aside the money every month. Say that the insurance costs you $10 a month. In a year, you can save up to $120. If you put that money into a high interest savings account, you will get more. If something happens to your cell phone, the money can be used to buy a new cell phone that is worth it. If you prefer to buy the same cell phone, I am certain that by that time the cell phone’s price has dropped a lot and you might end up paying less than $120 to get the cell phone.

Let’s just sum up a few things if you still want to get insurance for your cell phones;

Read the policy and ensure that the company will replace the cell phone in a reasonable timeframe.

If the market price for the cell phone is still high, would the company consider giving you cash.
In the case that the cell phone is stolen, would the insurance company covers the losses if the cell phone is used to make fraudulent calls.

Compare your cell phone’s price and its market price as well as the cost to pay for the insurance.
From what I have understood, again this is all about your preferences. However, preferences should be based on logical explanation and you should be rational enough when purchasing insurance for your cell phones.