When you bought your laptop, it would have had a manufacturer’s warranty. A typical warranty may provide breakdown cover be for a period of 12 months. Laptop insurance can help provide further cover to a period something more in keeping with the lifetime of the computer.

There may not actually be a law, like Murphy’s for example, to describe the situation but there perhaps should be because in life it does sometimes seem to be the case that no sooner does the warranty expire than the item in question breaks down!

If you have laptop insurance though, you may find that you have automatic cover for breakdown outside of the manufacturer’s warranty and could have a replacement laptop within 48 hours of your claim being approved.

There are a number of other features which may help persuade you of the benefits of laptop insurance.

Cover for theft

You probably take great care of your laptop, locking it away securely in your home or out of sight in your car. Thieves can be very persistent though and are only too happy to relieve you of your valuable possession.

If your laptop is stolen by a forced entry, then it may be in the terms and conditions of your cover that you report the theft to the police within a certain period of time. It may typically also be the case that you’ll need to pass the crime number on to your insurers to allow them to progress your claim.

If you make it easy for the thieves by leaving your laptop lying around unattended in a public place, then you may find that your laptop cover has become invalid.

Protected against accidental damage

Laptops can be damaged all too easily in a variety of ways. For example, you could:

– stumble and drop it;

– knock against the table it’s on and see it slip off onto the floor;

– be working away quite happily until you put your cup of coffee down on the mouse cable and see the contents spill onto your keyboard; etc.

Laptop insurance may typically provide cover for this type of damage but the key word here must be “accidental”.

So if you are messing about with the internals of your laptop and then things don’t quite fit back together as expected, then your insurance typically may not provide cover.

Data Storage

With some providers insurance for your laptop may typically also provide you with up to 3GB of data backup storage for your key data, photos etc. Having automatic backup facilities may help make sure that important information can be reinstated quickly to get you back up and running if there is a problem with the laptop.

Your laptop may play a very important role in your day to day life. Laptop insurance may help you get back to normal more quickly if you and your computer experience a disaster. Finally, do note that as with any insurance product, terms and conditions, exclusions and limitations will apply and you may wish to read these carefully to ensure you understand them.