# Who pays for the damage? A claims guide for Germany > German insurance splits risks into separate contracts more strictly than many countries, so after a loss the first question is which policy responds. Here are 40 typical cases from home, road, family and business life in Germany, with the right policy, the common wrong guess and the catch that decides many real claims. Quelle/Source: https://www.nammert.com/en/who-pays-for-the-damage.php ## Burst water pipe A pipe inside the bathroom wall bursts and water soaks the floor and furniture. - **Pays (Buildings insurance):** Repair of the pipe, locating the leak, drying out, walls and fitted floors - **Pays (Contents insurance):** Soaked furniture, rugs, electronics and clothing - **Does not pay:** Personal liability does not pay for your own home. It only responds when water reaches a neighbour and you were at fault. - **The catch:** Tenants often assume the landlord's buildings policy covers their furniture. It does not, and in Germany contents are always the occupant's own business. ## Heavy rain floods the basement After a thunderstorm, water backs up through the drain and runs down the basement stairs. - **Pays (Natural hazard cover):** Flooding from heavy rain and sewer backflow, for building and contents - **Does not pay:** Standard buildings and contents policies cover water from pipes, storm, hail and fire, not water from outside. - **The catch:** Natural hazard cover is an add-on in Germany that must be chosen actively. Without a maintained backflow valve many insurers reduce or refuse payment. ## River flood The river breaks its banks and the ground floor stands under a metre of water. - **Pays (Natural hazard cover):** Building damage, drying, ground floor contents and hotel costs during repairs - **Does not pay:** Government emergency aid is paid only after major disasters and is not a right. Compulsory flood insurance has been proposed in Germany but has not been passed. - **The catch:** In high-risk zones natural hazard cover is expensive or comes with a high excess. Buying cover once a flood warning is out rarely works because of waiting periods. ## Storm blows tiles off the roof An autumn storm strips tiles, rain gets into the loft. - **Pays (Buildings insurance):** Roof repair, damaged timbers, rain damage through the opening - **Pays (Contents insurance):** Belongings damaged by the rain coming in - **Does not pay:** Rain leaking through an old roof without storm damage is maintenance, and nobody pays. - **The catch:** German policies count a storm from wind force 8 on the Beaufort scale. Without a measurement, the insurer asks for evidence such as damage in the neighbourhood or weather service data. ## Lightning fries TV and router Lightning strikes nearby, afterwards the TV, router and heating controls are dead. - **Pays (Contents insurance):** TV, router and other devices, if surge damage from lightning is included - **Pays (Buildings insurance):** Built-in equipment like heating controls or door intercom - **Does not pay:** The manufacturer's warranty never covers power surges. - **The catch:** A direct strike is always covered, the far more common indirect surge only when the policy says so. Older contracts often cap it low. ## Kitchen fat fire Oil in a pan catches fire, the kitchen burns out and soot spreads through the flat. - **Pays (Contents insurance):** Tenant's kitchen units, appliances, clothing, soot cleaning, hotel costs - **Pays (Buildings insurance):** Walls, ceilings, windows and the owner's fitted kitchen - **Pays (Personal liability):** Damage to the rented flat you are liable for - **Does not pay:** The landlord's buildings insurance does not pay for your furniture, and it may seek recovery from you for gross negligence. - **The catch:** Leaving the pan unattended can count as gross negligence. Good policies waive that defence, basic ones reduce the payout. ## Burglary The front door is forced, jewellery, laptop and cash are gone. - **Pays (Contents insurance):** Stolen items at replacement value, door repair for tenants, valuables up to the agreed limit - **Does not pay:** Without signs of forced entry, for instance through an open window, it is not burglary under German terms. - **The catch:** Cash and jewellery outside a safe are covered only to fixed limits. Report to the police immediately and submit a list of stolen items. ## Bike stolen from the basement Your locked bike stands in your basement storage, one morning the door is broken open and it is gone. - **Pays (Contents insurance):** The bike, because it was stolen from a locked room by break-in - **Pays (Bicycle and e-bike):** Replacement value, often wherever the bike was parked - **Does not pay:** Stolen outside the station, contents insurance pays only with a bicycle clause. - **The catch:** Shared bike rooms without break-in marks on your own door are difficult. Keep the receipt and frame number. ## Washing machine leaks into the flat below The hose bursts and water drips through the ceiling of the downstairs flat. - **Pays (Contents insurance):** Your own damaged belongings - **Pays (Buildings insurance):** Ceiling, screed and walls through the building's policy - **Pays (Personal liability):** Your neighbour's losses if you were at fault - **Does not pay:** Your liability cover does not pay automatically. If the hose failed without fault on your side, you are not liable and the neighbour's contents policy pays their belongings. - **The catch:** Running the machine while nobody is home often counts as contributory fault. A water-stop valve on the hose is the cheapest prevention. ## Lost key to a master lock system You lose the key to the building's central lock system and the landlord wants every lock replaced. - **Pays (Personal liability):** Replacing the lock system, if loss of keys is included - **Does not pay:** Contents insurance does not pay this. At most it covers changing your own lock after a burglary. - **The catch:** Many policies cap key claims and exclude keys from your employer. Work keys need an explicit extension. ## Frozen pipe in an empty house An inherited house stands empty over winter, a pipe freezes and bursts. - **Pays (Buildings insurance):** Pipe repair and water damage, provided the policyholder's duties were met - **Does not pay:** The heir's contents insurance applies to the heir's own home, not to the empty house. - **The catch:** In the cold season an unused building must be heated, or all pipes shut off and drained. Otherwise cover can be lost in full or in part. ## Hail dents the car A hailstorm leaves dozens of dents in roof and bonnet. - **Pays (Car insurance):** Partial cover (Teilkasko): dent repair or new panels, minus the excess - **Does not pay:** Motor liability never pays for your own car, and contents insurance does not cover vehicles. - **The catch:** If you keep the money instead of repairing, VAT is deducted. A later hail claim on the same panels has the old damage subtracted. ## Deer runs into the car On a country road a deer jumps out, the front of the car is crushed. - **Pays (Car insurance):** Partial cover: collision with game animals, better policies include all animals - **Does not pay:** If you swerve and end in a ditch without touching the animal, partial cover pays only if swerving was clearly necessary. Otherwise it needs fully comprehensive cover. - **The catch:** Without a certificate from the police or the local hunter there is no proof. Photos of the animal and hair on the car help. ## Laptop stolen from the car The side window is smashed and the bag with laptop and camera taken from the back seat. - **Pays (Car insurance):** Partial cover: the broken window - **Pays (Contents insurance):** Laptop and camera only if theft from vehicles is included - **Does not pay:** Motor insurance never pays for items you carry. Contents insurance without a special clause does not either. - **The catch:** Even when included, cover may apply only during the day, up to a low limit, and only if items were not visible from outside. ## Accident in a rental car on holiday Driving a hire car in Spain, you cause an accident and the other driver is badly hurt. - **Pays (Car insurance):** The so-called Mallorca policy: tops up the rental car's liability limit to your German policy level - **Pays (Travel insurance):** The rental company's excess, if excess protection is included - **Does not pay:** Personal liability excludes damage caused while driving motor vehicles, including hire cars. - **The catch:** Legal minimum limits in some countries are low. The Mallorca extension is included in many German motor policies but usually only for Europe. ## Hotel room broken into While you are at dinner, the room door is forced and camera and watch are gone. - **Pays (Contents insurance):** Cover away from home: burglary and robbery while travelling, up to a share of the sum insured - **Pays (Travel insurance):** Luggage insurance if taken out, also for simple theft - **Does not pay:** The hotel's liability is limited by law and depends on whether valuables were in the safe. - **The catch:** Cover away from home usually applies only to trips of up to three months. Report the theft to the local police, a report back home is not enough. ## Appendicitis in Turkey On holiday in Antalya your appendix has to come out, and the hospital wants payment upfront. - **Pays (Travel insurance):** Travel health insurance: treatment, hospital and medically sensible repatriation - **Does not pay:** Statutory health insurance pays outside the EU only where an agreement exists and only at German rates. It never pays repatriation. - **The catch:** Many policies cover trips of up to six or eight weeks only. If you visit family abroad for longer, you need longer cover. ## Too ill to travel Three days before a package holiday your child falls seriously ill. - **Pays (Travel insurance):** Trip cancellation: the tour operator's cancellation fees after sudden serious illness - **Does not pay:** Health insurance does not refund cancellation fees, and the operator need not cancel free of charge. - **The catch:** Cancel immediately once the trip is impossible. Waiting to see whether things improve means you only get the fees that would have applied on the earlier date. ## Cycling into a pedestrian Riding your e-bike, you hit a pedestrian who breaks a hip. - **Pays (Personal liability):** Pain and suffering, medical costs, lost earnings and defence against excessive claims - **Does not pay:** Accident insurance pays for your own injuries, not for the other person's. - **The catch:** This applies to pedal-assisted e-bikes up to 25 km/h. A speed pedelec up to 45 km/h needs an insurance plate, and personal liability does not cover it. ## Drone crashes onto a car The drone loses signal and falls onto the windscreen of a parked car. - **Pays (Drone insurance):** Damage to third parties, liability cover is compulsory for every drone in Germany - **Does not pay:** Many personal liability policies exclude drones or cover only light models. - **The catch:** Flying against the rules, for example over residential properties without permission, can lead to recovery claims against you. Carry proof of insurance when flying. ## Child scratches a neighbour's car Your eight-year-old rides a scooter along a parked car and leaves a long scratch. - **Pays (Personal liability):** The paintwork repair, because an eight-year-old can be liable for damage to parked cars - **Does not pay:** The neighbour's own comprehensive cover would pay but costs him his no-claims class, so he will claim from you. - **The catch:** The rule that children under ten are not liable in road traffic does not apply to parked cars, according to the Federal Court of Justice. A child under seven is never liable, then only a policy including young children pays. ## Dropping a friend's phone You borrow a friend's phone to take a photo and it falls on tiles. - **Pays (Personal liability):** The current value of the phone, if the policy includes borrowed items - **Does not pay:** Basic policies exclude borrowed and rented items. And liability never pays the price of a new phone. - **The catch:** Because the phone was in your hand, it counts as borrowed, exactly the situation the exclusion targets. ## Helping a friend move, mirror broken You carry a large mirror during a friend's move, it slips and breaks. - **Pays (Personal liability):** The damage, if favour damage (Gefälligkeitsschäden) is included - **Does not pay:** Without the clause insurers often refuse: German courts usually hold unpaid helpers liable only for gross negligence. - **The catch:** Some policies exclude damage to goods during loading and unloading of vehicles. Check before moving day. ## Child falls from a climbing frame At the weekend your daughter falls from a climbing frame, a complex fracture leaves the joint stiff. - **Pays (Accident insurance):** Lump sum based on the degree of permanent impairment - **Does not pay:** Statutory accident insurance covers children only at nursery, school and on the way there. Health insurance pays treatment but no compensation. - **The catch:** Many policies pay only from a certain degree of impairment, and the impairment must be medically confirmed within 15 months. ## The main earner dies A father dies aged 42, two children, the house half paid off. - **Pays (Term life insurance):** The agreed sum to the survivors, free to use for the mortgage and living costs - **Does not pay:** Statutory survivors' pensions replace only part of the income. Accident insurance pays only for death by accident, most deaths are from illness. - **The catch:** Wrong health answers on the application let the insurer withdraw from the contract in the first years. Adjust the sum when the mortgage changes. ## Dog bites the postman The dog jumps the garden fence and bites the delivery worker's leg. - **Pays (Dog and horse liability):** Treatment, pain and suffering, lost earnings and the employer's accident insurer's recovery claim - **Does not pay:** Personal liability does not cover dogs, one of the most common misunderstandings among newcomers. - **The catch:** Dog owners are liable even without fault. Breaking local rules such as leash or muzzle orders can give the insurer recourse against you. ## Horse bolts onto the road A startled horse breaks loose, runs onto the main road and a car hits it. - **Pays (Dog and horse liability):** Damage to the car and injured people, defence against excessive claims - **Does not pay:** Personal liability does not pay, not even the rider's if they are not the owner. - **The catch:** Shared riders and third-party riders must be included in the owner's policy, otherwise the insurer may claim from the rider. ## Dog needs knee surgery A torn cruciate ligament, and the animal hospital quotes several thousand euros. - **Pays (Pet health insurance):** Surgery, hospital stay and aftercare under the German vet fee scale - **Does not pay:** Pet liability pays damage to others, not treatment of your own animal. - **The catch:** Waiting periods and exclusions for known conditions are standard. Some policies reimburse only up to twice the fee scale, while animal hospitals often charge more. ## Skiing accident in Austria A fall on the piste, helicopter rescue, surgery in the valley. - **Pays (Travel insurance):** Travel health cover: private clinic and repatriation to Germany - **Pays (Accident insurance):** Rescue costs and a lump sum for permanent impairment - **Pays (Personal liability):** Damage if you injured another skier - **Does not pay:** With the European Health Insurance Card, statutory insurance pays what a local contract doctor would cost. Helicopter rescue is generally not covered. - **The catch:** Many clinics in ski resorts treat patients privately. Without travel health cover the difference lands with you. ## Implant instead of a bridge A molar has to come out and the dentist recommends an implant costing around 3,000 euros. - **Pays (Dental insurance):** Part of the cost beyond the fixed subsidy, depending on the plan up to 90 or 100 percent - **Does not pay:** Statutory insurance pays a fixed subsidy of 60 percent of the standard treatment, 70 or 75 percent with a complete bonus booklet. The standard treatment is a bridge, not an implant. - **The catch:** Dental plans do not pay for treatment already recommended or started before you signed. In the first years annual caps apply. ## Burnout, unable to work After months of overload a project manager is off with severe depression, no return in sight. - **Pays (Occupational disability):** Monthly benefit if she is expected to be at least 50 percent unable to do her job for six months - **Does not pay:** Statutory sick pay ends after 78 weeks. The statutory reduced earning capacity pension applies only if you cannot work in any job at all. - **The catch:** Mental illness is among the most frequent causes of disability claims. Concealing past psychotherapy on the application can void the contract. ## A parent needs care After a stroke, your mother needs a care home place at care level 4. - **Pays (Long-term care):** Daily or monthly care benefit, free to use, depending on care level - **Does not pay:** Statutory care insurance pays a fixed amount per care level, not the full cost. Accommodation, meals and investment costs stay with the resident. - **The catch:** Supplementary care cover must be taken out before care is needed. With existing conditions or at an advanced age insurers often decline. ## Dismissed by your employer After years in the job your employer dismisses you for operational reasons and you want to challenge it. - **Pays (Legal expenses insurance):** Lawyer and court fees, if employment law is included - **Does not pay:** At first instance in German labour courts each side pays its own lawyer, even the winner. - **The catch:** Employment cover usually has a three-month waiting period. Buying it once a dispute is looming does not work. ## Consultant misses a deadline A tax adviser files an objection too late, the client loses a 40,000 euro refund. - **Pays (Professional indemnity):** The client's financial loss and defence against unfounded claims - **Does not pay:** General business liability covers injury and property damage, not pure financial loss from advice. - **The catch:** Many professional indemnity policies cover only claims reported during the policy period. Retiring professionals need run-off cover. ## Managing director held personally liable A GmbH loses heavily on a risky investment and the shareholders demand compensation from the managing director. - **Pays (D&O insurance):** Defence costs and damages for breach of duty as a director - **Does not pay:** The company's business liability does not respond when the company sues its own director. Personal assets are liable without limit (§ 43 GmbH Act). - **The catch:** Intentional breaches are never covered, and defence costs eat into the sum insured. ## Customer slips in the shop A customer slips on a freshly mopped floor and breaks her wrist. - **Pays (Business liability):** Treatment, pain and suffering, the health fund's recovery claim - **Does not pay:** The owner's personal liability does not cover business activities. - **The catch:** It turns on the duty to keep premises safe. Without a warning sign liability is clear. Record cleaning times and signage. ## Ransomware attack An employee opens an attachment, next morning all systems are encrypted with a ransom demand. - **Pays (Cyber insurance):** IT forensics, restoration, business interruption, notifying customers and the data protection authority - **Does not pay:** Contents and equipment policies do not pay data restoration after an attack. Business interruption cover needs physical damage, not a hack. - **The catch:** Cyber policies often require current updates, separate backups and multi-factor login. Missing them can reduce the payout. ## Major customer goes insolvent A customer with 80,000 euros in open invoices files for insolvency. - **Pays (Trade credit insurance):** The insured share of the receivable, usually 70 to 90 percent - **Does not pay:** No other business policy pays for bad debt. - **The catch:** Only customers with a credit limit approved in advance are covered. Keep delivering while payments are overdue and you lose cover for the new deliveries. ## Fitter damages a client's parquet floor An employee drops heavy tools while installing a kitchen and ruins the parquet. - **Pays (Business liability):** The floor, if damage to property being worked on or near is included - **Does not pay:** Under German employment law the employee's own liability is limited, for slight negligence to nothing. The business carries the loss. - **The catch:** Basic policies exclude damage to items being worked on, which is exactly what matters for trades. ## CNC machine breaks down An operating error destroys the spindle, the machine is down for six weeks and orders are lost. - **Pays (Machinery breakdown):** Repair or replacement after operating error, short circuit or material defect - **Pays (Business interruption):** Lost profit during downtime, if machinery interruption is included - **Does not pay:** Contents insurance pays for fire, burglary, water and storm, not for operating errors. - **The catch:** Wear and tear is never covered, and standard business interruption follows fire and similar perils. Machinery breakdown needs its own module. ## FAQ ### What if two policies cover the same loss? The more specific one usually pays first, for instance bicycle insurance before contents. You are never paid twice. Report to both insurers and mention the other policy. ### How quickly must I report a claim in Germany? Without undue delay. Some deadlines are fixed in the terms, such as medical confirmation of impairment in accident insurance. Theft and burglary must also be reported to the police at once. ### What does gross negligence mean for my claim? If you breach basic care in a serious way, the insurer may reduce payment in proportion to your fault (§ 81 Insurance Contract Act). Good policies waive this fully or up to a limit. ### Can my insurer cancel after a claim? Yes. After a claim both sides may cancel. Several claims in a short time make it more likely, so weigh small losses against the premium first. ### Do I need receipts for everything? Not for everything, but for valuable items. Otherwise you must prove value in other ways, such as photos, bank statements or manuals. A yearly photo inventory of your home helps a lot. ### Can a broker help if my claim is refused? Yes. We check the refusal against the policy terms, draft the objection and, where needed, involve the insurance ombudsman, which is free for consumers and binding on insurers up to a limit. --- NAMMERT Assekuradeur GmbH, insurance broker licensed under section 34d(1) of the German Trade Regulation Act, broker register no. D-C08Q-TOSD4-37. For boat and yacht insurance we act as underwriting agency, not as broker. NAMMERT Assekuradeur GmbH, Karl-Marx-Straße 4, 15711 Königs Wusterhausen, +49 3375 29 12 77, info@nammert.com. Wikidata: Q141141479.