Understanding Insurance Coverage for Storm Damage in Germany

Once again violent storms are raging in Germany. Storm, hail, flood or lightning damaged your house? Then hopefully you’ve insured it. But which insurance company pays for what – and when does the money come?

Which insurance pays

So that repairs for damage to the building and permanently installed equipment (e.g. die fitted kitchen or heating system).be accepteddo you need a Residential building insurance (WGV). One Household insurance only pays for loose items such as furniture and appliances.

What a WGV pays

A good WGV protects against damage caused by storm and hail, fire or tap water. These three building blocks are standard in most insurance companies. This protects you if, for example, lightning has struck, a forest fire has spread to your house, something has been damaged by a burst pipe, a storm (from wind force 8) covered your roof or hail smashed a window.

What a WGV only pays with an extra module

But natural disasters are not automatically included inside. So that this is also insured, you must also add the Building block elemental damage integrate. Only the also closes die increasingly frequentn Flooding caused by high water and heavy rain abut also Earthquakes, slides and subsidence, avalanches, snow pressure and even Volcanic eruptions.

What insurance doesn’t pay for

Not even with the elemental damage extra can you protect yourself from storm surges, war and unrest, intent, reactor accidents and groundwater that gets into the house underground.

Where you have to look closely

Backwater, so if z. B. Your house is flooded via the toilet, is missing in many tariffs with elementary protection. You have to ensure this explicitly. Heat pumps or solar systems are not always automatically protected either. So look at your contract and ask the insurer if you can supplement it. But that sometimes costs extra.

Important: If you change something in your house afterwards, it can increase the value and the risk. You must therefore inform the insurer of the changes. Otherwise you are not sufficiently insured and will not be reimbursed for the higher value.

When the insurance pays

Unlike many other insurance companies, you do not get money directly from a WGV as soon as they have recognized the damage. Because you cannot have anything paid out to you – except for hotel accommodation if you can no longer live in your house and have secured it.

But you still don’t have to pay for the repairs in advance: Instead, the insurance company pays the bills directly as soon as you forward them. This means that you also get the amount that is actually to be paid – and not too little, because material and labor costs have increased since the damage.

In order to find a good WGV including elemental protection, we recommend the comparison portal Mr-Money*. You can read which ticks you should set when searching our guide.