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Laptop insurance
- Accidents:
One thing your normal warranty does not cover is damage or problems with the laptop due to something caused by the user or an accident. If your dog runs through the power cord dragging the laptop off the kitchen table to the ground (true story) and said laptop breaks, you're not covered. Some manufacturers and retailers do offer fix coverage resulting from accidents, but this coverage is always more expensive and an extra. One option you may consider is laptop insurance. It's a bit hard to find insurance companies that offer this, but one that I know about is SafeWare. You can get a quote for the cost of insurance coverage on a laptop via an online form. Cost varies by state and the value of your laptop, but generally it seems to be between $48 - $100 for 1-year of insurance for a $1,500 laptop. Coverage includes fix, repair or replacement due to accident, theft, vandalism, fire, flooding for anywhere in the U.S. and while you're travelling.
If you have renters insurance or homeowners insurance, there's a good chance that if a laptop is lost due to a natural disaster then your laptop is also covered. Note, this does not include laptop damage coverage due to accidents (such as drops, spills, dogs or your kids wrecking your laptop). Insurance companies will often reimburse you for either the current replacement value of a notebook with similar specifications similar to the laptop you lost, or for the depreciated cost of your lost laptop. You would prefer a policy with current replacement value reimbursement because it's usually going to cost you more to replace a laptop than what the old laptop would have been actually be worth on eBay (laptop value often drops fairly fast after a year).
Renters and homeowners insurance can often cover your laptop when out of the house as well, so be sure to ask your insurance agent exactly what you're covered for and where. Keep in mind though, there's always a deductible on insurance, so for instance you'll pay the first $250 (or so) in repairs regardless and for every claim you make your insurance premium will go up in the future.
- Theft:
Laptops are frequent targets of thieves. Just do a Google News search on stolen laptop and you'll see daily reports from local and national newspapers. It's sad, but a true fact of life that there will always be thieves and they will always go for the highest priced easiest to carry off item. You can do such things as using a notebook lock to greatly deter theft, but if you want assurance that if a laptop is stolen you can get it replaced then SafeWare or other such dedicated laptop insurance again covers this. Your homeowners insurance and renters insurance likely covers such theft as well. Again though, claiming a laptop theft on your homeowners policy could boost the cost of that premium for the long term so having dedicated laptop insurance that wouldn't affect your homeowners insurance can be beneficial (and the dedicated laptop insurance covers accidents while homeowners/renters wouldn't).
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