Tips from the Hückeswagen experts
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When insurance companies pay for the storm damage
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What to do when a storm uproots a tree that then landed on your own house?
Photo: dpa / Marcel Kusch
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Hückeswagen What to do if a storm has caused damage to the house? The Hückeswagen insurance expert Karl-Jürgen Huhn gives the appropriate advice.
They hadn’t hit the Bergisch, but other parts of North Rhine-Westphalia: the devastating storms of the past few days. “The insurance pays for that,” some might think when looking at the damage. “But that is a widespread misconception,” clarifies Karl-Jürgen Huhn from Hückeswagen, spokesman for the Bergisch-Land district of the Federal Association of German Insurance Merchants (BVK). “Because only around 45 percent of households in Germany have taken out natural hazard insurance that covers damage caused by heavy rain and floods.”
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Since floods are an elementary natural hazard, only those who have linked the natural hazard protection to their home or household insurance can hope for damage payments from their private insurance. The property has “always” been insured against the effects of natural forces, such as storms and hail, with a building insurance and the household with a household contents insurance. But for the current damage caused by the heavy rain and backwater in the sewer system, only natural hazard insurances are responsible, stresses Huhn. “These not only cover flood damage, but also damage caused by landslides, subsidence and earthquakes, among other things.”
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Water and house damage caused by the leakage of heating oil when the flood floods the cellar and the tanks “float” are not insured with natural hazard insurance. Then there is a risk that the heating oil will mix with the brackish water and contaminate the environment. “For this oil damage to your own house and the water pollution for which the tank owner is liable, a building or household contents insurance that has been extended to include natural hazards is not sufficient,” emphasizes the Hückeswagen insurance expert. “That is why homeowners with oil heating should, even if they feel absolutely safe from flood damage, think of a water damage liability or oil tank insurance that also covers their own oil damage to the house.
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According to Huhn, a special warning applies to drivers. Partial or fully comprehensive insurance is responsible if a car is damaged in a flooded street or underground car park. That usually means a total loss. “But anyone who willfully tries to see whether they can drive the car over a flooded stretch of road and then get stuck will wait in vain for insurance benefits.”
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