When I bought my first iPhone, the 3G model, I was making a big leap from Verizon to AT&T and I was astonished to hear that I could not get insurance coverage for my phone. I’ve largely been a phone dropper but I enjoy expensive smart phones, so I’d always taken advantage of the insurance option Verizon offered by way of Asurion. Without this option, I looked at alternatives and found none other than my home owner’s insurance with a deductible high enough to make it useless if only my iPhone needed replacing. Today, Asurion has announced MobileProtect, a program designed to insure your iPhone. It’s about time it happened.
(Photo courtesy of magic quote on Flickr)
What’s Covered And At What Price?
Whenever you get insurance for, well, anything, it’s important to take note of what is covered and what isn’t. According to the MobileProtect web site, here’s what you can expect to be covered for your iPhone with their plans:
* Cracked Screen
* Water or Other Liquid Damage
* Loss
* Theft
* Accidental Damage
* Out of Warranty Failure
In the past, you’d have to hope that nothing happened to your iPhone unless it was a phone failure and was under warranty. Asurion finally offers something to rescue the rest of us, but it’s not cheap. In the past, I’ve paid about $8 per month and my deductible was $50. Under the new MobileProtect plans, you’ll pay $11.99 per month and $99 to $199 (depending on your iPhone model) if you need to make a claim. At $600 to buy a new one (without a contract), $199 seems a little high to me. If my 16 GB iPhone 3G S (16GB) were lost or stolen today, I could pick up a new iPhone 4 (16 G) for $218 with a new 2 year contract. To be fair, though, a new iPhone owner who is ineligible for a new contract discount and loses their new iPhone 4 will be able to save about $400 with the insurance plan in place as opposed to having to purchase a new $600 iPhone. Furthermore, it appears that this insurance is really only available within 30 days of your new phone purchase, making my first scenario not even possible.
Working with Asurion
As mentioned above, I’ve dealt with Asurion before. Having been a long-time Verizon customer, I had to file a few claims because I dropped my phone in the snow in Michigan, got rain IN another phone in Paris, and bounced yet another off the pavement. In each case, I was able to make a claim pretty easily and just sent the damaged phone in the return shipping they provided. Usually, they can have a phone to you within a day or so. Mine was always the next day, but it may depend on where you’re having it delivered. Replacement phones can often be refurbished phones rather than a brand new one. There’s a kind of stigma to that, but the only difference, really, is a sticker on the phone noting that it’s refurbished. I never had a problem with a replacement phone. Over all, my experience with Asurion has been pretty good.
Signing up seems to be a lot simpler now, too. Just download the free MobileProtect App from the App Store and sign right up. The only problem is that it looks like it will let you go through the whole sign up process before telling you if you are ineligible because your iPhone was activated more than 30 days ago.
Should I Get Insurance For My iPhone?
In a case like mine, with a year-old iPhone and new contract savings, the insurance plan is not much of a savings and not available anyway. For everyone else buying new iPhones, it’s a welcomed expense. Sure it’s 12 bucks a month, but when you need a replacement due to rain, snow, and my own clumsiness, insurance is an incredible thing to have. I’ve had all those things happen and each time, I was happy to be paying just a deductible compared to the full phone price to replace it.
What about you? Do you have a phone horror story to share? Leave it in the comments below.
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