Saving On Insurance

To ensure a smartphone on a dedicated policy can cost £10 or more a month. With handsets having a price comparable to a laptop it is understandable that you want to protect that investment - and once you have a smartphone doing without one quickly becomes almost inconceivable. Opting for a dedicated mobile phone insurance however may not be your best option.



Mobile phone insurance does not take into account individual risk in the same way that other forms of insurance do. Careful mobile phone owners who are good at not losing things have to subsidize the serial phone losers of the world. If you are in this group, well good for you, if not you will be paying to much to insure your mobile.

It is possible to get phone insurance bundled in with other services. Some premium bank accounts and credit cards offer phone insurance as a perk for instance, but obviously it is very important to read the small print,as the cover offered may not be of the highest standard.

Home contents policies frequently include mobile phones, even if they are lost or damaged outside your home. The excess on some of these policies however can be prohibitive, and claiming runs the risk of raising your premiums.

An increasingly popular option is so called 'self insurance'. Calculating your own premium, based on the cost to replace your phone, and simply putting the money aside each month. The best way is to set up a direct debit to an instant access savings account, and then raiding it when a replacement phone needs to be bought. This works best for relatively low value handsets as it could take longer than 6 years at £5 a month to save sufficient funds to pay for a replacement for one of the more expensive smartphones.