As mobile phone insurance continues to rise insurers need to tap into the recycling market
A whopping 93% of adults in Britain own a mobile phone. However, according to recent figures only one in four mobile owners are insured, meaning there is a huge market for potential mobile phone insurance. Bamboo Distribution takes a look at how, as the volume of people owning a mobile handset increases in the UK, there has never been such a pressing need for insurance companies to capitalise on old mobile phones being sent from customers making claims for new handsets by sending them off to be recycled.
A £7.5 million market
With around three-quarters of UK adults now owning a smartphone, YouGov estimates that the total value of all handsets in the UK currently stands at £7.5 billion.
And it’s not just mobile phone ownership that is on the increase. As the number of people owning handsets rises, so does the number of people insuring their phones. YouGov recently estimated that out of the £7.5 billion total mobile phone UK market, around £3 billion of this total is insured.
“Policy ownership has grown in the last 12 months from nine million to 11.2 million policies, with demand being driven by the high value of devices and the reliance we have on them,” writes the Post Online report.
Mobile phone claims on the rise
An earlier report from YouGov released in 2013 showed there had been a 10% rise in the number of mobile phone insurance holders who had attempted to make a claim on their insurance since 2012.
Will the trend continue?
Despite mobile phone ownership significantly rising, around three in four adult mobile owners in the UK admit to not having their phone insured. However, 5% of the uninsured owners say they intend to take out a policy in the future, state the official figures.
The research also found that it is those on lower incomes who are more likely to buy insurance. The reasons why it is those in the C2DE socio-economic group – on an annual income of less than £15,000 – who are more likely to purchase phone insurance than the ABC1s, is speculative. It has been pinned on the fact that those on lower incomes worry that if their mobile was to be stolen, lost or damaged, they would not have the funds available to replace the handset.
Insurance companies should capitalise on increasing trends by recycling old handset stock
With mobile ownership continuing to snowball in the UK and the number of mobile phone insurance claims also on the rise, it is more important than ever that insurance companies recycle used mobile phones. There is extra revenue waiting to be snapped up in old electronic devices such as mobile phones that are being sent to insurers.
Bamboo Distribution provide a recycling and buy back solution for commercial and corporate organisations for any volume of either new or used mobile phones.
Bamboo Distribution will give an insurer an instant quote for its redundant handsets meaning the company can financially benefit from the growing demand for mobile insurance and the rising number of claims.
