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Insurance on X. Worth it? Yes, no, opinions...

It's kinda funny, I'm going around about this myself.

I have carried an expensive smartphone for over 2 years now, and carried "dumb" phones before that. I have never, ever broken a phone. I don't drop my phones, I don't dunk them in the water, and I don't carry things in my pocket with the phone. Thus, when I bought my DX, I didn't sign up for insurance figuring I wouldn't need it (don't have the DX yet, awaiting shipment).

Murphy's Law being what it is, though, I dropped my iPhone for the first time this weekend and cracked the screen. Ugh.

Now, I know the iPhone's screen replacement procedure is definitely doable at home for little money - I don't know how the Droid X is for that. But it's definitely making me think about adding insurance.
 
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If you look at it just using general math.... if you didnt have it... your at 600 for a new phone (ruff numbers) if you did have it your at 90 for a new phone. take 90 out of the 600, so your at 510, devide that by 7 (cost for ins per month) give you 72 months... so if you paid the insurance for 72 months, plus the deductible, youd be at the price for a replacement phone... with that said, you should be able to renew your contract in two years so you wont be paying the 6 years worth of ins.
so IMO, yeah its worth it cause youll only pay around 250 over the next 2 years for it including the deductable
 
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On a phone that costs >$500 to replace, I chose to go with insurance. However, I went with squaretrade instead of Asurion. I've personally had good luck with them. FYI, Squaretrade is running a coupon for $99 for two years for the X (Which works out to ~$4.13/mo). Code: DROID45

I think it will be valid for a couple of weeks. Some discussion here:
I went with squaretrade instead of VW and Asurion
 
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Totally worth it. Total equipment coverage (including extended warranty beyond the 1 year manufacturer warranty) is $7.99 per month with Verizon through Asurion. That's $191.76 over the course of your 24 month contract (or $159.80 over 20 months if you upgrade at your NE2 date). Add $89 for the deductible, and you're still under $300 to replace a phone that would cost you $600 (by the time you add tax) to replace. Of course, if you're willing to take the chance on nothing happening to your phone and can cough up $600 at one time, then you may not be inclined to purchase insurance. I personally would not be without it.
 
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If you can, get it through your homeowners insurance. It costs me about $12 a year to insure a $600 phone. There is no deductible, it covers theft, breakage, water damage, just about thing you can think of. And since it's covered under a rider on your policy, if you make a claim, it does not affect your premium.

The best part is you get a check and you get whatever phone you want. You don't have to deal with asurion, there is no $80-100 deductible and it's definitely a cost effective deal.

But, YMMV. Not all insurance companies will insure smartphones. Check yours and save some money. I go through MetLife. I know Geico does not.

I have 3 phones insured with ML. It costs me about $36 a year. Each phone is insured for $600.
 
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If you can, get it through your homeowners insurance. It costs me about $12 a year to insure a $600 phone. There is no deductible, it covers theft, breakage, water damage, just about thing you can think of. And since it's covered under a rider on your policy, if you make a claim, it does not affect your premium.

T

Homeowners does not, however, extend the warranty beyond 1 year, which the VZW total coverage package ($7.99 per month) does. Therefore, if there is a problem with the phone's operation, your homeowners will not cover it.
 
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Homeowners does not, however, extend the warranty beyond 1 year, which the VZW total coverage package ($7.99 per month) does. Therefore, if there is a problem with the phone's operation, your homeowners will not cover it.

Were there a problem with the phone's operation that, say, accidentally resulted in the phone being bounced off the nearest concrete surface, though, homeowner's would kick in ;)
 
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Just to be clear, if you want to use your homeowners/renters policy to insure your phone be sure you have it on a rider or schedule. If it is not on a rider/schedule the claim will be subject to your deductible which is usually $250 or $500.

Also, homeowners policies are meant to replace your house if it burns and to provide liability coverage for your personal protection. With that in mind talk to your agent about what might happen to your premium if you turn in a $600 claim. That's small potatoes but not exactly what the policy is designed to do. If your rates would increase $250 a year for 3 years there not much point in even adding it to your policy in the first place. There are premium penalties for turning in large claims as well as for claims frequency. If you've never used your policy before $600 might not effect your rates at all. If you had storm damage last year and the policy paid $1,000 another $600 claim might trigger an increase.

Disclosure: I'm an IT manager in the insurance industry - i.e. I know just enough about insurance to be dangerous and a lot more about IT.
 
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Just to be clear, if you want to use your homeowners/renters policy to insure your phone be sure you have it on a rider or schedule. If it is not on a rider/schedule the claim will be subject to your deductible which is usually $250 or $500.

Also, homeowners policies are meant to replace your house if it burns and to provide liability coverage for your personal protection. With that in mind talk to your agent about what might happen to your premium if you turn in a $600 claim. That's small potatoes but not exactly what the policy is designed to do. If your rates would increase $250 a year for 3 years there not much point in even adding it to your policy in the first place. There are premium penalties for turning in large claims as well as for claims frequency. If you've never used your policy before $600 might not effect your rates at all. If you had storm damage last year and the policy paid $1,000 another $600 claim might trigger an increase.

Disclosure: I'm an IT manager in the insurance industry - i.e. I know just enough about insurance to be dangerous and a lot more about IT.

But add on riders DO work differently. We have my wife's engagement ring on a separate rider and if she looses it, we can file a claim that should not effect the base policy on the house. The phone insurance (if available) would work the same way.
 
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Just to be clear and I've been a homeowner for 30 plus years, all of our items not covered under the homeowners policy is on riders. It has to be. You pay extra to cover the stuff not covered under the normal policy. Jewelry is the number one item on a rider to your policy.

We have made several claims on a rider policy and it has not affected our homeowners policy premium. That being said, I'm sure if it were abused enough they would either raise your rider premium or just outright cancel your policy.

I have talked extensively with our insurance agent and we were assured that any claims to a rider policy would not change our premium. But, see above.

Having your smartphone, laptop, jewelry insured on a rider to your homeowners is the best option as far as I'm concerned. It doesn't matter if your item is under warranty. In fact, we have all of my wife's jewelry insured, including her wedding ring, which I won't say is how old. :)

I refuse to pay $8-9 a month to insure a phone through whomever and then to add insult to injury another $80-90 deductible when this other option exists. If you can get it through your homeowners, it's worth it's weight in gold.
 
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Question: would the replacement phone be new via VZW/Asurion or a refurb?

I've got insurance on my X, but when I had to replace my daughter's EnvTouch (no insurance), I was able to buy a refurb for $200.

Both. When I had to get a replacement droid, it was refurbed. When I got a replacement incred, it was brand new.
 
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