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UK insurance for MBP

jamesraward

jamesraward

macrumors regular
Original poster
May 18, 2009
123
7
Having just bought a £1300 MBP (duty free) to replace my 2009 MBP I thought I would look at insurance.

Dixons pushed me towards 'whatever happens' which I've had in the past, and it's been very useful replacing cameras etc, but I didn't want to be cajoled into getting something above the odds.

Applecare was great on my 2009 MBP as the screen needed replacing after a few months, and it also covered my peripherals as my TC died too.

I've looked at:
applecare (£8,33/m)
protectmybubble (15,99/m)
gadget-cover.com/ (£1.49/m!! though only covers up to £1200)
insurancetogo (7,67/m)

and aside from costs, there seems to be little between them (though applecare is expensive - £200 for 2 yrs/£8.33 pcm - and doesn't cover accidental damage)

Who would anyone here recommend?
 
AppleCare isn't insurance, it's an extension of the warrenty.

Just cover it under your home insurance as a specified item that's insured out the house.
 
As per @Andy above, just list it on your house insurance if it's accidental damage you want to cover. I personally never take Apple Care but I suppose ultimately I can afford to repair/repurchase if necessary and believe Apple will "do the right thing" if the machine has a problem in the first fews years. By the way if you'd bought in John Lewis you get a 2 yr warranty and officially anywhere in Europe you are supposed to get the same (EU legislation on electrical goods). FYI if you bought it duty free you may find you only get that amount back in the event of an accident rather than UK RRP. if you have to take it to Apple they will know where you bought it from.
 
AndyK said:
AppleCare isn't insurance, it's an extension of the warrenty.
Click to expand...

True, and still costs lots for what it is - though I know other items fall under one AC agreement which I'm still not too clear on - but that is a bonus.

AndyK said:
Just cover it under your home insurance as a specified item that's insured out the house.
Click to expand...

Sadly my home insurance has a silly excess which makes it hard to justify, especially without accidental damage insurance.

If there are more inclusive warranties out there for less I guess I'm just trying to find the justification for AC, and if there is an alternative that people might recommend. The gadget-cover.com one seems too good to be true, but the small print is fairly transparent and seems to cover me for what I need.

I don't know if the AC agreement would also cover my iPhone - probably not but it would make justification a little easier.

----------
Jambalaya said:
FYI if you bought it duty free you may find you only get that amount back in the event of an accident rather than UK RRP. if you have to take it to Apple they will know where you bought it from.
Click to expand...

That's fine, I travel a lot with work so can always purchase again from the AP. Good point though.
 
Getting comprehensive cover to be able to have it covered abroad is probably going to cost you more with a third party than making a good negotiation with your buildings / contents provider.

Ultimately though you're going to have to shell out either on an obscene premium for a low excess, or a lower premium with a higher excess.

You should also think a lot about what you get out of the service if you should need to actually use it to claim. Some companies when you read the fine print really do you over on things like speed of assessment / replacement and then weather you get a like for like or same model replacement.

This being said, a lot of insures in the UK (mine included) insure my laptop out the house, anywhere in the world under the category of "unspecified personal possessions" and as long as each item costs less than the amount you insure, you're covered (for example, wife's jewellery, my laptop).

You should phone whoever covers you and talk, then do a lot of shopping around when it's time for renewal, you'd be amazed the deals you can get if you spend a few hours doing comparisons / phone calls with counter offers.

As a side note, a screen replacement costs more than AppleCare does.
 
jamesraward said:
True, and still costs lots for what it is - though I know other items fall under one AC agreement which I'm still not too clear on - but that is a bonus.



Sadly my home insurance has a silly excess which makes it hard to justify, especially without accidental damage insurance.

If there are more inclusive warranties out there for less I guess I'm just trying to find the justification for AC, and if there is an alternative that people might recommend. The gadget-cover.com one seems too good to be true, but the small print is fairly transparent and seems to cover me for what I need.

I don't know if the AC agreement would also cover my iPhone - probably not but it would make justification a little easier.

----------



That's fine, I travel a lot with work so can always purchase again from the AP. Good point though.
Click to expand...

Firstly, all else being equal go for the lowest premium. While the lowest premium in this case only covers £1200 of the £1300 outlay, after 16 months of paying the second cheapest premium, you will have covered that £100 anyway. However, the most likely occurrence is that you will never claim, you are simply indemnifying yourself against a very rare occurrence to save yourself from a sudden massive outlay. Therefore, why would you pay a premium several times as much.

I would also strongly advise contacting your home contents provider and looking at the cover they can provide. In my experience its rarely beneficial to purchase stand alone insurance for items like laptops. Often it costs nothing to Add multiple expensive items for cover outside the house. Even if the premium is higher then standalone (you can usually negotiate it anyway, or have lower premiums for certain categories), remember you are unlikely to claim.

Remember the premium is irrelevant (provided you can afford to pay it come claim time and it isn't so high you'll never claim), its the over all cost to indemnify you should be concerned with. And what you get covered. I have all our laptops, jewellery, etc covered for a negligible uplift (less then those policies just for your laptop) to our home contents. I may pay a higher premium in the unlikely event I need to claim (fingers crossed I never do), but given almost everything of value is covered any unfortunate occurrence is more likely to be covered.
 
Last edited:
I had the Insurance2go policy but I've just cancelled it.
When I've checked the small print it isn't the £25 excess that I thought, but 15% or £25 whichever the greater.
On a £1249 rMBP that ends up being £187.50 excess.

Barney
 
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