UK - insurance alternatives to applecare+?

[mrklaw]

I want to go without a screen protector at least until we see some decently reviewed edge to edge ones, and ideally no case. So I’m considering applecare+ for the first time.

But what alternatives are there that aren’t as expensive but still offer great service - fast turnaround times etc

I do have accidental damage protection on my home insurance but will that be enough?

 

[icewolf247]

Accidental cover on your insurance If you use it you will need to pay any excess, plus you will have increased premiums for 3 years.

Apple care is £200 so I do tend to think it is expensive but on the flip side, a broken screen will cost a lot more (£286.44) even including the £25 screen excess

However, apple care won't cover loss so there are alternatives, a quick look threw up plenty of choice but still talking about £10 a month which for me is more than I pay for my entire house content insurance which is pretty scary when you think of it

 

[bluepi]

Accidental cover on your insurance If you use it you will need to pay any excess, plus you will have increased premiums for 3 years.

Apple care is £200 so I do tend to think it is expensive but on the flip side, a broken screen will cost a lot more (£286.44) even including the £25 screen excess

However, apple care won't cover loss so there are alternatives, a quick look threw up plenty of choice but still talking about £10 a month which for me is more than I pay for my entire house content insurance which is pretty scary when you think of it

Home insurance will cover it... I cover my Macbook Pro, cameras, phones etc for around £25 per year on top of contents. you do have to pay the excess but at £100 its still cheaper and covers you for lost or stolen away from home.

I think I have a limit of £2500 for any single item.

This also covers bikes etc... I have had this added to my insurance for years.

 

[lyceumHQ]

I’m wondering the same. I don’t have the X but the 8. I asked yesterday what the cost for accidental damage is. For the screen it’s £80 but the back breaks and I’m looking at £354.

The thing with home insurance is the increased premiums and excess. Say £100 excess and an extra £50-£100 a year for three years because you made a claim. Far more than the cost of AppleCare.

I’m wondering about third party insurers but turn around bothers me. At least with apple I know it will be repaired or replaced there and then. But loss and theft aren’t covered.

Basically I’m trying to convince myself to buy AppleCare.

 

[icewolf247]

Home insurance will cover it... I cover my Macbook Pro, cameras, phones etc for around £25 per year on top of contents. you do have to pay the excess but at £100 its still cheaper and covers you for lost or stolen away from home.

I think I have a limit of £2500 for any single item.

This also covers bikes etc... I have had this added to my insurance for years.

However, home insurance likely won't cover phone calls made, any money lost through apple pay and will increase premiums and lose NCD if exists (not sure if mobile cover increases if you claim?)

But is certainly an option

Also worth checking if your bank account has phone coverage

Lots of options

 

[bluepi]

I’m wondering the same. I don’t have the X but the 8. I asked yesterday what the cost for accidental damage is. For the screen it’s £80 but the back breaks and I’m looking at £354.

The thing with home insurance is the increased premiums and excess. Say £100 excess and an extra £50-£100 a year for three years because you made a claim. Far more than the cost of AppleCare.

I’m wondering about third party insurers but turn around bothers me. At least with apple I know it will be repaired or replaced there and then. But loss and theft aren’t covered.

Basically I’m trying to convince myself to buy AppleCare.

I dont think you will notice a claim on your contents insurance (as in a hike)... Its not priced like car.

A shop around on confused.com or similar would reset the cost difference.

But I have always had it on and never needed to claim. I can guarantee the second i did not renew I would loose/drop everything

But if its just your phone you want to insure then it might not be worth it ... and this assumes you have contents insurance to start with...

 

[icewolf247]

I dont think you will notice a claim on your contents insurance (as in a hike)... Its not priced like car.

A shop around on confused.com or similar would reset the cost difference.

But I have always had it on and never needed to claim.

A claim will affect your no claims discount and your future.premiums for a while (up to 5 years) so it could work out more expensive but it's not something you will know until you do it

 

[bluepi]

A claim will affect your no claims discount and your future.premiums for a while (up to 5 years) so it could work out more expensive but it's not something you will know until you do it

True...

But since you cannot protect your no claims like a car you would need to work out the cost...

For a £1000 phone I know which will be cheaper

The bank account is a good point... loads of people pay for accounts not realising the extras include mobile insurance.

 

[andyp350]

A lot of bank account offer phone insurance as part of their deals. I know NatWest offer it on one of their paid accounts for not very much a month.

 

[bluepi]

A lot of bank account offer phone insurance as part of their deals. I know NatWest offer it on one of their paid accounts for not very much a month.

That £12 pm by the looks of it..

apple care = £200 / 24 = 8.33
home insurance = £25 / 12 = £2.08
total = £10.41 pm

Quick google for mobile insurance = £10.99 pm for loss, damage + £40 excess...

Quite close really

One thing to check would be who is doing the repairs - inhouse or Apple

 

[simply_sami]

Barclays tech pack.

 

[bluepi]

Barclays tech pack.

• You’ll be able to cover as many gadgets as you like worth up to £1,500 each, and you can still cover up to 4 mobile phones
• The claims process will be all online, making it faster and simpler for you

These improvements mean that the monthly price will increase from £9.50 to £12.50 and there will be a fixed excess of £75 for every successful claim

Have you used it?

I am still going down the home insurance route.. but watching this thread to see if a better option is out their.

 

[johnyslats]

Posted this in another thread. May opt for this

https://www.insurance2go.co.uk/iphone-x-insurance/

Possible further discount of £10 through MSE (MSEIPHONE10) to come in at 99.99 for the year

 

[andyp350]

That £12 pm by the looks of it..

apple care = £200 / 24 = 8.33
home insurance = £25 / 12 = £2.08
total = £10.41 pm

Quick google for mobile insurance = £10.99 pm for loss, damage + £40 excess...

Quite close really

One thing to check would be who is doing the repairs - inhouse or Apple

Thanks for finding the numbers I was too lazy to do. I’ve checked and the NatWest silver account also does Europe travel insurance so I guess it depends on if you travel to Europe multiple times a year as to which might be the more cost effective.
[doublepost=1509277343][/doublepost]Personally I’ve never bothered with insuring anything I don’t have to. I’m careful enough that the amount I’ve spent repairing/replacing things I have broken (1x screen replacement on my iPhone 7 was the first time out of the 8 iPhone I’ve had) ends up costing way less than the accumulated cost of insuring everything.

 

[icewolf247]

Thanks for finding the numbers I was too lazy to do. I’ve checked and the NatWest silver account also does Europe travel insurance so I guess it depends on if you travel to Europe multiple times a year as to which might be the more cost effective.
[doublepost=1509277343][/doublepost]Personally I’ve never bothered with insuring anything I don’t have to. I’m careful enough that the amount I’ve spent repairing/replacing things I have broken (1x screen replacement on my iPhone 7 was the first time out of the 8 iPhone I’ve had) ends up costing way less than the accumulated cost of insuring everything.

I have never (touch wood) broken a phone but this time round the phone costs more than many laptops and I wouldn't think twice about insuring my computers and they never leave the house

A phone that is £1150 is a different proposition to phones from the past

 

[andyp350]

I have never (touch wood) broken a phone but this time round the phone costs more than many laptops and I wouldn't think twice about insuring my computers and they never leave the house

A phone that is £1150 is a different proposition to phones from the past

Thats a fair point. Although i've never insured a computer in my life either! That includes my higher end 15" rMBP

 

[lyceumHQ]

Just to update this. I went with the AppleCare in the end and will use home insurance as a last resort for loss/theft.

The £300+ repair cost for the back of the 8 breaking swung it for me.

 

[magicone]

Posted this in another thread. May opt for this

https://www.insurance2go.co.uk/iphone-x-insurance/

Possible further discount of £10 through MSE (MSEIPHONE10) to come in at 99.99 for the year

I have just gone for this but used MSEIPHONE15 for £15 off.

 

[mrklaw]

I went applecare in the end. My home insurance does co er when out of the house, but not in the house (would be an extra £45). Also the excess is £150 and I’d lose no claims discount so in the event of any claim it’d be as expensive or even more expensive than applecare+

 

[MeltonMowbray]

Just to weigh in my decision since I have been looking for cover after purchasing the iPhone X, decided to get applecare+ while purchasing just incase I dropped it while opening the box!

I've decided to keep the applecare+ at least for a while. Due to the excess for screen damage being £25 or £79 if the whole phone is damaged not to mention the extended warranty, coverage for accessories that are in the box which aren't cheap as well as the battery being covered for holding under 80% charge over 2 years. Considering apple rates the battery to still be holding 80% after 500 charge cycles doing one full cycle a day means the battery may be worn by this time, which is a £79 repair itself that should be covered with no excess. I'm certain no other policy will cover the battery either since its a consumable part.

At the end of the day you can cancel AppleCare+ within the 2 years and still receive a pro-rata refund as long as it hasn't been used.

In the back of my head I was thinking what's going to happen if I loose the damn thing though. Ended up going with a joint Natwest Silver account with my parter, £6 a month each and £100 excess for loss, theft, damage or breakdown outside of the warranty. However the European travel insurance and tastecard is handy, not to mention you can get 25% cash back on event ticket purchases and 2% back on eligible bills, seemed like after a while its going to bring the cost down on things we would buy anyway!

I know there was a post about where the device would come from earlier, after looking into the insurance terms it seems as if the replacement will come from apple with Natwest. They say the device will be 'like new' and comes with a 12 month warranty from carphone warehouse. Assuming the replacement comes from them, since they are an authorised repair centre from apple they should be getting replacement devices direct. Either way, the terms of the insurance state they will be using genuine manufacturer parts, and any cosmetic parts will be brand new. Sounds like an apple replacement to me!

If anyone has anymore suggestions do post them, if theres something better than Applecare+ I wouldn't mind saving the £199 cost!

 

[FellaMeLad]

• You’ll be able to cover as many gadgets as you like worth up to £1,500 each, and you can still cover up to 4 mobile phones
• The claims process will be all online, making it faster and simpler for you

These improvements mean that the monthly price will increase from £9.50 to £12.50 and there will be a fixed excess of £75 for every successful claim

Have you used it?

I am still going down the home insurance route.. but watching this thread to see if a better option is out their.

I use the Barclays Tech Pack insurance cover which is an option with my Barclays bank account. It's currently £9.50 per month, but as the post above says, I had a letter recently saying the price will be increased to £12.50 per month from January from what I recall.

I currently have these devices registered with it:

• My iPhone X
• My iPad Pro 10.5
• My son's iPhone 7
• My daughter's iPhone 6

I've used it once before when my daughter smashed her screen - I had to pay £100 excess and she had a new iPhone 6 the following day.

TBH I don't know if it really stacks up to some of the other insurance deals around (I've not looked) but I don't think it'll be far off.

 

[tarsins]

My wife and I have a joint Natwest Platinum Rewards account and we find it excellent. Both our iPhones are covered for loss, damage, theft and breakdown. We've not had cause to use it yet but we have used the Green Flag breakdown recovery twice (all sorted in less than an hour, once on the motorway which would probably have cost a fortune) and the cashback on Direct Debit payments adds up to a nice sum over a few months. Highly recommended it.

 

[MeltonMowbray]

As an additional note, those of you who are on Vodafone and taking insurance with them should be eligible for Applecare Services, giving you similar AppleCare+ coverage as well as loss and theft through vodafone. It's the best of both worlds really, I'm not sure how much it costs however but you should be able to buy within 60 days of getting your phone just like Applecare+