Dropped your laptop – will the household contents insurance pay out?

Whether mobile working or binge watching your favourite series – laptops are omnipresent today. Open up, log on and the whole (online) world is there under your nose. But all it takes is one wrong move to ruin all that. Once the notebook is on the floor, it can have annoying consequences. Wonder whether the household contents insurance covers the damage in the event of such a mishap?

Replacement for the broken laptop

If your laptop falls out of your bag onto the floor by mistake, the additional “all risks” insurance will cover the costs incurred. And not only that: mobile phones and tablets are also insured. Without this addition, household contents insurance only covers your notebook against burglary or damage due to fire, water, hail, storm or flooding, etc.

Damage to a borrowed notebook

If you damage a friend’s notebook by mistake, your personal liability insurance will cover that. The entitlement is for the current value. But please note: If you have a multi-person household policy with the others sharing the flat or house, you must check whether a loss is covered by them. Only if all room-mates have their own policy is a loss of this sort covered by your personal liability insurance.

Beware of pickpockets

Is your laptop no longer in your bag? The additional insurance for “simple theft away from home” covers the costs incurred in the event of theft outside the home. It covers theft by tricksters, pickpockets and opportunity thieves. Compensation is set at the replacement value. In the case of a verified night away from home (e.g. on holiday), the agreed sum insured is actually doubled.