What does household insurance mean?
Household insurance (also known as contents insurance) covers loss or damage to your personal belongings at home, such as clothes, furniture, electronics, bikes, and valuables. To some extent, this insurance also covers your belongings outside of your home.
What risks does it cover?
The standard risks covered in every basic plan are:
Additionally, you can add the following extra coverage according to your needs:
What is the coverage sum and how do I choose it correctly?
The coverage sum you choose is the maximum sum the insurance company will pay in the event of damage and should reflect the current total value of your household goods. Your household insurance usually compensates you for the new replacement value (i.e., how much it would cost to buy a brand-new replacement for the item of equal quality).
Since no one can actually determine what precisely is the value of their household, insurers recommend 650 € per square meter as a default coverage sum. This is usually enough for an average household and our recommended amount for those with 'ordinary' furnishings. Of course, the default sum isn't mandatory. You can calculate your household value yourself. Just make sure your estimate is realistic, as the coverage sum determines your premium and is the maximum payout in a claim.
If you own many high-quality items such as art, music instruments or jewelry collections, expensive furniture, antiques, designer clothes, a built-in kitchen or other high-quality household goods (kitchen appliances, tableware etc.), we recommend adding their total value on top of the default calculation to ensure sufficient and accurate coverage for your household.
Important to know – some items get treated differently!
Insurance carriers limit the coverage sum for valuables. Valuables include jewelry and expensive watches, furs, gems and pearls, items made of gold or platinum, cash, money on chip cards or money cards, deeds (including savings accounts) and other securities, stamps, coins, medals, hand-woven carpets and tapestries, antiques and art.
Please note: Designer clothes, handbags, antique furniture or expensive technical items are not considered valuables.
What happens if i choose a coverage sum that is too high or too low?
Ideally, you create an inventory of your home, showing what you have in the event of a claim. This inventory could be documented through a photo or video tour of your premises and should be stored digitally in a cloud.
For items classified as valuables, you must keep the receipt or have the item professionally appraised. This is mandatory to receive appropriate compensation.
For jewellery, we also recommend photo documentation showing the item's condition as well wearing the item.
For other high-value items (laptops, porcelain, designer clothes and other high-quality household goods), proof of ownership is not mandatory, but the insurer may request it. To ensure sufficient compensation, it's best to keep receipts.
For all special items, create a list of any special features (e.g., first pressing and country of origin for records, minting errors for coins, etc.) and take photos of the items in your home. Otherwise, the insurer will determine the value based on their own criteria and it won't always be in your favor.
How do I choose the right apartment size?
The apartment size is important for the default coverage sum and needs to be correct. Your living space is the base area of all rooms in your home. Stairways, balconies, terraces, loggias, storage/laundry rooms, as well as garages are excluded. The basement is also excluded unless used for living or hobbies. Check your rental/purchase contract or construction documents for exact details.
Even if these areas aren't counted as living space, your household items stored there are still covered by insurance.
Who is insured?
Everyone officially registered at your address is part of your household (partner/kids/au-pair) and therefore his/her belongings are covered as well. If you are living in a shared flat, the main tenant needs to be the policy holder and the coverage sum should reflect all of the belongings of all the members of the shared household.
What isn't covered? The most important exceptions:
Runtime – 12 Months:
Your contract will be automatically renewed for another year, if not cancelled 3 months prior to renewal date. However, should you leave Germany for good, all you need is to show your official "Abmeldung" in order to end your contract then and there.
Danielle Lahav
Email: danielle.lahav@versicherungsbuero-weiss.com
Telefon: +49 30-40 36 31 95 6
