First home

If your friends damage something while helping you to move, their liability will be limited as they were acting out of courtesy by helping you. In this case your friends' liability insurance will likely only cover a portion of the damages. If you make use of a removal company, you should look at their general terms and conditions (GT&Cs) before entering into an agreement. Take a look at the amount for which the removal company is liable, because they may limit their liability. Find out whether there are certain damages they cannot be held liable for. In any case, it is worth taking out special transport insurance.

With our household contents insurance your belongings are insured up to a sum of CHF 2,000 when moving. The insurance protects you against damage — for example, if something happens to your belongings in transit.

At a minimum, you should take out household contents insurance and personal liability insurance. During your move, take the opportunity to check the sum insured for your household contents insurance. Does the sum insured still correspond to the value of your household contents? Always insure the replacement value. The replacement value is the value that you would have to pay today to purchase a specific replacement item brand new.

For example: you own a designer sofa for which you paid CHF 3,000 five years ago. Today you would have to pay CHF 5,000 to replace the sofa. You should increase your sum insured accordingly.

If you own any particularly valuable items, it is worth taking out insurance of valuables. This could be, for example, jewelry, camera equipment or expensive musical instruments.

It is possible, as a shared apartment, to take out joint personal liability cover and household contents insurance. However, this is inadvisable for two reasons:

• since roommates in a shared apartment often change, the insurance must be continuously adjusted with each change. In addition, those leaving the apartment lose their insurance coverage.
• In a joint insurance policy, all roommates have equal coverage. However, it is possible that not all roommates require the same insurance coverage. For example, if one of your roommates only has a little furniture or another owns an expensive musical instrument.

We therefore recommend that each roommate takes out their own personal liability and household contents insurance.

Good to know: damages caused by roommates to one another are usually not covered by personal liability insurance.

The sum insured corresponds to the total value of your household contents. This includes clothes, furniture, tableware, ski equipment, etc. We advise that you walk from room to room with a notepad to determine an accurate replacement value for your household contents. That is: How much would you have to pay today to buy all of your possessions brand new? Don't forget about items that you keep stored in the basement, attic or garage. Call our hotline on 0800 80 80 80 or contact your your general agency if you are unsure.

Good to know: if you set the sum too low, you run the risk that the insurance will only cover part of the damage if worst comes to worst. This is because insurers have the right to reduce their benefits proportionally if the sum insured is too low.