House & Apartment Insurance

Personal Possessions & Home Emergency Assistance

These days the majority of households have all kinds of pricy items, starting with flat screens, laptops, smart-phones, tablets, designer clothes/ furniture, through to all kinds of valuables like collections, expensive jewellery, watches, accessories, antiques, art, etc ... – thus a paradise for burglars! In addition, the amount of personal possessions add up over the years and one can easily lose track of the house content's real value, hence the full extent of financial damage in the event of a total-loss.

Insured Risks

Standard:
  • Fire
    • smoke, soot and fire-fighting
    • explosion / implosion
    • impact of a aircraft/ land vehicle
    • lightning
  • Storm & hail
  • Tap-water
    • Pipe burst due to frost/ other breakages
    • Defect washing machine / dishwasher
  • Burglary | Vandalism | Robbery
 
Optional:
  • Glass
  • Natural Hazards
    • Avalanche
    • Earthquake
    • Flood, backwater
    • High tide
    • Landslide, subsiding ground & sinkhole
    • Lightning (not all insurers)
    • Heavy rainfall (not all insurers)
    • Snow pressure
    • Volcanic eruption
 

Benefits

  • Insurance cover for all movable items
  • Reimbursement method is "New for Old"
  • Valuables are included
  • "Away from Home" insurance
  • Premises in adjoining buildings on the same property and garages are covered
  • Waiver of under-insurance
  • Uninhabited houses are covered
     

'Good value for money' benefits:

  • Valuables should be covered to a min. of 20% of the insured sum
  • No excess!
  • Theft from vehicles in Germany, preferably Europe
  • Bicycle theft without a night clause
  • Gross negligence
  • Cost reimbursement for security companies (min. 48 hours)
  • Singe damages
  • Surge
  • Water damages caused by waterbeds or aquariums

Underinsurance and its consequences

This lack of coverage can sometimes occur if the policy holder forgets to increase the insured sum during the contractual period, does not know the new value of all possessions when proposing for cover or quite often due to bad consultation from the sales person. Latter happens when the insurance representative's only interest is to sell the client the insurance's product he represents, consequently having to cut the insured sum to stay within the client's budget.

Underinsurance is nothing else than the insured sum not tallying with the new value of all personal items and in the event of a claim can cost the customer a lot of money!

Example:
Insured sum:10,000 €
Total value of all contents:20,000 €
Claim: 8,000 €
Reimbursement: 4,400 €

Reimbursement calculation:

[Damage * (Insured sum + 10% precaution)]   /  Total value of all contents

= [8,000€ * (10,000€ + 1,000€)]   /  20,000€
= (8,000€ * 11,000€) / 20,000€
= 88,000,000€ / 20,000€
= 4,400€

 

When claiming for 20% and more of the total insured sum insurance companies tend to send an expert out to evaluate the damage. In this simple example the gap of 10.000€ would easily come to light and the insurer would deduct the discrepancy from the 8.000€ claim, leaving just 4.400€ final settlement figure.

This financial consequence is avoidable and all insurers offer inter alia a simple solution called "waiver of underinsurance". By insuring each square metre with 650,00€ the insurance will always pay the full insured sum, regardless if the value of your contents.


Whether the right insurance product has been purchased, a customer will only really ever get to know when having to claim. Foremost 'quality' should predominate 'price' with any insurance product and therefore having a trustworthy broker to find a perfect balance is without doubt a good start … yet checking can never harm - "Franke & Bornberg" ratings will help put your mind at rest or initiate a cancellation procedure, with our help if required.

Click here for more info [DE]

Home Emergency Assistance

This product is an additive to the house contents insurance and is meant to not only give financial help but also to support with finding swift assistance should you ever find yourself in an awkward situation without immediate help from somebody near by.

Everybody has experienced at least one emergency

Regardless if you have lost your house-keys, the heating has broken down, the toilet is blocked or you have an emergency and need immediate childcare, one call to the 24 hour emergency hotline and your insurer will provide immediate support - so the promise.

These benefits are covered

  • Child-minding
  • Data recovery
  • Documention safe
  • Emergency heating
  • Locksmith service
  • Pipe cleaning service
  • Plumber-, electric- & heating installation service
  • Pet lodging
  • Pest control
  • Wasps' nest dislodgement

What you should expect

  • At least the above-mentioned benefits should be included in every product
  • The insured sum per benefits should be at least 500,00€
  • No excess!

Important note:
If you are a tenant Home Emergency Assistance is not really applicable for many situations, as your landlord has a duty of payment for all rented property.