Household insurance for in Germany and Austria, living residents.
Since January 2026, Sicher Sicher GmbH has been offering new customers exclusively household insurance for Germany and Austria. This includes liability insurance and household contents insurance. Based on our experience with claims, we are convinced that this combination is the best solution from the customer’s point of view to avoid gaps in insurance cover.
This is because liability insurance only covers damage caused to third parties, not to customers themselves. However, home contents insurance also covers your own damage, for example if there is water damage in the building and not only someone else’s property but also your own is damaged or destroyed. Below, we explain the insurance cover provided by household insurance with liability and home contents cover, including some examples of damage.
Liability insurance cover
When do you need personal liability insurance?
In Germany and Austria, you are legally obliged to pay full compensation regardless of your assets if you cause damage to someone else.
As a rule, minor mishaps are not a problem, but if the costs are higher, it can quickly become a bigger issue. It is therefore advisable for everyone in Germany to have private liability insurance so that they do not have to pay for a long time or, in the case of personal injury, for the rest of their lives, just because they were not paying attention for a moment.
What else is covered by liability insurance?
• Bad debt cover
• Loss of keys and code cards, both private and professional
• Children under 7 years of age
• Looking after other people’s dogs
• Damage to rented property
• Self-propelled work machines up to 20 km/h
• Use of pedelecs (electric bicycles)
• Voluntary work
• Photovoltaic systems up to 10 kWp
• Loading and unloading damage up to €5,000
• Damage caused while doing favours up to €100,000 (e.g. as a removal assistant)
Answers to frequently asked questions about personal liability insurance
What is the difference between home contents insurance and liability insurance?
Home contents insurance and liability insurance are two essential but different policies: home contents insurance protects your own belongings (furniture, electronics, etc.) in your home against damage caused by fire, water, burglary, etc., while personal liability insurance protects you against financial claims if you unintentionally cause damage to other people or their property. Both can often be taken out as a combination, whereby it is important to compare policies in order to tailor costs and benefits to your individual needs.
Does personal liability insurance cover the replacement cost?
No, that is incorrect. Where possible, damaged items are repaired. The insurance then covers the repair costs. Only if a repair is disproportionately expensive or impossible will the company pay compensation. In the case of personal liability insurance, the amount of compensation is based on the current value, i.e. the value of the damaged item at the time of the damage.
This is calculated by deducting wear and tear and any damage from the new value or replacement value. This is often time-consuming and sometimes even impossible. For this reason, insurance companies often use the average useful life of the damaged item as a basis for determining its current market value.
For the injured party, the current market value often has a catch: they do not receive enough money to buy a new replacement for the damaged item.
However, there are of course tariffs on the market that also insure the replacement value, which would save you discussions with the injured party in the event of a claim.
Here, too, it is important to check exactly what insurance cover you want and to request it explicitly. In our 20 years of professional experience, we have repeatedly found that even with insurance that is considered as mundane as personal liability insurance, there are significant differences in the terms and conditions. Online offers in particular are suspiciously cheap and, as many studies and sector investigations by the Federal Cartel Office show, offer poor to almost no insurance cover and also contain clauses that are unusual in the market (see the following specialist article).
Does personal liability insurance also cover damage caused by small children?
No, it usually does not. Personal liability insurance often covers not only the policyholder themselves, but also their family. However, many parents are surprised to learn that personal liability insurance does not cover damage caused by children under the age of seven.
It is therefore important to check carefully before taking out a policy whether the provider covers damage caused by children under the age of seven and up to what amount.
This is because children under the age of seven are never liable for themselves. They are considered incapable of committing a tort by law because it is assumed that children under the age of seven do not recognise the consequences of their actions. In this case, the insurance company will not pay and the injured party will be left to bear the cost of the damage. In the case of damage caused in moving traffic, the legal age limit is even higher: children are not liable until they are ten years old. In the case of stationary traffic (parked vehicles, etc.), something else applies. If, for example, a child scratches a parked car, they must pay compensation even if they are seven, eight or nine years old.
If, as an insurance customer, you do not want injured parties to be left empty-handed in the event of damage caused by your young children, make sure that children who are not capable of committing a tort are included when choosing your insurance.
In individual cases, parents can be held accountable for damage caused by their child – namely, if they have violated their duty of supervision. In this case, however, they are not liable for their children, but for their own misconduct in not supervising their offspring sufficiently. Their personal liability insurance will also pay if this breach of duty of supervision is covered in the contract.
Conclusion: Check the conditions carefully and make sure you are covered exactly for your individual needs. Standard cover is usually inexpensive, but can be expensive and cause a lot of trouble in the event of a claim, especially if the injured party is someone you know, or if the damage is to premises or institutions that you or your children frequent.
Is damage I cause while helping friends move house insured?
This may sound surprising, but it is not true. Normally, you would pay if you damaged someone else’s property. However, the situation is different when moving house. Voluntary removal helpers such as family members and friends are not liable for damage if they are helping out of pure kindness and accidentally break something. Kindness means helping someone without receiving money or any other compensation in return. In the case of a favour, all parties involved assume that the helper’s liability has been tacitly excluded. This means that neither the clumsy moving helper nor their personal liability insurance has to pay.
Exception: The volunteer moving helper must compensate for the damage if they act with gross negligence, i.e. intentionally violate their duty of care. Examples: A woman accidentally drops her friend’s computer while he is moving house; she is not liable.
However, if she is drunk and drops his computer during the move, she is liable because she has violated her duty of care and therefore her personal liability insurance is also liable, provided that gross negligence is covered by the insurance.
Note: Alcohol is not a solution to problems in the insurance sector either, but can lead to further problems.
However, these acts of kindness and also damage within the family and to co-insured family members can be included in the insurance cover if this is important to you when choosing your insurance cover.
If the removal assistant causes damage to an uninvolved third party, her personal liability insurance will cover it.
Example: While carrying the piano, she carelessly scratches a new neighbour’s parked car. Then it is insured. Even if you accidentally drop the grand piano on your new neighbour’s foot and it breaks.
I drop a camera borrowed from a friend. No big deal, because my personal liability insurance will cover it, right?
Not necessarily. Whether the insurance pays if a borrowed item is damaged depends on the policy. As a rule, damage to borrowed items is treated in the same way as damage to your own property. And if your own property is damaged, you cannot claim on your personal liability insurance.
In such cases, the person who caused the damage must pay for it out of their own pocket. However, there are private liability insurance policies that offer cover for borrowed items. Sometimes this cover is limited in amount or the insurance policy provides for an excess. This means that you have to pay part of the damage yourself if you damage a borrowed item.
If you are interested, check your current insurance cover. If you cannot find a clause on this or are unsure, ask your insurer to confirm this in writing.
Household contents insurance cover
What is covered by household contents insurance?
Home contents insurance covers damage to your movable property (furniture, clothing, electronics, etc.) caused by hazards such as fire, tap water, storm and hail, as well as burglary and vandalism after a break-in. It reimburses the replacement value and often covers consequential costs such as hotel accommodation or clean-up costs. Extensions (additional modules) are available, e.g. for glass breakage, bicycle theft or natural hazards (heavy rain, flooding).
What is insured? (Household contents)
• Furniture and furnishings: cupboards, beds, tables, carpets, curtains.
• Electrical and household appliances: television, refrigerator, washing machine.
• Clothing, jewellery, cash, books, CDs/DVDs.
• Items in the basement or garage: (depending on the policy).
• Rule of thumb: everything you would pack when moving house.
What is covered? (Hazards)
• Fire, lightning strike, explosion: Damage caused by fire, smoke, soot, explosions.
• Tap water: Damage caused by burst pipes, burst pipes.
• Storm & hail: Destruction caused by extreme weather events.
• Burglary & vandalism: Damage caused by forced entry and wilful damage.
• Surge damage: Often caused by lightning strikes (e.g. to computers).
Additional services (often included or available as add-ons)
• Consequential costs: Hotel costs if the flat becomes uninhabitable.
• Clean-up, transport and storage costs .
• Costs for changing locks .
Important extensions (additional modules)
- Natural hazards: Protection against flooding, backwater, earthquakes, avalanches (always check separately!).
- Bicycle theft: Protection, even outside the home/cellar.
- Glass breakage: For furniture and building glazing.
Important aspects when applying for household insurance.
• Underinsurance waiver: Important so that the damage is compensated without reductions (often flat rates per square metre).
• Household size: Applies to all persons living in the household.
What is not covered by household insurance?
• Permanently installed building components (covered by residential building insurance).
• Items used for professional purposes (professional liability insurance, etc.).
Does home contents insurance cover bicycle theft?
That depends on how and where the bicycle was parked. If the bicycle is stolen during a break-in from your flat, garage or private cellar, i.e. a locked room, any home contents insurance will cover the damage.
As the hallway in a rented building is not part of the living space, it is not insured, nor is any bicycle parked there. So when it comes to bicycle theft outside your own premises, it depends on the tariff you have taken out.
Some home contents insurance policies also pay out without any additional agreements if a thief steals a locked bicycle from outside your front door, at the train station or at your workplace, for example. But not all insurance companies offer this.
Here, too, it is worth taking a look at the insurance terms and conditions. If you want this kind of cover, you can add your bicycle to your household insurance for an additional premium. The prerequisite for the insurance company to cover the damage is that you must protect your bicycle well. It is not enough to just use a spoke lock. The insurance only applies if the bicycle is secured with a standard lock.
If you take out separate bicycle insurance independently of your household insurance, you have even stricter obligations.
Please note: Some household insurance policies exclude cover between 6 p.m. and 10 p.m., unless the bicycle was kept in a locked room or was in use and parked outside your workplace while you were working the night shift, for example.
It is therefore important to check exactly what insurance cover is provided and what security measures are required, as otherwise you will be left to bear the costs yourself in the event of damage, despite having insurance.
We compare the products on the market based on your region and requirements and recommend the most suitable offers.
In the event of a burglary, will my household contents insurance cover the entire loss?
This is often the case, but not always. If the household contents insurance company can prove that you are partly to blame for the damage, it may reduce the benefit. For example, if you leave the house and leave your patio door open instead of locking it. If someone breaks in during this time, the insurance company will not cover the entire damage because you acted with gross negligence. You could have prevented the damage by being more careful.
The insurance company will often pay less if the apartment or house door was only closed and not locked. The greater the contributory negligence on the part of homeowners or tenants, the more the insurance company can reduce the compensation after a burglary.
You have to inform the insurer if the risk of burglary increases, for example if you are not staying in your home for several months or if scaffolding has been erected, which makes it easier for potential burglars to gain access.
You can find out what obligations you have by looking at your insurance terms and conditions, preferably before a claim occurs, and even better, before you take out home contents insurance.
Whether you have acted with gross negligence and the home contents insurance company is entitled to reduce the compensation depends on the individual case.
Good to know: There are home contents insurance policies that also apply if you have acted with gross negligence. Feel free to contact us for individual advice!
Home contents insurance does not cover the entire loss in other cases either, for example if the loss is higher than the agreed sum insured. Or in the case of valuables: there is a compensation limit, which is often only 20% of the sum insured for most insurance tariffs.
Would you like a quote for household insurance? Then please fill out our form and we will send you quotes for the German or Austrian markets.