Choosing a Mobile Phone - 7/8

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If you’re prone to misplacing your mobile phone or even dropping it in the bath, there are a number of policies available to help protect your phone. Mobile phone insurance could be for you, and is now offered by numerous networks and independent insurance providers.

Mobile phone insurance

There are two options when obtaining new mobile phone insurance – you can get cover from your network or from an independent provider. There are pros and cons to both possibilities and the key is to decide which deal is right for you.

If you take out insurance with your network you have the advantage of placing all costs under one umbrella and knowing that if anything goes wrong a new phone can be supplied relatively quickly. However, independent insurers could offer a wider range of cover options.

Also, an insurance provider may provide ‘like for like’ in that if you lose your mobile phone it could be replaced with another second-hand model of the ‘equivalent specification’. Other providers could offer a new mobile phone as a replacement for your old one.

Among the cover options to explore are:

Accidental damage or loss
Theft
Airtime abuse – Most companies will place a ‘lock’ on calls after the phone is stolen. However, your airtime could be abused in the meantime. Policies vary in
European cover – Coverage for phones lost/stolen in the EU.
Number of phones – How many phones can you cover with one insurance policy?

Mobile phone insurance can cost between £25 and £100 per year. Consequently, it could be worth adding your latest mobile phone to your home contents insurance policy (if you have one) as an ‘all risks’ addition. The insurer should offer to replace your phone or give you cash for a new one.

In part eight we will take a look at how you can go about finding the best mobile phone deal for you.