Three Quarters of Lost, Damaged and Stolen Mobile Phones are Uninsured

A recent poll by a leading online mobile phone insurance service has revealed that a staggering number of Britons risk going uninsured when it comes to their mobile phones and suffer as a result; with three quarters of people from around the UK admitting that they’ve had their mobile phone stolen, lost or damaged whilst the handset was uninsured.

Despite being so attached to their mobile phones, the majority of Britons are still forgoing insurance policies for their handsets in the hope that nothing will go wrong. However, a new poll by a mobile phone insurance website in the UK has revealed that three quarters of British adults have found themselves with a lost, stolen or damaged phone whilst they didn’t have the handset insured.
www.MobileInsurance.co.uk carried out the poll as part of ongoing research into the number of Britons that don’t insure their mobile phones. 2,467 UK adults took part in the research and respondents were asked about their own experiences when it came to their mobile phones and having previous handsets become lost, stolen or broken.
When asked, ‘Have you ever had a mobile phone lost, stolen or become broken?’ the majority, 81% of those taking part said ‘yes’. These people were then asked if, at the time that their last handset was lost, stolen or broken, they had had a mobile phone insurance policy to cover whatever happened. 74% of those who had seen something unfortunate happen to their handset weren’t insured at the time.
These people were then asked why they hadn’t had a mobile phone insurance policy at the time, to which a fifth, 21%, thought that anything going wrong with their phone, including theft and loss, would be covered under warranty. Furthermore, 42% said that they ‘hadn’t got round’ to getting insurance and 17% incorrectly assumed they ‘wouldn’t need it’.
All respondents who had experienced their mobile phone becoming lost, stolen or damaged whilst the handset in question was uninsured were asked how much money, if any, they had been required to fork out afterwards to resolve the issue. The average answer stated was “£145.00” when taking into account the amounts stated for replacement phones and repairs.
Jason Brockman, Director at MobileInsurance.co.uk, said the following:
“It’s still unbelievable to think that the majority of mobile phones out there continue to go uninsured. I’m sure plenty of people would agree that it’d be hard to imagine life without our handsets these days; it’s hard to think back to a time when not everyone had a phone that could connect to the internet, take high quality photos and much, much more.
“This poll has shown that if, like the majority of people, you risk not getting an insurance policy for your handset, you could end up hundreds of pounds out of pocket if something goes wrong. Hopefully, of course, nothing will go wrong – but the fact that 81% had experienced a lost, stolen or broken phone at some point doesn’t bode well for anyone else.”