Can AppleCare+ on old MacBook be transferred to a new owner?

[dmk1974]

My kids just graduated college and as a gift I upgraded their 4-year-old M2 MacBook Air laptops to the latest M5 version. Transfer and setup went fine and I did the factory reset on the old M2's.

Those old M2's still have AppleCare+ on them for another month and a half. Originally I bought the 3-year on them and then did the 1-year extension.

If I sell these M2's before the AC+ expires, can that be transferred to the new owner? And then they can decide if they want to cancel or extend the AC+? Or do I need to cancel the AC+ plan before I sell it? I'm not clear how it works....is the AC+ tied to the machine or the owner/Apple ID? Thanks!

 

[okkibs]

This 1 year subscription can neither be transferred nor can the buyer subscribe. Cancel the upcoming automatic renewal (in your iCloud settings under subscription) and leave the buyer with a couple weeks of remaining coverage. Don't mention AC+ coverage, it must remain your insurance plan for your Mac.

Instead tell the buyer that you have remaining coverage just in case something breaks during shipping or shortly after and if any issues were to occur in the next few days to contact you and then they can get it fixed at any Apple Store. If necessary you'd confirm to Apple that this is indeed in agreement with you.

But make it clear this is a courtesy and not part of the sale. The insurance remains yours and isn't part of the sale.

The buyer will pay a fair price with the understanding that you’ll leave the AC+ in place until it expires. But for legal reasons you cannot make the insurance part of your sale as you'd have no way of transferring it.

Once your subscription expires the buyer might be able to buy coverage under the new AppleCare One plan but this is subject to Apple's discretion and isn't guaranteed so I would avoid mentioning it.

 

[dmk1974]

Thank you for the detail. Completely makes sense and is very fair how to go about it.

I'll definitely be selling at least one, but it is possible that I might pass one to my mother-in-law (she's still lightly using a 2012 Mac Mini!). If I were to do so, and I wanted to somehow keep and extend the coverage for her for another year, is that possible if I maybe keep it tied to my kid's iCloud and then just add her as a user to the MacBook? Curious of the best way to maybe go about it if that 2nd machine stays in the family.

 

[okkibs]

Once you have the yearly renewal in your iCloud subscription list it will renew yearly automatically until you cancel it. It does not matter who is logged into the Mac or who uses it. If you are on the 3 year plan and want to add the yearly subscription simply login your Apple account after the 3 year plan has expired and you'll be offered the yearly subscription. Purchase it and then you can log out and remove the Apple account from the Mac.

The coverage is bound to the device and to the insurance holder but it doesn't matter who actually uses the device and what Apple accounts are connected to the device.

 

[dmk1974]

Once you have the yearly renewal in your iCloud subscription list it will renew yearly automatically until you cancel it. It does not matter who is logged into the Mac or who uses it. If you are on the 3 year plan and want to add the yearly subscription simply login your Apple account after the 3 year plan has expired and you'll be offered the yearly subscription. Purchase it and then you can log out and remove the Apple account from the Mac.

The coverage is bound to the device and to the insurance holder but it doesn't matter who actually uses the device and what Apple accounts are connected to the device.

Thank you! Sound like I can then wipe the MacBook Air, set it up for my MIL, but keep the AC+ annual renewal active on my kid's iCloud account. It will then just auto-renew, even though my kid will not be logged into that MBA anymore.