How to pick the best phone insurance for you

Let’s be honest, the days when phones were just “phones” are long gone. No matter where we go and no matter what we do, our phones are constantly in our hands, or in our pockets, or in our bags. Naturally, this means that our darling phones take a lot of abuse and the occasional drops. While they are designed to handle some bumps and scratches, even with protective covers on, they do break. This is why we need phone insurance.

We all know someone with a cracked screen or a semi-working speaker and busted camera simply because its too expensive to replace. Thousands of reports suggest that half of the individuals investing their hard-earned money on their phones damage it, or drop it within a year of buying it!

What we need is a phone insurance but which one do you get and what’s on offer out there? Let’s have a look:

Company-Offered Protection Plans:

Phone company’s insurances are great as you are assured of genuine service with a guarantee of getting the exact parts of phones whenever needed to be replaced. While the local mall phone repair shop may seem attractive, they come with their own set of risks!

Therefore, while it may be a little more expensive, it is recommended to look at the phone company’s own insurance option such as these:

• APPLECARE+: The Applecare+ insurance plan covers 2 claims in a 3-year coverage period with a deductible of $100. It is available in any Apple Store.
• SAMSUNG TOTAL CARE: This insurance plan provides 3 claim settlements in a 12 month period with a deductible of $ 100.
• GOOGLE’S PREFERRED CARE: It provides 2 claim settlements in a 2-year coverage period with a deductible of 150 dollars.

Service Provider Insurance Plan

Your Service provider will generally offer you an insurance option when you buy your phone through them. In the US, the big mobile providers seem to use Asurion. What makes Asurion better than the others is its enormous experience of handling the largest number of insurance claims. The pricing provided by these companies is also quite reasonable and subject to market comparison.

Most of the phones are insured between $9-$15/month. The high-end phones like iPhone X, or the newest updates of Samsung have a higher rate of $15-$17/month.

Some of the carries will also discount the insurance if you insure more than one phone – so that is definitely worth asking if they don’t offer it automatically. Also, it is worth noting that in the US, there is usually a deductible which depends on the phones and the repair that needs to be done!

Third-Party Plans

There are independent companies that offer cell phone insurance especially if you buy your one at places such as  BestBuy or Walmart. These plans give a wide range of coverage including screen failure, or sound malfunctions etc.

Third-party plans mostly settle 3 claims in a 2-year coverage period at the rate of $9/month without theft and $11/month with theft complaints. Deductibles for any phone whose price is around $800-$1000 is around $200. However, the deductible rises to $250 if theft-protection is added too.