Severe storms hit southern Germany this spring and threatened towns on the Elbe and Oder rivers again in late summer. Homeowners' insurance protects homeowners against the worst damage. What you need to look out for:
Homeowners' insurance is the most important form of home insurance. Insurance expert Philip Chorzelewski from Stiftung Warentest strongly advises people to take out comprehensive cover for their own home: "Repairs or reconstruction cause high costs and may even jeopardise your livelihood. We (...) recommend regularly checking old contracts for gaps in cover." Stiftung Warentest analysed 182 tariffs.
Homeowners' insurance should cover four areas: Fire insurance, insurance against damage caused by mains water, storm and hail as well as other natural hazards such as avalanches, flooding and landslides. It also makes sense to insure against natural hazards in less exposed areas. As a result of climate change, heavy rainfall and flooding are occurring more frequently, more severely and almost everywhere.
"Consumers should make sure that important additional benefits such as gross negligence are also insured," recommends Chorzelewski. "If the insurer reduces the benefit because the damage was caused by gross negligence, for example by an unattended burning candle, we consider the scope of insurance to be inadequate and rate the tariff as inadequate." 57 of the 182 policies tested therefore fail.
The good news is that more than half - namely 94 tariffs - offer very good conditions. Rates have recently become more expensive. In 2024, premiums rose by 7.5 per cent - the second-highest price increase in the past ten years - a year earlier it was even 14.7 per cent. The rates recommended by the team of experts at Stiftung Warentest can be found in the homeowners' insurance test at www.test.de/wohngebaeudeversicherung and in the October issue of Finanztest magazine.
Photo: © Engin Akyurt, Pixabay
