Looking for a specific type of liability insurance

andre_xs

Dear All,

not sure this exists in the UK. In Germany, there's an insurance product called 'Privat-Haftpflichtversicherung'. The closest translation might be something like 'private liability insurance'.

This insurance basically covers all kinds of damages you may do to others, including outside your home. Just as an example, if I'm at a friends place and accidentally would knock over a glass of red wine on their carpet, and they can't get out the stain, this insurance would pay for a new carpet.

In other words, it insures you against a lot of everyday risks, only sparing the usual cases for which you have other insurances such as car or home insurance. I think nearly every German has one, because it's not that expensive (maybe something like £150 / year), but so useful.

I have heard that some people say that this is covered with the 'personal liability' in ones home insurance, but the insurer told me that this is for different things (e.g. if our house burns down and the fire spreads to the neighbour, then they would pay as well).

Does anyone know whether something similar exists in the UK?

Kind Regards,

Andre

user1977

In short, no, it isn't really a thing in the UK. I think mainly because the things it might cover aren't really "everyday risks" (how often do German friends sue each other for staining their carpets?). Bigger risks are covered by motor or home insurance.

If you want cover for wine spillage, you get accidental damage cover for your own property, not sue your careless visitor.

Aretnap

It's covered as standard under most home insurance policies, whatever the person you spoke to at your insurer thinks. Assuming by home insurance you mean both buildings and contents insurance.

Buildings insurance comes with owner's liability insurance, eg if you don't maintain your roof properly and a loose tile falls off and injures the postman.

Contents insurance covers both occupier's liability (eg you carelessly start a fire which spreads to your neighbours house) and also a much broader section on personal liability which covers a wide range of liabilities that you might have for accidentally damaging other people's property, or injuring them. Usually it is phrased as covering all liabilities that you might have except… and then lists some exceptions (eg liabilities relating to motor vehicles, liabilities relating to your employment, liabilities relating to certain dangerous dogs etc.

For a typical policy wording see, eg Direct Line's documents here, especially pages 17-18 and 27-28

dl-home-insurance-policy-document-0925.pdf

Obviously the exact wording will vary from insurer to insurer but if you don't have sections which are broadly comparable then you have very unusual home insurance - so I suspect it's more likely that the person you spoke to at your insurer was simply ill-informed. If you post the name of the insurer we can check what sort of liability cover it includes.

Aretnap

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81961473#Comment_81961473

It's certainly true that it's very unlikely that you would be taken to court over wine spilled on a friend's carpet, but in the unlikely event that you were, it is indeed something that would be covered by the liability section of most home insurance policies.

user1977

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81961495#Comment_81961495

After checking my policy I am delighted to discover that you are correct. I shall exercise less caution with my red wine at future parties.

andre_xs

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81961473#Comment_81961473

Thanks. Just to say that you don't have to sue someone to claim the insurance. You just call them up / fill out an online form. They may want to see pictures and a report / confirmation of the person who had the damage.

andre_xs

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81961495#Comment_81961495

Thanks. So they would (hypothetically) really cover a new carpet due to spilled wine in someone else's house? I think I really have to read my policy more carefully 😂

When I researched that, I saw that cars/vehicles are often not part of the insurance. But what if I do damage in a non-traffic related damage to the car? Let's say I trip over something and rip off the rear mirror? Or a roof tile flies off my roof onto their parked car. What I find strange is that in that case (roof tile, happens not too rarely) they expect the owner of the car cover that by their insurance (ignoring the fact that they may face higher premiums now), while the home insurance wouldn't pay…

user1977

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81961709#Comment_81961709

Well that's not how the law works in the UK. Your insurer would be responsible for losses you've caused through your negligence, so they could make your friend prove that the damage was in fact caused by your carelessness and not by something else. Merely being in the vicinity of the incident isn't enough.

MyRealNameToo

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81961720#Comment_81961720

Ultimately the insurer would defend you and were you found liable pay out the damages and costs awarded. Explicitly it would be the liability insurance attaching to your contents insurance, the buildings insurance covers you as the owner of a property (eg postman trips on uneven paving slabs).

Unless it was a brand new carpet they wouldnt get a new carpet because that would be betterment instead they would be indemnified (ie given the cost of cleaning it or the devaluation in value) however for a low value claim sometimes is easier to just payout than argue over the difference of a couple of hundred.

It's your use of a motor vehicle, including as a passenger, that will be excluded from home insurance. So walking or cycling and you go into a car and its your fault most home insurance (or cycle) insurance will respond though in practice its much rarer for "vulnerable" road users to be considered at fault for road traffic accidents instead we more commonly apply contributory negligence in the UK than in Germany.

Have had two associates run over, a friend tried to run across a road in German and got hit by a bus and ultimately got sent a bill for the damage to the bus. A friend in the UK tried to do the same but when drunk, in his case the driver was found liable as the operator of the 2 tonne machine but my friend had a 50% contributory negligence applied meaning the driver has to deal with all their own damage but only has to pay out 50% of my friends losses.

Its a bit of an outlier as normally contributory negligence is used for things like not wearing a seatbelt, obviously doesnt change who caused the accident but does acknowledge your losses are greater because of your own actions and so stops the third party being penalised for your errors.