How To Find The Best Gadget Insurance
Editorial Note: This content has been independently collected by the Forbes Advisor team and is offered on a non-advised basis. This content is not part of the comparison service provided by Comparison Creator Limited. Forbes Advisor may earn a commission on sales made from partner links on this page, but that doesn’t affect our editors’ opinions or evaluations.
Gadget insurance can cover the cost of replacing or repairing your smartphone, laptop or other devices if they’re broken, lost or stolen. Policies offer different levels of coverage and come at different premiums depending on your devices.
This can make choosing a policy difficult, and it’s why we did some research to help you find the best insurance for your phone and gadgets, as well as offering answers to some of your most commonly asked questions about gadget insurance.
What are the best deals?
The best gadget insurance deals offer the most comprehensive cover for your phone, laptop, tablet, e-reader and so forth at the lowest price. This includes protection against theft, accidental damage, liquid damage and loss – wherever you are in the world.
Our research will help you find out how the major UK gadget insurers compare in terms of price, coverage and exclusions to help you decide what could be the best policy for you.
Best Gadget Insurance Providers Of 2022
Methodology
We ran quotes on major gadget insurers’ websites to cover a 64GB Apple iPhone 12 and a 256GB Macbook Air (2020). We then ranked the results from cheapest to most expensive.
To arrive at our Forbes Advisor star rankings, we also considered other factors such as the range of excess customers have to pay to make a claim, the maximum number of devices they can add to a policy, annual claims limits and what level of cover each policy provided.
Gadget insurance explained
Gadget insurance protects your valuable electronics against damage, theft and loss. For a fixed monthly premium, you get the peace of mind that your devices will be repaired or replaced should something happen to them.
While other insurance policies can offer this protection e.g. accidental damage cover on a home insurance policy, gadget insurance policies are tailored specifically to the devices you want to cover and as such, could offer more robust protection.
Reasons to get gadget insurance
Gadgets can be expensive and people can be clumsy. With smartphones now regularly topping the £1,000 mark and popular laptops like Apple’s Macbooks retailing for a minimum of that amount, the cost of losing a device or damaging it beyond repair is high.
It’s especially important if you have a smartphone contract because if you lose or destroy the handset, you’ll still have to pay for it until your contract expires. If you’re left to replace it out of your own pocket, you could end up paying for two handsets simultaneously.
What gadget insurance protects against
This varies from one policy to the next, but it’s possible to protect your phone, laptop, Kindle or other gadgets from:
- Accidental damage
- Liquid damage
- Theft
- Loss
- Mechanical breakdown
- Not every policy will include this kind of coverage as standard, but it’s available if you’re willing to pay for it.
What gadget insurance doesn’t protect against
A gadget insurer is likely to turn down any claim that comes as a result of you not taking reasonable care of your gadget to prevent the damage or theft from happening in the first place. For example, if you left your iPhone unattended on a bar and it was stolen, the insurer is likely to reject your claim.
Every insurers’ exclusions are different, which mean some will provide more comprehensive levels of cover than others. It’s important to read policy wording documents carefully to understand what you’re signing up for.
How Much Does Gadget Insurance Cost?
Home insurance may not cover your gadgets
It’s important not to assume your home insurance provides the level of cover you need for your gadgets. For example, your policy might not include accidental damage cover, or the value of your laptop might be higher than your policy’s single-item limit. You should check your policy documents or speak to your insurer before writing off the idea of a separate gadget insurance policy.
The same goes for any cover you might get through your bank account. Smartphone insurance is a perk offered by many banks, but you need to make sure your device is registered with the bank and that the cover provided is sufficient to replace your handset if necessary.
Forbes Advisor adheres to strict editorial integrity standards. To the best of our knowledge, all content is accurate as of the date posted, though offers contained herein may no longer be available. The opinions expressed are the author’s alone and have not been provided, approved, or otherwise endorsed by our partners.