iPhone Insurance

Another question from an iPhone using client - should I take out insurance?

Insurance being something of a closed book to me I asked what he was insuring against. He said he was worried that he'd lose his phone, have to buy a new one AND pay the monthly fee on the unit he lost.

I did some digging and was pleased to be able to correct one misconception. According to O2 you only need replace the handset. You don't have to continue paying your 'old' contract and a 'new' one. This being the case the extent of your loss is £269.

That being the level of risk I started looking for a policy and wasn't much surprised to find all the policies came in at about the same cost - £8 per month. For a private consumer that's going to mean he buys himself a new handset in about 34 months, if as a business user he can claim back the VAT, that would be 29 months. At first thought a rather expensive policy.

I asked myself how much the iPhone Mk5 would be in 18 months time? A lot less than today's price I'm sure. And how many times have you lost a phone anyway - me, never. I also rang my own insurance company who suggested if the phone was mine it should go on my contents policy.

So I rang my client back and explained the situation. What a hard life insurance salespeople must lead, this potential buyer quickly decided this was one policy he could live without.