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Verizon Insurance for the iPhone 5s: Is It Worth It?

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When you went to go buy your shiny new iPhone 5s at a Verizon carrier store, you most likely were asked if you wanted the carrier’s protection plan, which is simply just insurance for the phone that covers pretty much anything that happens to it. It costs just $10 per month, which doesn’t seem like a lot, but that can add up quickly, adding $240 to what you’ll pay over a two-year period during your contract.

Apple offers AppleCare with their products, which is essentially just a one-year limited warranty that’s free, but it doesn’t cover accidental damage or loss/theft. However, this is where AppleCare+ jumps in. This is more like insurance, where you pay a $100 flat fee, and it extends the warranty for two years, as well as gives you protection over anything that breaks on your iPhone. However, AppleCare+ still doesn’t cover loss/theft.

Verizon’s insurance plan is more expensive overall, but includes more coverage than AppleCare+, which begs the question: Is Verizon’s insurance option worth the greater cost?

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Breaking Down Verizon’s Insurance

Verizon charges $10 per month for iPhone insurance coverage (which is covered under Asurion). This means that, during your two-year contract, you’ll be paying an extra $240 for the privilege of knowing that you can get your phone fixed or replaced for a fraction of the cost of a brand new iPhone. Compared to the thousands of dollars that you’ll spend on the service alone over the course of two years, $240 isn’t much at all.

However, on top of the monthly fee, you have to pay a deductible whenever your iPhone gets damaged or becomes lost or stolen, and it’s a bit on the pricey side. You’ll be paying a $169 deductible if you have a 16GB iPhone 5s, and $199 for a 32GB and 64GB iPhone 5s. This will get you a replacement iPhone 5s, but Verizon says that your replacement “may be remanufactured equipment,” which is the fancy term for a refurbished model. This shouldn’t be too much of an issue, though, as Apple refurbished products are usually top notch.

verizon-iphoneIt’s also important to note that “if the same model is not available, a comparable model will be provided.” This means that if you break your iPhone 5s, but Apple doesn’t have any identical models in stock, they’ll give you a “comparable model,” which may or may not be fine with you, depending on what they give you as a replacement.

Verizon’s insurance limits replacements to two within a 12-month period (compared to AppleCare’s two within a two-year period), with an equipment maximum of $1500 per claim. This limit should be fine, even if you have a 64GB iPhone, which retails for $850 — well under the $1,500 limit.

Downsides of Verizon’s Insurance

Unlike AppleCare+, Verizon insurance protection covers lost or stolen iPhones, and that right there could seal the deal for you, but one of the big downsides is that if you break your iPhone or lose it, you can’t just go into a Verizon carrier store, file a claim, and get a replacement phone that same day. Instead, Verizon requires that they ship a new iPhone to you. It will usually ship overnight, but sometimes, some users just can’t wait that long, especially if they won’t have a phone during that time period.

Read: Top 5 iPhone 5s Insurance & Warranty Options Compared

Another downside is the cost of the deductible. I already mentioned it, but Verizon’s deductible is at least $169, while Apple’s deductible is only $79 for the iPhone 5s (an increase from $49). When we filed a claim with Apple in the past, we were in and out of the Apple Store with a new iPhone in about 10 minutes, making the entire process a lot quicker and easier than Verizon’s.

Verizon iPhone 5s Buyer Info

Is Verizon Insurance Worth It?

It really just depends what you’re after. The fact that AppleCare+ doesn’t cover lost or stolen iPhones can be a huge reason that you would choose Verizon’s insurance plan over Apple’s, since Verizon covers lost or stolen units. However, you’ll be paying more money in the long run for that privilege. Then again, AppleCare+ comes with exceedingly better customer service when handling insurance claims from what we’ve experienced in the past, so if you’re wanting a quick turnaround time, AppleCare+ might be what you’re after.

Me, personally? I’m actually more worried about my phone getting lost or stolen than getting damaged, so I went for Verizon’s own insurance coverage with my iPhone 5s. Luckily, I’ve never had to file a claim, so hopefully I can continue that streak and not have to pay $199 to get my lost/stolen iPhone replaced, but if it does come down to that, it certainly won’t be as expensive as buying a whole new iPhone, which would cost at least $650.

7 Comments

7 Comments

  1. C. Wright

    09/27/2013 at 2:34 pm

    Put your $10/month under a mattress, in the long run you’ll come out ahead…

    • Michael McCoobery

      07/15/2014 at 2:03 pm

      Ah!! But in the short run, you could be in trouble.

  2. J. Williams (@mrjlwilliams)

    09/27/2013 at 5:08 pm

    Apple does not cover lost or stolen, plain and simple. So it’s not just if it’s worth for verizon, is it worth for any carrier? So yes, it is. And it’s $8 through T-Mobile, lost, stolen, any damage. $170 deductible.

  3. Amy

    09/28/2013 at 10:01 am

    Can’t you track your iPhone if it gets lost or stolen with a locator app? GPS thing?

    • Glenn

      07/23/2016 at 12:40 pm

      technically there’s an app in iPhones that helps you locate your phone. It’s the app called “Find My iPhone” which is a built in app in the phone.

  4. Steve Stroyny

    08/25/2014 at 6:39 pm

    On top of the 199$ detectable and the 200$ in insurance cost over the last 20 months….. they will fine me $300 if I don’t send them the old phone. Which I know is still worth money!!!! I was hoping on recouping som of these cost……. with verizon I essentially paid $800. Or will if I don’t send in the phone. Super pissed. Canceling that insurance ASAP !!!!!!!!! Do not recommend this to anyone. Not even my enemy. I feel like they totally screwed me!!!!!!

  5. Kat

    08/01/2015 at 11:42 am

    The GPS will only tell you the general location, not the exact address, and if the phone is not online or the battery is dead you will only get an old location which may be hours old. If your phone was stolen it could be a pretty seedy place to go knocking on doors. Even if you lose your phone it it is still a crap shoot to get it back. If you put it in lost mode you can put a message with a phone number on the screen begging for it;’s return, it helps to offer a reward. I recently lost my phone and placed flyers in the area where GPS last showed it. This was possible because I dropped it in front of my house and someone who lives nearby found it, was enticed by the $50 reward and returned it. You’d think people would just give you back your damn phone just to be decent but there are a lot of sc** bags out there and even if an iPhone cannot be used as a phone it may still be used as an iPod, which kind of sucks. I wish there was a way you could just blow out a lost or stolen phone to make it worthless to anyone else, I’m sure it is technically possible, and this way people would be more likely to respond to the plea on the screen and accept a small reward for their trouble. The fact is everything about mobile phones is a rip off and it isn’t which company is best it is which one su*** the least. We live in a time where we carry extremely fragile, expensive and easy to lose technology worth a lot of money around with us. As someone who has lived on both sides of technology, I remember a time when we actually survived sans mobile phones, internet, streaming music and video. When you could not immediately get in touch with anyone, carry your entire music collection in your pocket, watch just about any TV show or movie or make a major purchase while waiting in line. Sometimes I miss those days but I’m sure it would be hard to go back to it and for the many young people who have no idea what this is like it would be torture. These technology marvels come at a price though and unless you are positive you will never break or lose your phone or have enough cash on hand to replace it then you’re crazy not to have it. I have a tip though, Asurion will replace the phone within 12 months if any problems arise so I always replaced the phone before the twelve months is up because them you get another twelve months. I did this with my replacement iPhone 4 for three years. Eventually they no longer had the iPhone 4 and gave me a brand new 5S so I didn’t have to use my upgrade to get one :-)

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