Why should students have home contents insurance?

Even as a student, you acquire new things over time, thus increasing your possessions, which are considered household goods. The simple rule is that everything you bring with you when you move in and subsequently acquire counts as household goods. This does not include your landlord's bathtub or their fitted kitchen.

The loss or damage of your belongings can be financially devastating. Especially for students, money is often tight to cover the unexpected costs incurred after a fire or burglary. This often leaves you reliant on financial assistance, dipping into your savings, or working twice as much as usual.

A household insurance policy for students can financially compensate for material losses.

Taking out home contents insurance as a student: Which items can be insured?

Household goods include all the items and belongings you can take with you when you move and that are not permanently attached to the building. For example, books or textbooks you need for studying as a student; jewelry, lamps, smartphones, laptops, kitchen utensils, musical instruments, clothing, furniture, or even pets. In case of damage, you will be reimbursed for the replacement cost at the new value, so you can replace destroyed or stolen household goods with equivalent items.

What types of damage should be covered by a home contents insurance policy for students?

The basic insured benefits include:

• Fire
• tap water
• Hail and storms from wind force 8
• Burglary
• Vandalism after burglary
• Robbery
• Overvoltage damage caused by lightning strikes to power, antenna or telephone lines

Additional services can be arranged optionally and as needed, such as:

• Waiver of the defense of having acted with gross negligence
• simple pickpocketing and trick theft
• Data recovery costs
• Lock replacement costs after key loss, provided the loss was due to an insured event.
• Theft from hospital rooms

Home contents insurance for students: What sum insured is recommended?

We recommend including a so-called underinsurance waiver in your home contents insurance policy. This involves calculating a fixed value – usually €650 per square meter of living space. The resulting amount then constitutes the sum insured.

If you insure your household contents using this method, the insurer recognizes the sum insured as sufficient and waives any review in the event of damage and makes no deductions from the compensation due to underinsurance.

When using our household contents insurance comparison calculator to calculate an individual rate with an insurance company of your choice, you should definitely pay attention to the issue of waiving underinsurance.

Are students still covered under their parents' household insurance?

Students interested in household insurance should first check with their parents whether they already have insurance coverage through their parents' insurance.

As long as students don't establish their own household and their primary residence remains with their parents, the so-called "external insurance" often applies. This covers the household contents of the student in their shared apartment or student residence, depending on the provider, for 10-30 percent of the insured sum.

While we're on the subject, it's advisable to check whether the parents' insurance policy is still up-to-date or whether there are now tariffs with better benefits and more favorable conditions.

If you have insurance coverage through your parents' insurance, but the sum insured for external coverage is too low, you should take out your own student household insurance policy, or you can use our household insurance comparison calculator to find a suitable rate for the whole family.