Renters/contents insurance or gadget insurance

thisistough

Hi all

I haven't used this forum before so sorry if this is in the wrong place!

I'm a student living in a rented apartment in Dublin. I recently smashed my phone and had to pay the bones of €200 to get it fixed, I've never had insurance on any of my possessions. Since I don't own my apartment I obviously can't get standard home insurance, so I want to look into what options are open to me.

I don't have anything all that expensive apart from my electronics- iPhone, iPad and laptop worth approx €1100. All my clothes etc are cheap so not too worried about that at all. I've done a lot of googling and can't really find any sort of renters insurance, but would contents insurance be the best thing? Would this cover my electronics outside of the home? I've also looked at gadget insurance but I'm put off by the fact that none of the companies offering it seem to be well known. Also the excesses are fairly high and maximum claim amounts too low to cover any of my gadgets.

Any advice greatly appreciated

To Elland Back

Contents insurance for tenants is readily available from all the main players, providing you are in a self contained unit. You won't get it if you just have a room in an open communal dwelling with others. Even then you would need to add 'All Risks' cover to have accidental damage or loss outside the home for your electronics

Gadget insurance is probably your best option but I don't know prices or exclusions

Corvo

OP, I use gadgetinsurance.com who are underwritten by Blue Insurance, a reputable insurer.

I bought an IPhone 6 in November 2014 when they were valued at over €1,000 and I was getting cover including accidental damage and loss cover for a total of €7.99 per month.

Give them a try.

Toots

I'd go for gadget insurance for the likes of your phone, because if you're trying to claim for a repair to your phone off your house insurance there's probably going to be an excess of €100 to €200, which is nearly what the repair would cost.

Not sure about the likes of cameras/laptops etc, but you can definitely get contents insurance if you're renting, as To Elland Back said, providing you're not just renting a room.

I've got my phone insured through Pier and it's €12.99 per month. I've made a few claims over the years and it's all been very straightforward. Most recently I dropped my HTC One and the screen smashed. They classified it as beyond economical repair, and because they didn't have any of them in stock anymore, I got sent a new M9 instead! There's an excess of €50 per claim.

dennyk

Damn, €13 a month and a €50 excess per claim sounds a bit ridiculous, unless you use your phone for a coaster or play catch with it on a regular basis. That's more than the cost of a decent new phone over a couple years.

Toots

dennyk wrote: »

Damn, €13 a month and a €50 excess per claim sounds a bit ridiculous, unless you use your phone for a coaster or play catch with it on a regular basis. That's more than the cost of a decent new phone over a couple years.

Funnily enough I've only ever damaged the phone myself once - hubby and 4 year old son have been the culprits every other time. I change my phone every year, and I'd rather pay €13 per month than have to pay €600 to replace a brand new flagship phone if it got lost or stolen.

dennyk

Toots wrote: »

I change my phone every year, and I'd rather pay €13 per month than have to pay €600 to replace a brand new flagship phone if it got lost or stolen.

Eh, well I guess that's not quite as bad, then, if you're buying a new top-of-the-line phone every year anyway (and have a WMD in the form of a four year old around the house... :pac: ).

Me, I've owned four cell phones in my life; the Nokia 5190 I got when I went to college in 1997 (had to toss it when the analog cell network went away), a Nokia 3530 (got lost or stolen somewhere around 2011 or so, but I'd been thinking of switching to a prepaid provider anyway since T-Mobile was getting too expensive), an LG Optimus V (only worked on Virgin's US network, so I had to replace it when I moved here), and my current unlocked 2nd-gen Moto E. (Well, I guess it's six if you count the Blu Tank dual-sim quad-band that I use when traveling and some disposable prepaid Vodafone candybar I picked up on my first overseas trip... )

Toots

:pac: I never bothered with it before I bought an iphone on billpay and realised that if it smashed/got lost/stolen then I'd be stuck still signed into a contract but without the iphone! I suppose in the interest of fairness to my 4 year old, I should point out that he's only been responsible for one of the phone breakages over the years. 2 were the hubby, one was my cousin who stood on my handbag, and one was me. The insurance company probably think I'm running some sort of grift!