Is it worth getting mobile phone insurance when buying a used mobile phone? Or do you get enough protection from your home insurance?
In this article, we take a closer look at our own Refurbly Care phone insurance and compare it with the home insurance's all-risk cover (also called junk insurance).
The biggest difference between phone insurance and all-risk cover is of course that home insurance covers all your things in the home, not just the mobile.
We will focus on the mobile phone in particular and what applies to an insurance case when it breaks.
Briefly about our phone insurance Refurbly Care
Refurbly Care is our own product insurance (in collaboration with Omocom) that you can take out when you order a used mobile phone here at Refurbly.
Refurbly Care is insurance that provides protection against most things and at a very good price.
For only SEK 595 per year (or SEK 49/month when ordering a mobile phone with a subscription) you get:
- Protection against screen breakage, damage, theft and loss
- No age deduction (more on this later)
- Low deductible (from only SEK 299)
- Screen protector included (value SEK 349)
The insurance also covers used mobile phones!
What is the difference between phone insurance and the all-risk cover in home insurance?
As we already mentioned, home insurance not only covers the mobile phone, but it also gives you protection against accidents on all your gadgets at home.
All-risk insurance gives you protection against damage and accidents even if you caused the damage yourself. However, home insurance does not provide protection against cosmetic damage (such as a cracked screen) if the mobile phone otherwise works flawlessly. With phone insurance, however, you would receive compensation even for a cracked screen.
The deductible when the accident occurs
Perhaps the biggest and most interesting difference between our phone insurance and the all-risk cover is that the home insurance comes with a higher deductible.
Comprehensive insurance: The basic deductible is usually SEK 1,500. There is also an age deduction on your mobile phone if it is a few years old.
Refurbly Care: If your mobile phone is damaged, the excess at each time of damage is SEK 199 for mobile phones with a value up to SEK 10,000, respectively SEK 499 for a mobile phone between SEK 10,001 - 20,000.
Age deduction on your used mobile phone
With home insurance, you can count on a rather large age deduction on your mobile phone when it is a few years old.
The fact is that insurance companies often reduce the value of your mobile phone by as much as 50% compared to the new price already after 1-2 years. This despite the fact that mobile phones can sometimes be sold for thousands of kroner more on the used market.
So how does phone insurance differ from this?
By subscribing to Refurbly Care so you don't have to worry about the age of your mobile phone. There is no age deduction at all, no matter how old the mobile phone you bought.
Yes, you read that right: No age deduction on your mobile phone with Refurbly Care!
Together with Omocom, we can offer phone insurance that is, for the first time, favorable even for you who are smart and buy a used mobile phone.
What compensation can be expected from the two different insurances?
It's hard to give a definitive answer because it depends on which cell phone you own, which insurance company you use, and other factors.
So to give as helpful an answer as possible, we will paint a scenario for each type of insurance with a used mobile phone that breaks. This is to give you an idea of what a typical insurance case might look like.
Compensation from home insurance
Let's say you drop your iPhone 11 and it breaks. You bought it a year ago. Home insurance covers the damage and you receive compensation for your broken mobile phone.
An equivalent mobile phone is sold today for SEK 5,000, but since the iPhone 11 is 3 years old, the age deduction ends up being a whopping 70%.
The mobile phone is therefore valued at SEK 1,500 (5,000 x 0.3) according to the insurance company. The deductible is SEK 1,500 and you will therefore receive SEK 0 in compensation.
Reimbursement from phone insurance Refurbly Care
You drop your iPhone 11 on the floor so that the screen shatters after 1 year. The phone insurance covers the damage (unlike the home insurance because only the screen was broken.)
A similar iPhone 11 is sold today for SEK 5,000. With Refurbly Care, there is no age deduction (regardless of the age of the mobile phone) and therefore the mobile phone is still valued at SEK 5,000.
The excess ends up at SEK 299 and you receive SEK 4,701 in compensation.
The phone insurance is SEK 49/month, so after a year (when the accident happened) you have paid SEK 588 for the protection. Add the deductible and you end up with a total of SEK 887.
It is a fraction of what it can cost to have to hand in the mobile phone for repair, where the bill can end up at SEK 2,000-3,000.
