iPhone insurance claims spike when new model is released

iPhone 3GS
"Happy first anniversary... Wait, what are you doing with that hammer?"

According to Supercover Insurance, iPhone insurance claims rise by 50% during the month a new model arrives, and four out of ten of those claims are 'suspicious'.

These figures come from a report by Super cover whose Director, Carmi Korine, notes: "The issue appears to be that most iPhone owners can only go for so long realising that they're a generation behind the latest must-have spec before they resort to extreme measures."

Unfortunately for wannabe early adopters, the false damage claims seem to be generally fairly easy to identify.

Hammer time

"iPhones, like most mobile phones, are actually very difficult to damage," says Supercover. Dodgy claimants apparently tend to go a bit overboard, with some phones having been hit by at least six hammer blows.

Overly keen hammer/iPhone owners tend to then provide a handset in far worse condition than it should be even for "being driver over by a car or dropped from a tall building".

Obviously, the lesson Supercover want to get across here is not to take a hammer to your phone when your washing machine would probably do a much more thorough job.

About a quarter of these suspicious claims are turned away by Supercover, so anybody considering it for the inevitable iPhone 4G launch should probably consider whether the chance of a free upgrade is worth the risk of no phone at all.

Well, that, and the whole pesky 'morals' thing.

Via Sky News