Most students are now expected to own a laptop computer by the University as part of the course, whilst worrying parents insist on the departure of their children is accompanied by the latest mobile phone; a simple trick to make sure the parents can ring their child whenever they want to check they are safe!

A high percentage of new students will head for University halls of residence for the first year of the course. For most of the students, this will be the first real time they have left home and had to fend and finance for themselves, which for many, this will prove to be a learning curve to say the least.

As the new student will be away from home for the first time, along with hundreds of other students, excessive partying is part of the course. There will be plenty of occasions throughout the first year when things will get out of control, especially when alcohol has been involved with young adults who have just found freedom!

Going back ten or twenty years things were roughly the same, except without the modern gadgets like laptops, mobiles and iPods. So when partys continued in the halls of residence after the student bars had shut, but there was not the same sort of valuable items in the students rooms.

Today the value side of things is rather different, electronic devices can easily add up to £1500 and that’s on the budget side of the market. With all of the potential dangers to these products from excited, partying students, it may well be worth considering Laptop Insurance that will cover for accidental damage and theft, but make sure water damage is included, as with all the partys, a knocked over bottle of drink could easily destroy a new laptop in seconds!

Now you could check your home contents insurance, as many companies offer ‘an away from home’ type of cover for expensive items, if you consider this method you should be aware of the following two points. Know what the excess fee will be, as is often a lot higher than stand alone policies.  The second and important point that is worth knowing about is, if you make a claim on your home contents insurance, will you loose your no claims bonus? and or will the policy renewal premium sky rocket as you have made a claim?

When you make a claim on a stand alone policy the policy will often end after a claim, so you just take out a new policy at the same price.

Stand alone iPhone Insurance may well be worth a look at as well, but as with the Student Laptop Insurance, it is best to make sure water damage is included within the policy, as some insurance companies exclude water damage from the policy. This practise sounds a bit strange, but its just the way the insurance business works and manages their risks. So to get best value from stand alone insurance, check for water damage, as students will damage or destroy thousands of electronic items with spilt liquids in the coming year!

Thanks for reading, Dave Groom.

After landing at a Spanish Airport after a very smooth flight with easy jet. I reached in to my pocket and removed my mobile phone, as the seatbelt light had just gone out I decided to switch it on and change the time to the new time zone which was one hour in front of UK time. Just as I switched it on the captain announced over the radio that mobile phones had to remain powered down until you were inside the terminal building, this was to comply with Spanish legislation. To avoid a telling off from one of the cabin staff, I quickly pounced on the on/off to switch the thing off!

This on/off button has caused me a problem a few times lately, when the power button is pressed, nothing happens, It was bound to be s*ds law that my mobile would be bound to blast out its loud ringtone any second! I decided rather than suffer the embarrassment of being caught with my phone on I would quickly pull off the rear cover and remove the battery!

Mobile Phone Insurance

Getting my finger nails under the corner of the battery I gave it a quick tug and the phone jumped out of my grip – after hitting the hard corner of the outer seat row that I was sitting on! Well at least the battery was out and the phone was now off, the battery was lying in the middle of the isle, just one row in front of me. I picked up the phone and the battery and started to place them together again. That was when I realised the LCD screen on my N95 was cracked! Now at this point I would normally have emitted a few words that I would not want my children to hear, but today that was not the case!

Quite simply as this was just the start of the holiday, a damaged mobile was not going to get me down! The fact was, I was actually grinning to myself about the misfortune of my N95, you see just three days before travelling, at the same time as purchasing some Travel Insurance I decided to purchase some Nokia Mobile Phone Insurance !

Now I have never insured my phone before, I have never really seen the point. But after being advised by my network provider that the replacement value was around £400 for this phone and being aware I was off on my holidays for a couple of weeks of Sun, Sand, Sea and plenty of sangria I bit my lip and purchased some Mobile Phone Insurance. I am so glad that my mobile was protected, -just £6.00 a month and it’s saved me nearly £400 straight away!

Happy Holidays…

read more | digg story

read more | digg story

We all love our mobile phones, many of us will go nowhere without our small, but much loved phone friend. But you may be surprised to learn, as a nation in general, how we regularly abuse our mobile friends!

We could all benefit well from the right Mobile Phone Insurance, especially after the release of insurance company figures. This becomes increasingly more understandable when you analyse the data and notice that in the UK more than 2,000,000 phones suffered water damage, accidental damage, loss or theft.

When taking note of the facts above, you may have a change of heart and decide to invest in mobile phone insurance to cover your phone if the worst happens. At this point it would be wise to take a step back, as not all Mobile Phone Insurance cover is the same. There are some insurance providers that write out of the cover offered, important modules such as loss and even water damage.

This may sound like outlandish behaviour on their behalf, but emitting certain areas of risk from policies is all but to common in the insurance world, they are effectively managing their profits at your risk. Now I would find that satisfactory if they advised upfront that water damage was not covered in the policy and clearly advise you of this in the products ‘Key Description’. More often than not, this will not be advised to you when you purchase your insurance, but hidden away somewhere in the small print and will only come to light if you make a claim.

Unfortunately for the unsuspecting consumer this is completely legal, as the insurance company will have made reference to this in the terms and conditions (known to us as the small print ). The only way to avoid this situation would be to read all of the terms and conditions before you take up the Mobile Phone Insurance product.

Another point well worth taking note of is price. It does not follow that the more you pay the better the quality of the insurance. In fact, with some policies it can be quite the opposite. You may well find a big variation in cost, so it is worth shopping around for the cheapest Mobile Phone Insurance that offers you the cover you require to protect your mobile phone.

read more | digg story

Water and Accidental Damage (or should we be thinking more along the alcohol damage line) are the 2 main reasons for Insurance Claims for damaged Laptops and Notebooks, yet many Insurance Company’s Exclude Water Damage. Check the Terms and Conditions Before you Buy, so you know just what you will be covered for.
It seems a bit cheeky that some laptop insurance companies would exclude water damage, but that is life and over time you will notice Insurance Companies rarely cover you for everything you think they might!

Many people automatically assume that because they have purchased Laptop Insurance Cover they will be covered for loss, only to find when making a claim that loss was not included in the policy. Whilst some people find this out too late, others are aware they are not covered for loss, so they report the laptop as stolen so they can claim on their Laptop Insurance under the theft cover, this practise can then become insurance fraud, so its always good practice to check the terms and conditions of any insurance policy to make sure you will be covered for the loss of your laptop computer to protect yourself from this situation.

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