Reasons for personal liability insurance

The classic is tenant damage. It not only happens when rock stars cut loose. If you drop your perfume into the washbasin you are also liable for the big crack in the porcelain. The same applies to scrapes on the parquet floor or stains in the carpet. Please note: As the liable party, you are always only liable for the cash value of the item, and the landlord cannot make you pay for normal wear and tear.

Pets can also cause a lot of damage: If your dog bites your neighbor or knocks him over when playing, things can get expensive. Bike damage is a third important category – in the past it was covered by the registration sticker; now it is included in general personal liability. Damage to borrowed or hired items forms the fourth category of frequent personal liability cases. Because many music schools lend out instruments, these are also often affected: the piano with the enormous scratch or the smashed violin.

Having children is an exciting pastime. It also means that things can get broken when playing – the fifth frequent reason for personal liability cases. It doesn’t have to be a result of kindergarten kids setting fire to a barn out of a youthful love of experimentation. Perhaps it’s just a broken window in a neighboring building, caused by a ball. Whether the parents have to pay by law is often a matter for discussion. So it’s good to know that the insurer will still cover the damage in most cases. The sixth category of frequent accidents relates to sporting accidents, for example when a skier rams a snowboarder.

The seventh and last classic of the personal liability cases relates to visitor damage: At an evening barbecue in your neighbor’s garden, you knock over the table and smash your neighbor’s patio door. Or over brunch, the carafe of orange juice disintegrates in your hand. Dumb that your host’s brand new smartphone happens to be lying right next to it.

In summary: If you have no children or animals, you’re not a tenant, you don’t ride a bike and you never do any other form of sport, you never lend anything and you never visit anyone, then you’ll have relatively few opportunities to cause any damage. But experience shows that all the rest of us will need our insurance at some time or other.