Laptop Insurance - Yay or Nay?

[WVMomof3]

DD is off to college and we just bought her an expensive macbook. I am wondering about laptop insurance. Worth it? Does anyone have any experience? I was looking at SquareTrade, I believe I have heard of this on the DIS before, but am open to any. It would be $220 with a $75 deductible for 2 years of coverage. I would not normally get insurance, but am thinking that laptop is going to get lugged around a lot in college so a lot of potential for dropping/spills etc. Any insight?

 

[Albort]

Is she someone who is reckless with her stuff(no offense!!!)? if so, it might be worth it.

I have my mba for 6 years and it still works like a beauty. Im careful with my stuff though...

 

[MillauFr]

I wouldn't unless the user is careless

 

[CaterFamily]

With the cost of laptops being so low - $220+ $75 = $295. That's around 60-80% of a basic laptop right there. No value IMO.

 

[Bree]

We bought AppleCare for my Macbook Pro. My laptop was nearly $2K. There was no way I wasn't going to get something to cover it. After employer discounts we basically got the AppleCare for free so it was a no brainer to go with them.

 

[runwad]

I think for college students we need insurance for theft more than anything else, I don't think square trade insures against that :=(

 

[WVMomof3]

With the cost of laptops being so low - $220+ $75 = $295. That's around 60-80% of a basic laptop right there. No value IMO.

I wish it was that cheap! That is the kind we bought for ourselves. LOL Unfortunately, her major required a Macbook Pro. We decided to go with a student Insurance plan that covered both theft and accidental damage. She is not typically careless, if it was always left in her room at home, I would not get the coverage. But you never know about theft on campus or just carrying it between classes, having it out in the dorm, someone else could accidentally harm it also. I feel better with the coverage. I actually let her decide. I told her if anything happened to it, she had to pay to fix or replace it. So I showed her the insurance and gave her a couple different options with deductibles and made her pay the premium as one of her first lesson in adulthood. It was actually cheaper than the SquareTrade and also coverd theft which SquareTrade did not. And it covers other stuff she may have with her in her room.

 

[WVMomof3]

The AppleCare didn't cover everything either. Doesn't' that only cover if the computer malfunctions and not for accidental or theft?

 

[msmayor]

Our daughter had a MacBookPro for school as well (art student) and we bought AppleCare. The only reason she ended up needing it was for battery replacement around two years from purchase...it had been used so many cycles that it wasn't holding a charge. It was a free replacement thanks to the AppleCare.

Check your homeowners insurance. We called ours to ask about coverage of her stuff for theft and the laptop was included. She was actually covered for about $10k worth of stuff away from school; the computer was the bulk of 'value' she had, so we didn't need any other extra coverage.

 

[WVMomof3]

Our daughter had a MacBookPro for school as well (art student) and we bought AppleCare. The only reason she ended up needing it was for battery replacement around two years from purchase...it had been used so many cycles that it wasn't holding a charge. It was a free replacement thanks to the AppleCare.

Check your homeowners insurance. We called ours to ask about coverage of her stuff for theft and the laptop was included. She was actually covered for about $10k worth of stuff away from school; the computer was the bulk of 'value' she had, so we didn't need any other extra coverage.

She is covered under our homeowners. It would be covered for theft but not accidental damage. And it would be covered under our deductible of $1000.

 

[CaterFamily]

I wish it was that cheap! That is the kind we bought for ourselves. LOL Unfortunately, her major required a Macbook Pro. We decided to go with a student Insurance plan that covered both theft and accidental damage. She is not typically careless, if it was always left in her room at home, I would not get the coverage. But you never know about theft on campus or just carrying it between classes, having it out in the dorm, someone else could accidentally harm it also. I feel better with the coverage. I actually let her decide. I told her if anything happened to it, she had to pay to fix or replace it. So I showed her the insurance and gave her a couple different options with deductibles and made her pay the premium as one of her first lesson in adulthood. It was actually cheaper than the SquareTrade and also coverd theft which SquareTrade did not. And it covers other stuff she may have with her in her room.

Art/music student?

 

[magsmum]

We are also planning on doing the student insurance to cover all of his belongings, including laptop. The big draw for me is that the policy is around the $200 mark, but the deductible is only $25. Much better deductible than through our home owners. All electronics, bike etc. brought to school will be covered in full, including accidental damange and/or theft of laptop. It's our first year with one at college, so doing it for peace of mind.

 

[runwad]

^ I'm going to look into student insurance at my DDs school. I"m real worried about her phone. She bought it outright and I'd hate for that to get stolen. Our home owners deductible is too high to be of any real help in a theft of any of her items.

 

[tvguy]

I wish it was that cheap! That is the kind we bought for ourselves. LOL Unfortunately, her major required a Macbook Pro. We decided to go with a student Insurance plan that covered both theft and accidental damage. She is not typically careless, if it was always left in her room at home, I would not get the coverage. But you never know about theft on campus or just carrying it between classes, having it out in the dorm, someone else could accidentally harm it also. I feel better with the coverage. I actually let her decide. I told her if anything happened to it, she had to pay to fix or replace it. So I showed her the insurance and gave her a couple different options with deductibles and made her pay the premium as one of her first lesson in adulthood. It was actually cheaper than the SquareTrade and also coverd theft which SquareTrade did not. And it covers other stuff she may have with her in her room.

Realistically from a insurance standpoint, unless your child is very unlucky, you probably should consider out of pocketing a loss that small. Yes, it may be $2,000 but insurance is for catastrophic losses, like your $30,000 car being totaled or your $400,000 burning down......your deductible on insurance should be at least $1,000, again, strictly playing the odds to save money. I know there is some value to having piece of mind, and shelling out $2,000 would not be fun, but looking at the stats, you will be money ahead this way.

 

[WVMomof3]

She paid $88 for a one year policy with a $50 deductible. I thought that was a fair deal. And she will hopefully will not have to use it.

 

[tiggerluver12]

Who did you get the insurance thru?

 

[Mrs. Ciz]

DD is off to college and we just bought her an expensive macbook. I am wondering about laptop insurance. Worth it? Does anyone have any experience? I was looking at SquareTrade, I believe I have heard of this on the DIS before, but am open to any. It would be $220 with a $75 deductible for 2 years of coverage. I would not normally get insurance, but am thinking that laptop is going to get lugged around a lot in college so a lot of potential for dropping/spills etc. Any insight?

She is covered under our homeowners. It would be covered for theft but not accidental damage. And it would be covered under our deductible of $1000.

Last year we purchased DS's college laptop through his college's bookstore program. They preloaded all the necessary software for his major onto the computer for him. All repairs are covered with front of the line repair service, and a free loaner is given to the student during the repair. In addition the laptop is insured for drops, spills and guaranteed for 4 years of service. If it dies before the 4 years are up, it is replaced for free.

ETA: He did in fact use the program insurance once last year. His internet stopped working. Very bad when half your coursework is online! Turns out the internet card had shaken loose. He got a loaner, had it fixed at no cost and didn't miss a beat in his classes.

While he was living in the dorms, our homeowners covered him for theft. He is in an off campus apartment this year. The lease terms require $100,000 liability insurance, so we got a policy that covers liability and his stuff for $135/year.

 

[mommycrawford]

i love square trade warranties! My DDs laptop screen cracked, in what seemed to be a weather change incident . When they could not replace the screen, and I was not happy with replacements offered, my full purchase price was refunded. You just have to compare cost of a qualitative replacement vs. cost of a warranty.

 

[WVMomof3]

Who did you get the insurance thru?

We went through nssi. Recommended by someone on the Class of 2016 thread on the Community Board.

 

[powellrj]

We got Apple care for DS and he had it worked on 3 times so it was well worth it for him