When you buy a new smartphone, the retailer might ask if you’d like to sign up for an extended warranty program. Signing up for an extended warranty program will offer you more protection than the device’s original manufacturer’s warranty.

Is it necessary to sign up for this option or should you stick with the basic manufacturer’s warranty?

Extended Warranty Program vs. Manufacturer’s Warranty

An extended warranty program is supposed to increase the coverage timespan of your smartphone’s original manufacturer’s warranty. The manufacturer’s warranty might only be accessible for a year. Once that time is up, the coverage it offers will disappear. You’ll be responsible to cover the eligible repairs and replacements on your own.

With an extended warranty program, you don’t have to worry when you reach the deadline of the manufacturer’s warranty. Your coverage will continue.

Your manufacturer’s warranty will offer very limited coverage. As a buyer, you will only get repairs and replacements for manufacturing defects in the smartphone. Any other types of repairs and replacements are your responsibility. On the other hand, extended warranties typically offer coverage for problems beyond manufacturing defects. As a buyer, you might be able to access coverage for accidental damages, smartphone loss or smartphone theft.

It sounds like an extended warranty is the better deal, right? Not exactly.

The Catch with Extended Warranties

The catch with extended warranty programs is that they can cost you more than they might save you. Signing up for an extended warranty program may seem cheap at first glance, but when you add up those monthly subscription payments, you’ll see that it’s not. For Apple’s extended warranty program, you could spend between $100 to $250 over the span of 24 months.

The extended warranty doesn’t necessarily cover the entirety of the repair or replacement costs, either. In some cases, you’ll only get coverage for some of the damage. For instance, if your iPhone takes on accidental damage beyond a broken screen or back glass, you will have to pay $129 out of pocket. And then you’ll still have to pay additional taxes on top of that.

It’s important to know that plenty of smartphone repairs do not cost very much out of pocket. A treatment for replacing a dying smartphone battery could cost you $100 or less. You don’t have to commit to monthly payments of an extended warranty program to manage that type of repair without stress. You can find another way to cover it.

What Other Payment Options Do You Have?

Emergency Fund

If you have an emergency fund, this would be the perfect excuse to use it. As long as you have enough savings sitting in your fund, you can quickly make a withdrawal to cover your smartphone repair or replacement immediately.

Credit Card

What if you don’t have enough in your emergency fund? In that case, you could charge the smartphone repairs or replacements to one of your credit cards. Using a credit card gives you a bit more time to pay off the expense. Ideally, you’ll be able to pay it off before the beginning of your next billing cycle so that you don’t deal with interest charges. Otherwise, you can slowly whittle down the outstanding balance over the upcoming months.

Emergency Loan

Another credit option you could try is an emergency personal loan. You might be eligible to apply for a personal loan through CreditFresh and get approved for it. With an approved personal loan, you can use borrowed funds to quickly pay off your urgent smartphone repair or replacement. Once your smartphone is back in top condition, you can repay that personal loan through a billing cycle — not too different from your credit card’s billing cycle.

Don’t use your personal loan for shopping purposes. It’s not meant to help you buy the latest flagship phone to hit the market. It’s meant for emergencies only.

You can opt for an extended warranty program, but you don’t have to. You can still handle a smartphone repair without all of that coverage.