Swiss Household Insurance Comparison

Household insurance covers the costs of loss or damage of your personal possessions if they are stolen or damaged by fire, flooding, or certain other hazards.

Swiss insurance providers that offer household insurance include: Allianz, Axa, Baloise, Elvia (Allianz), CSS, Generali, Helvetia, Mobiliar, Smile (Helvetia), Sympany, Vaudoise, Visana, and Zurich Insurance.

You can choose to insure just yourself, or everyone who lives with you.

Household insurance for an entire household of people generally also covers your children who do not live with you. That applies to children up to the age of 25, as long as they are not employed (while they are studying, for example).

Most of your personal property is covered. However, there are some exclusions and limitations:

• Money and cash equivalents are generally only covered up to relatively low limits, and are not covered at all in the case of simple theft. 
• Jewelry is fully-covered if it is stored in an eligible safe when it is not being worn. When jewelry is not kept in a safe, coverage for burglary is limited to a lower sum insured (a maximum of 20,000 or 50,000 francs, for example).
• Vehicles for which special liability insurance is compulsory, such as licensed cars, caravans, motorhomes, motorcycles, high-powered e-bikes, larger boats, and aircraft, are generally not covered by household insurance. Cars can be insured against the same hazards using partial-casco car insurance.

All Swiss household insurance offers cover damages and loss caused by avalanches, electrical damages, falling objects, fire, flooding, floods, landslides, leaks, lightning, explosions, smoke, scorching, and theft (burglary, robbery, and simple theft at home).

But many other hazards – including earthquakes, plundering, vandalism, volcanic eruptions, and damages caused by wild animals – may or may not be covered, depending on which insurance offer you use. You can find a list of the hazards that may be insured in the guide to Swiss household insurance coverages.

Basic Swiss household insurance does not cover damages that you inflict on your own possessions. It also does not reimburse you when you simply lose an item. However, some insurance providers let you add an insurance rider for accidental damage and loss. This rider, which is sometimes called casco insurance, covers you when you lose or damage items by accident.

Most insurance providers offer an optional glass rider for household insurance that covers accidental damage to glass items.

Your phone is always covered against damage by burglary, fire, flooding and leaks, robbery, and natural hazards. It is also insured against simple theft that occurs in your home.

If you want to insure your phone against simple theft outside of your home, you can do this by adding the optional simple theft away from home insurance rider offered by all Swiss household insurance providers.

If you want to get insured against the risk of accidentally losing or damaging your phone yourself, you need to use an insurance provider that offers an optional rider for accidental damage and loss. Damages caused by short circuits or power surges are typically also covered by this rider.

You can find useful information in the moneyland.ch guide to household insurance coverage for mobile phones.

Household insurance covers personal property against most hazards whether it is in your home (including your garden) and when it is outside of your home. 

Your possessions are covered worldwide. But when your things are not at home, the insurance coverage is lower (5, 10, or 20 percent of the standard sum insured, for example). There are also time limits for how long possessions can remain outside of your home and still be covered (1 or 2 years, for example).

Simple theft – stealing that does not involve either breaking and entering (burglary) or the threat of violence (robbery) – is only covered if the theft occurs at your home. However, all Swiss household insurance providers offer supplemental insurance coverage for simple theft away from home. This can be added to your household insurance for an additional insurance premium. You can find detailed information in the guide to simple theft away from home insurance.

Basic Swiss household insurance does not fully cover losses you incur due to gross negligence. For example, if your leaving a candle unattended results in a fire that damages your personal property, the insurance may pay out lower insurance benefits, or none at all.

However, all Swiss household insurance providers offer an optional insurance rider that waives their right to reduce benefits for losses that occur due to a lack of due diligence. Although you pay an additional premium for this rider, adding it to your household insurance is beneficial.

On top of paying out benefits for damaged or stolen items, Swiss household insurance also covers extra costs that you may incur due to covered hazards like fire or flooding. Coverage varies between insurance providers. but costs that are typically covered include:

• The cost of removing and getting rid of damaged property.
• The cost of temporary storage for your things (if your home is damaged by fire or a flood, for example).
• The cost of replacing locks (after burglary, for example).
• The cost of replacing damaged documents.
• The cost of temporary living quarters (if your home is damaged by fire or a flood, for example).
• Losses resulting from your not being able to sublet your home.
• Emergency glazing and/or door replacement.

Additional costs, like fire department charges, police charges, psychological care, security services, repatriation, and decontamination are covered by certain insurance providers.

A few insurance providers offer home assistance in household insurance as a supplemental benefit or an optional rider.

Home assistance provides emergency measures that can prevent damages to your possessions. This may include emergency plumbing or leak repair to prevent flooding, or emergency repairs to electrical systems to prevent fires, for example. Home assistance may also cover pest removal services.

Swiss household insurance policies are always linked to a specific address. Although Swiss household insurance covers your possessions worldwide, coverage for damages and theft outside of the specified address is limited.

If you want to benefit from full insurance for goods kept at your holiday home, you have to take out a separate household insurance policy for your secondary residence.

Other locations, such as rented storage facilities and hobby rooms, can be added to the same household insurance you use for your primary or secondary residence.

Basic household insurance does not cover your luggage while it is being transported by a common carrier (an airline, for example). That applies, for example, to luggage that you check in and entrust to an airline. However, some insurers let you add optional luggage insurance coverage to your household insurance policy for an extra premium.

Luggage that you carry on you is insured against covered hazards, except for accidental damage or loss, and simple theft (theft without breaking in or the threat of violence).

Accidental damage and loss of luggage while it is in your possession can be insured by adding the optional coverage for accidental damage and loss that some insurance providers offer.

Theft of your luggage while it is in your possession can be insured by adding the optional simple theft away from home insurance rider.

Small household pets are generally covered by Swiss household insurance. That means you can claim benefits if pets die due to a covered hazard. Horses are generally excluded from coverage, and must be insured using horse insurance.

Some insurers include coverage for costs like pet sitting in their home assistance riders for household insurance. You can find useful information about insurance for pets in the financial guide for pet owners and the financial guide for horse riders.

Cash and cash equivalents like precious metal bullion, loose gemstones, and vouchers are covered, but only up to a relatively low limit (2000 or 5000 francs, for example).

Simple theft of cash﹘whether at home or away from home﹘is generally not covered by household insurance at all. The theft coverage for cash only applies to burglaries (with breaking and entering) and robberies (with force or the threat of force).

Because household insurance coverage for cash equivalents (gold bullion, for example) is very limited, renting a bank safe deposit box can be a better way to guard against losing these assets.

Household insurance generally covers the replacement value of your personal property. That means it covers cost of buying the same or similar items brand new at current prices.

However, possessions that you do not use, such as stuff stored in your cellar or attic, is only covered up to its actual cash value. That means the benefit you receive is only high enough to replace the item with a used item that has similar wear and tear. 

If an item can be repaired, then the insurance covers all or part of the cost of the repair, minus your insurance deductible.

Some insurance providers also apply actual cash value when calculating benefits for bicycles, skis, and sports equipment. Insurers that do this may offer a supplemental, paid insurance rider that lets you claim the replacement value for sport equipment, instead of the actual cash value.

You can choose an insurance deductible between zero and 500 Swiss francs, depending on the insurance provider. 

The deductible applies every time you claim on your household insurance. If, for example, you have a 500-franc deductible, then you will only receive an insurance benefit if the value of the stolen or damaged item surpasses 500 francs.

The insurance premiums charged for household insurance vary based on various factors including:

• The number of people in your household.
• Which insurance deductible you choose.
• The combined value of all your possessions.
• The size of your home.
• The location of your home.
• The security of your home (fire resistance and vulnerability to burglaries).
• Whether or not you want coverage for simple theft away from home, accidental damage to glass furniture, self-inflicted accidental damage and loss, luggage insurance, and other optional coverages.
• Your age and the ages of your children (some insurance providers have discounts for young adults and/or for families with young children).
• Whether or not you have made any household insurance claims in recent years.

Premiums for household insurance start at less than 50 francs per year. That is the case for a single adult with possessions worth around 20,000 francs, living in a small one-room rented apartment, with a 500-franc insurance deductible and no optional insurance riders.

A four-person household in a 4.5-room rented apartment can expect to pay around 400 francs per year for household insurance with 100,000 francs or insurance coverage, with a zero-franc deductible and optional insurance for simple theft away from home and accidental damage to glass furniture.

If you need additional coverage (insurance for simple theft away from home, for example), you can generally have your insurance provider adjust your policy to include the coverage you need.

If you move to a new address, you have to report the change to your insurance provider. They will issue a new policy for the new address. The insurance premium may be increased or decreased based on the size and location of your new home.

It is also important to inform your insurance provider if the total value of your personal possessions increases or decreases substantially. 

If the value of your property increases because you buy new things or items gain value over time, having your insurance provider adjust your coverage to match will prevent underinsurance. That is significant because if the sum insured by your policy does not cover the total value of all your possessions, then the insurance provider can reduce benefits in keeping with the difference if a hazard occurs.

If the value of your stuff goes down because you sell things, or their value decreases with age, then having your insurer reduce the sum insured can lower your insurance premiums.

If you want to change your insurance provider, you will have to give the required notice before your contract’s term ends. Most household insurance offers have a three-month notice period, but one-month and six-month notice periods are also used.

You can find useful information about terminating an insurance policy in this guide.

Whether or not you are likely to benefit from household insurance depends on the total, combined value of your possessions. 

When calculating the value of your household, make sure not to include your car and other items that are not covered by household insurance. 

The lowest possible coverage you can choose is typically 20,000 francs. If the total value of your possessions is only a few hundred to a few thousand francs, then it usually is not worth paying for household insurance.

If you only want to insure a few specific items (valuable jewelry, musical instruments, art, or collections, for example), then getting valuables insurance for those items only can be cheaper than getting general household insurance. 

Likewise, getting mobile phone insurance can be cheaper if you only want to insure your mobile phone.