[tehwalrus]

Or your house insurance will cover accidental damage (as well as theft of your bag on a train/in a cafe, etc).

I was delighted when my house insurance bill went down considerably, because my newer Macbook was worth just less than £1000, where the previous one had been just over - meaning it became covered by the policy without a separate declaration, and an additional fee.

[sbuk]

I suppose 1 benefit AppleCare provides is no excess fees; the whole cost of repair is covered.