Ah the insurance upsell is almost as classic as would-you-like-fries-with-that upsell. Most of the time I will say no. My philosophy is, if it is more of a durable item or has a potential high resale value I’d say yes. I know, a laptop for some is a durable item and it is to a certain extent but because their value drops sharply the moment you walk out the store, it costs less to get a new one.
Some devices will always retain a better resale value than others. I have not researched this part but think most Apple products tend to retain a higher resale value than most gadgets. And the iPad perhaps one of the highest? It is still way too early in the game to tell.
However, after reading Lynn Terry’s painful experience – the iPad slipped and dropped, shattering the glass – I’m thinking this is one I’d definitely want to insure. There are other tablets out there but to date, I think there is a uniqueness to the iPad that would make it worth while.
Poking around I found there are already companies offering insurance for it but not having heard of many of them, it makes me question whether they will be around when I want to make a claim. I did find two.
- SquareTrade – $95.99 for two years, or $135.99 for 3 years, applies to all iPad models, this is a discounted introductory price.
- Safeware – I haven’t heard of them before either though the domain has been around for 16 years – doesn’t mean they have been in business that long but might be worth looking into. Different models have different premiums. for the 64GB + Wifi with International coverage the premium came up to $83.60 a year, may be different based on where you are located.
I would like to thank Lynn for blogging about the experience though. It is a great reminder how fragile some of these slick technology can be.
Photo courtesy of Lynn Terry