Whether due to carelessness, mishap, or forgetfulness - if you cause damage, you must take responsibility.

The injured party has a legal right to adequate financial compensation. This includes the costs of repairs or replacement of damaged items, as well as consequential costs like loss of use.

If people are injured, medical treatment and loss of earnings arise. Often, the injured has a right to compensation for pain and suffering, and for permanent health damage, even a lifelong pension.

You Are Liable with Your Entire Assets
Not all cases of private liability are as harmless as a broken window while playing football or a red wine stain on the neighbor’s carpet. The incurred damage can be so high that it endangers your economic existence.

As the perpetrator, you are liable with your entire assets, with house and property, bank deposits, wages, and salary. Even a future inheritance can be claimed, if necessary.

The liability insurance protects you and your family from potentially ruinous compensation claims. The insurer first checks whether and to what extent you are obliged to pay damages. If the claim is justified, they pay the compensation, i.e., the restitution in money.

By the way, private liability also protects you as a homeowner against damage arising from your house, as long as you occupy it yourself. Spouses and children are, of course, also insured. Additionally, the private liability insurance also applies during temporary stays abroad.

Defense of Unfounded Claims
If necessary, the insurer defends you against unfounded claims for damages. If a legal dispute arises with the claimant, your liability insurer will conduct the proceedings and cover the costs. Thus, liability insurance provides a kind of legal protection against unjustified liability claims. Fines are not insured.

Private liability, however, does not cover damages inflicted upon each other by the jointly insured people under the contract. Deliberately caused damages, fines, and penalties, mere contractual obligations like loan repayments, or damages from the use of motor vehicles - for which there’s the motor vehicle liability insurance, which every vehicle owner must take out - are also excluded.

The liability insurance primarily protects the policyholder - they are the contract partner with all rights and obligations. The policyholder's family members, spouses, and children are protected by private liability insurance.

Even if no marriage has been contracted, coverage can be extended to a life partner. The partner’s name must be added to the contract.

Comprehensive Protection
Liability coverage even extends to household and garden helpers as well as babysitters. If, for example, a neighbor is injured due to negligence by your babysitter, your liability insurance usually covers it.

If the policyholder passes away, coverage continues for the relatives until the next premium due date. If the surviving partner pays the next premium, they automatically become the contract partner, and the insurance coverage continues seamlessly.

Insurances cost money - but those who forgo private liability insurance take a high risk. Misfortunes or accidents cannot be predicted or avoided.

If you don't want to personally bear the compensation duty in such cases, you need good liability protection. A private liability insurance for you and your family with standard coverage is available for an annual fee of less than a hundred euros.

The private liability risk is often underestimated - often a small inattention is enough to cause great damage. A serious accident can happen quickly: who hasn't hurried across the street despite a red light to catch a bus? If an accident happens as a result, liability covers the damage.

Personal injury is also not uncommon: if you collide with another cyclist and injure them, you pay the damage out of your own pocket without liability insurance.

Children Frequently Cause Damage
Damages caused by children are particularly common, as they cannot yet assess the consequences of their actions as well as adults can. Reckless play with matches can burn down an entire tenement, and the building owner’s insurance regresses against the child's parents.

But the damage doesn’t have to be that big - during street football games, many a ball ends up not in the goal but in the storefront window of the nearby shop.

What Liability Protection Do I Need?
The comprehensive protection of a private liability insurance generally suffices for the contingencies of everyday life. Incidentally, you're also insured as a cyclist, skater, and during typical leisure sports activities. 

Certain cases, however, require separate insurance: for cars, motorcycles, mopeds, etc., a motor vehicle liability insurance is legally required. If you own a sailing or motorboat, you need a sports boat liability. Owners of horses, dogs, and other larger animals take out special animal owner liability insurance.

Special Liability for Landlords and Builders
As the owner of a multi-family house, landlord of a single-family house, or owner of undeveloped land, you need a special house and landowner liability insurance.

For smaller construction projects up to a typical sum of 50,000 euros, damages related to the construction activity are covered by the private liability of the builder. For larger constructions, taking out a separate builder's liability insurance is required.