Best Gadget Insurances 2020

 

We’ve ranked the best gadget insurance companies based on the level of cover they offer and customer reviews. We’ve also compared their cover to highlight features that may help you make a decision about getting insurance.

 

Best Gadget Cover

We created our top 10 gadget insurance policies based on real customer reviews, a score relating to the quality of cover from an independent financial services rating firm, and any awards a company has won, as opposed to which companies are cheapest. Policies are also rated by customer reviews from websites like Reviewcentre and Trustpilot.

What does A gadget insurance cover?

Gadget insurance policies could include:

• Accidental damage
• Unauthorized calls
• Worldwide cover
• Liquid damage
• Theft
• Loss
• Breakdown

Some of the important things to look for are accidental damage, theft, loss, and breakdown. Most of the gadget insurance policies in our top 10 include this cover as standard.

You might pay a little bit more for insurance that includes cover for these as standard but it’s better than paying for insurance that offers no payout when you lose your phone or iPad.

 

What types of gadgets does gadget insurance cover?

• Laptops
• Mobile phones
• iPods
• iPads
• Photographic equipment
• SatNavs
• Smartwatches
• e-Readers

Do you need gadget insurance?

Consider the price of the gadgets you own: do you own a phone that costs £1,000 or an older one that is less than £300? If you have an iPhone X, paying £10 a month for a gadget insurance policy might be a good idea as it can cost you hundreds of pounds to replace or service it in case of damage.

Although travel and contents insurance might have certain levels of cover for gadgets, the limits are usually low and the protection may not be sufficient to protect your expensive laptop or mobile.

That said your home insurance policy might offer a certain level of cover for certain types of home electronics. For example, you might want to check whether your game console is covered by your home policy before including it in your gadget insurance policy as this might increase your premiums.

How much is gadget insurance?

This is how much some of the most popular phones and gadgets cost to insure:

• Apple watch Series 4 – About £9.43 per month
• iPhone XS 256GB – About £9.38 per month
• Google Pixel 3 128GB – £6.35 per month

The above quotes were obtained in November 2018 from CoveCloud.

Gadget insurance comparison table

In the table below we compare the best gadget insurance policies, including looking at loss and worldwide cover and the maximum age the gadget can be. All of the policies in our top 10 include theft, accidental damage and liquid damage.

Most have no limit on the number of claims you can make but it’s important you check whether your provider includes a limit.

It’s important to consider the excess, this is the amount you will have to cover if you make a claim. Although most of the insurers in the table below have similar excesses, there’s still a big difference between £25 and £75, especially if you’re getting cover for a cheaper phone.

Gadget insurance policy	Loss Cover	Worldwide Cover	Average age of gadgets (month)	Excess
Loveit Coverit Premium	✔	Unlimited	36	£25-£80 depending on the value of gadget and type of claim
Row	Optional	Up to 90 days a year	12	£40-£80 depending on the value of gadget and type of claim
Protect Your Bubble	Optional	Unlimited	12	£50, £75 or £100 depending on the gadget
Debenhams The Gadget Insurance Ultimate Cover	✔	Up to 120 days a year	36	£25, £50, £75 or £100 depending on device and claim
Gadget Cover Supercover	Optional	Up to 180 days a year	18	£50 or £75 depending on the type of gadget and claim
Helpucover Gadget and Mobile Phone Insurance	✔	Up to 90 days a year	36	£50
Leisure Guard Gold	✔	Up to 90 days a year	18	£50, £75 or £100
I-Digital Essential Plus and Premier	✔	Up to 90 days a year	24	£25 or £50
Switched On Insurance Ultimate	✔	Up to 120 days a year	36	£25-£150 depending on the value of gadget and type of claim
Cover Cloud Elite	✔	Up to 90 days a year	36	£50, £75 or £100

 

LoveitCoverit gadget insurance review

 

LoveitCoverit offers two tiers of cover: Plus and Premium – the information in our table are based on LoveitCoverit’s Premium cover.

LoveitCoverit will cover accidental damage and liquid damage and loss and theft on the Premium cover anywhere in the world. Unauthorized use is included for up to £10,000 on the Premium policy. LoveitCoverit will insure older devices as long as they are not older than three years. The policy includes a 12-month warranty on replacements.

The Premium policy allows unlimited claims and repairs.

You can get a quote from LoveitCoverit here. They offer a 10% discount when you insure more than one device.

LoveitCovertit’s mobile phone insurance is underwritten by AXA and is rated 5 Stars by independent review site Defaqto, making it ‘an excellent product with a comprehensive range of features and benefits’. On customer review site Trustpilot, LoveitCoverit currently has an 8.6/10 rating for its mobile phone insurance.

 

Gadget Insurance Reviews

Gadget Cover gadget insurance review

Gadget Cover is a fairly small UK company, offering insurance for phones, laptops and other gadgets. Its gadget insurance protects against theft, accidental damage, breakdown, and liquid damage, with loss cover as an additional extra.

Gadget Cover is rated 5 Star out of 5 by the independent review site Defaqto. At the time of writing, Gadget Cover currently has a 5.1/10 rating for its mobile phone insurance on customer review site Trustpilot, based on over 851 reviews.

Protect Your Bubble gadget insurance review

Protect Your Bubble gadget insurance offers cover for theft, accidental damage, breakdown and liquid damage, with loss cover as an additional extra.

At the time of writing, Protect your Bubble had a rating of 8.6/10 on Trustpilot based on over 15,000 customer reviews.

You can get a quote at the Protect Your Bubble website.

SwitchedOn gadget insurance review

Switched On’s Ultimate Cover includes accidental damage, breakdown and malicious damage, theft and loss cover. It’s worth noting that theft and loss aren’t included in its more basic policies.

On customer review site Trustpilot, Switched-On has a 7.6/10 rating for its insurance, based on over 200 reviews, and on Feefo it scores 3.9/5 from over 80 reviews in the past year.

i-Digital gadget insurance review

i-Digital offers three tiers of cover: Essential, Essential Plus, and Premier – the information in our table are based on i-Digital’s Premier cover. i-Digital will cover gadgets against theft, accidental damage, and breakdown under all three tiers, with loss cover available under Essential Plus and Premier.

i-Digital has a slightly lower excess than some of the other policies we looked at – £25-£50 depending on the type of gadget and claim.

Gadget Buddy gadget insurance review

The Gadget Buddy policy we reviewed includes cover against accidental damage, breakdown and malicious damage, theft and loss. Theft and loss aren’t included in its more basic policies.

Get a quote from Gadget Buddy.

Gadget Buddy restricts its cover to gadgets up to 18 months old.

On Feefo it scores 4.3 stars out of 5 from 16 reviews.

CoverCloud Gadget Insurance Review

CoverCloud offers three tiers of gadget cover – Standard, Premier, and Elite. Elite Cover protects against both theft and loss, as well as accidental damage and breakdown.

Unlike most other providers, CoverCloud allows you to choose your own level of excess, from £50, £75, and £100 per claim. The higher the excess, the lower your premium.

On customer review site Feefo, it scores 4.4/5 from over 200 reviews in the past year.

InsureMyPocket Gadget Insurance Review

Like many other gadget insure providers, Insure My Pocket offers three tiers of cover – Silver, Gold, and Platinum. We focused on Platinum, which provides cover against theft and loss, as well as accidental damage.

Helpucover Gadget Insurance Review

Helpucover gadget insurance offers cover for theft, accidental damage, breakdown, and liquid damage and loss.

Unlike the rest of the policies and providers we looked at, Helpucover offers a fixed price of £14.99 a month. The policy gives you a maximum of £1,500 worth of cover each year, and you can register an unlimited number of gadgets worth under £150 (such as cameras or sat navs).

Helpucover also has a fixed excess of £50 per claim.

InsureandGo Gadget Insurance Review

Insure and Go gadget insurance offers two tiers of cover – Standard, and Elite. Elite includes protection against theft and loss as well as accidental damage and breakdown.

Like CoverCloud, Insure, and Go gadget insurance allows you to choose your own level of excess.

 

Are you already covered under your home insurance?

Home insurance policies sometimes include gadgets as part of your home contents cover, which means that your laptop, phone or tablet could already be covered for theft from the home or if there’s a fire. If you have accidental damage cover, your gadgets may also be covered for accidental damage while they’re in your house.

However, it’s important to note that your gadgets won’t be covered while you’re out and about unless you take out additional personal possessions cover.

It might not add much to your premium but be aware that the excess might be higher than with a specialist gadget insurance policy, and you may lose any hard-earned no claims discount if you make a claim.

See if your home insurance provider made it into our Top 10.

 

Common exclusions – don’t get caught out!

Gadget insurers have come under fire recently for having exclusions that many people think would be covered under a normal policy.

Make sure you read the small print of any policy documents to avoid getting caught out. These are some common exclusions and qualifications:

• Theft While you may think that theft cover would protect gadgets like your phone or laptop from all situations, some insurers specify that your gadget must be taken by force. So if your phone is stolen from your back pocket while you’re at a concert, for example, you might not be covered
• Reasonable care Some companies may refuse your claim if you didn’t take ‘reasonable care’ for a claim of loss or theft – this might translate to leaving your phone or laptop on a train, or in a coffee shop. Always check the small print of any policy to check what’s covered under ‘loss’
• Your gadget’s age Insurers sometimes take a hardline, and won’t insure gadgets over a year old. If you’ve got something older, check out Debenhams, which insures gadgets up to 36 months old
• Proof of purchase Insurers will need proof of purchase if you make a claim in the form of a receipt or similar. This means that second-hand gadgets are unlikely to covered, and you’ll find it hard to get covered if you’ve lost your receipt
• Delayed police report Some insurers specify that you must tell the police if your gadget is lost or stolen within a certain time. This is usually 24 hours, but sometimes can be as little as 12 hours
• Water damage While some insurers include water damage as part of accidental damage, some don’t, so if you’re prone to dropping your phone down the toilet, be sure to check the small print