(KRON)—If you got a shiny new gadget on Christmas Day and you’re wondering if you should get insurance on that or an extended warranty.
KRON4’s Tech Reporter Gabe Slate is here to talk about the best options out there.
You never think it’s going to happen to you, but phones and tablets.
They fall out of your hand so easily. Also, snatch and grab thefts are on the rise, so here’s a look at insurance and warranties and what’s the best deal. In the United States, a phone breaks
every 2 seconds.
With a fast enough mischievous child, it can happen in a matter of seconds whether it’s a spill, a dunk, a drop, a bend lost or stolen.
Phones, tablets, laptop are so expensive to replace. Protection plans are worth considering.
If you have an apple product the apple care plus plan offers the best deal for breaks or mishaps.
You can purchase the plan online or in a store, but only within the first 30 days of owning the device.
This plan gives you two years of coverage against malfunction and damage you may cause the device.
If you have a non-Apple device there are 3rd party online warranty companies like SquareTrade that offer coverage.
Their plans are similar to Apple’s covering malfunction and damage you cause.
You can get insurance directly from carriers which is nice because you are charged on your bill. It’s convenient.
The carriers charge more because they are the only ones who cover your device if it gets lost or stolen.
Bottom line: if you’re clumsy and tend to drop your phone a lot or have kids who are always trying to get their hands on it,
The Apple care plan or a SquareTrade plan for non-Apple devices will likely pay off and be worth the money.
If you live or work in a high crime area and are worried about a snatch and grab or lose your phone a lot, consider a carrier insurance plan so you can have that covered.
If you’re not worried about all that, then don’t waste the money.
Most people have one incident per gadget where they have cracked the screen or damaged their device and to do a one-time fix is around $100 which is a lot a cheaper than a 2-year insurance plan and deductible to get something fixed.
