Insurance for a Laptop

tech

Im just wondering is there a company out there that will cover a laptop under insurance or will listing it on my home policy cover me?

Catch_22

Listing it on your home policy should be ok afaik, However i dont have one ( rented accomadation ) so i tried a number of companies when i got my laptop with no joy they didnt want to know at all :mad:

so if anyone out there knows of anywhere that does do laptop insurance it would be much appreciated

cheers

c22

dj_deevey

My Mother works in insurance and unfortunatly no company (as far as she's aware) will insure laptops for "outside office" use, mainly down to the number stolen, and then theres also the dodgy employees who sell an older model for shag all to get the latest version

Although if its just for home use your household policy will cover it so long as it doesnt leave the house, and that will probably be written into the fine print on the policy.

Shame their so expensive and so easy to Nick !

Laters

tech

hmm that isint much good if you cant ttake them out of the house, This kinda defeates the purpose of owning a laptop ( There must be some one willing to insure them

marauder

Some insurnace companies do offer "extended cover" on articles that allows you to remove them from the house and still be covered. It ain't cheap though.... Check the fine print with your insurance policy.....

dj_deevey

Iv just sent her a mail to see if there are still any companies that will cover laptops..

The way most companies see it is that if you have a laptop you are going to be using it for buisness use which means it should have company insurance, which also means that you should have public liability insurance too (for example if someone trips over your laptop bag at the top of a stairs while you are out n' about)

i'll let you know how i get on..

laters

Steve

tech

Ok I have looked into this again with my brooker and there is no way they will cover it except if its in the house not much use .....

Saruman

If you got from PC world and got their cover, they do cover theft out of house... but i dont think they insure if its not theirs.

Pimp Ninja

I did some research on this about a month back.

There are no companies that I could find that do the laptop alone.

There are lots of companies that will cover it under yout home contents policy, if it's a specific article that has been mentioned. However not all (read most) of these companies would not cover it while it was outsde the home.

There are some companies that will do it, but you must have your home policy with them. If youre living in rented accomodation then simply.. youre screwed .. soz

RicardoSmith

Can companies do it?

Pimp Ninja

There was a small discussion about this in the Megalan forum (under games) about getting insurance for your PC while at the LAN.

There was a company that did PC's in general, however now they wont entertain you unless you have at least 1000 machines.

Their details are in the thread on the Megalan board, I'm not bothered to go looking ATM...

Capt'n Midnight

a) You can take it as a rule that if you make a claim that is around the size of your premium then you'll you pay it back within five years in increased premiums.

So I would not recommend putting it on your car or house policy.

b) Any computer will halve in value in 18 months to two years, so it might be cheaper over the long term to not buy insurance and just get a loan to buy a second hand notebook if it gets stolen..

c) buy a lock for it - €40/€50 - won't stop a determined thief but will stop some casually walking away with it.

d) not sure on premiums but Dell do a three year cover that is half the price of thier cheapest notebook - does this mean they are ripping people off ? or does it mean that people don't look after their notebooks ?

e) ditch any carry case that looks like it might have a laptop especially if it has a brand name on it.

f) will the insurance pay out ????*
I am sick and tired of PC world (dixons and currys are other brands used by that company) employees trying to tell me that if I buy the insurance I can just damage the camcorder in two years time if I want and get a new one - they are on comission and won't be there when I go back... - I truly dispise sales people who lie to make a sale - especially since I've had to deal with the mess as both a customer and sales support.. - IMHO they should be held personally liable for fraud (with another count of fraud if they fail to mention that conviction on any future CV's)

*I know of someone who had a roof fire and the insurance company paid up promptly and fully. All the neighbours re valued thier policies so the company probably made up it in extra premiums (yes - with house prices the way they are - it is easy to be under insured)

Pimp Ninja

Good sound advice there Midnight. Good post.

Just to perhaps expand on some of it.. Dells 3 year cover is for accidental damage. AFAIR it doesn't cover theft. However from working laptop support for Gateway, there are a hell of a lot of people that can call up after spilling something into a laptop or dropping it. Something like this would usually not be covered by a warranty, as it is not due to fault with the product, more fault of the user. And because of this, dell offer this service.

I'd also think that if they are charging half the price of a laptop to do this then they have themselves covered. Most often damaged part of the laptop after user drops is the screen breaking, and after spillage, the whole system components. The retail, ie to the customer, cost of these repairs vairy from between around 500 to 1000, depending on exact circumstances. However in my experience it has been around the 500 mark. So with that in mind and the fact that they are charging half the value of the laptop, then its not really worth it, ie you can pay for the repairs more cheaply (real bad grammar brain not work well at this hour, you get the idea) unless you are going to do this repeatedly.

The advice on ditching the carry case is sound. I spent a good while going around the different shops looking for something that was a laptop bag that 'didnt really look like a laptop bag.' I thought that this was my own idea, but apparantly other people have it too. It makes great sense all the same, a would-be robber/mugger is going to love a bag that screams "I have a laptop in me, wanna make some fast cash?"

As for the insurance paying out.. Well when you take out a policy, eg a car policy, you get a copy of the full terms and conditions. The same should happen with any insurance that you get. Having the good sense to ask for a copy if the documentation, before purchace, is only common cop-on. Dont just take the sales reps word for it, he just wants the sale. What else would you sign without reading it?