If you’ve just renewed your home contents insurance, did you check that everything was included? Although you may think that your high-tech gadgets are covered, upgrading your laptop without upgrading your insurance cover may leave precious items off your inventory in the event of a claim. So what should you consider if you’re a gadget geek but still want to make sure you’re covered?
It may surprise you to learn that taking out home insurance does not automatically mean that all of your possessions are covered by the policy. The exceptions to the rule tend to be those gadgets that we take with is whenever we leave home, such as MP3 players and mobile phones. The difficulty for many insurers is that, as technology is continually advancing, their policies simply cannot keep up, meaning that many consumers are discovering that some of their possessions are not covered. However, there are specialist insurance policies available that can offer you protection against the loss, theft or damage of any gadgets you may own.
[Specialist insurance, known as ‘gadget insurance’ is becoming more popular with people who own technological tools. Generally, these types of policy offer you coverage for up to five named items, although you can add further gadgets at extra cost. Items typically insured in this way include mobile phones, MP3 players, portable games consoles, PDAs, Satellite Navigation systems, cameras, camcorders, personal media players, laptops and PCs. Part of the problem for insurers is that, often, the information stored on these items is more valuable than the gadgets themselves. It is worth checking your existing home insurance policy to see exactly what is covered. If you find that certain items are not insured, then you may want to consider taking out a gadget insurance plan.
There are many reasons to carry gadgets, but those you carry can quickly add up to a lot of money. Gadgets may be part of your working toolkit. Simply by carrying an MP3 player, a mobile phone and a laptop, you could be carrying in excess of £1,000 worth of gadgetry every time you leave the house. Taking out a policy to ensure these items can offer you financial protection in the event of unforeseen circumstances.
Gadget insurance policies vary from provider to provider. To ensure that you get the cover you want, it is worth making an inventory of all the high-end gadgets you want to ensure and making a note of their worth. In addition, you may want to consider the cost of any software you have installed or downloaded onto your gadgets; computer software, such as anti-virus programmes, are not inexpensive and their loss can add further costs to your predicament in the event you have to replace a laptop or PC.
The cost of insuring your gadgets can be as important as the cover offered by the policy itself. While gadget insurance is a relatively new concept, more and more insurers are embracing the idea. Consequently, there are a growing number of companies offering different deals and perks to entice consumers. The most important factors for you are to be sure that the company you are dealing with has a good reputation and that the cover you want is supplied at a good premium.
The best solution finding good gadget insurance is to use the Internet. Although gadget insurance is still considered to be specialist insurance, many online comparison websites are already including them on their web pages. Comparison sites take only the basic facts of a policy and display them alongside similar data from other policies, so that you can see at a glance which policy offers you the best cover for your money. As well as the cost of premiums, the information provided often includes the types of gadget you can get cover for and the costs of adding further items to your policy. With the costs of gadgets increasing in accordance with their usefulness, taking out gadget insurance is the best way to protect your valuable electronics.