Theft from the Clothesline: Covered or Not?

Is expensive underwear on your balcony covered by contents insurance if a burglar steals it? The answer is yes! Find out why in this article:

What does your contents insurance cover?

Insurances are supposed to make your life easier. However, complicated wordings, special cases and exceptions often make it even more complicated. To shed light on this dark side of insurance, our quiz series "Covered or not?" will show you what contents insurance is all about. The best part? You can always win something! Every week there is a new example, a great prize and always the question: Covered or not?

Here's what happened

Laundry day at last! The sun is shining, you have a day off and in your drawer there is only a bathing suit left where once your underwear was. You start the washing machine, proudly carry your freshly washed underwear to the balcony and hang it on the clothesline. A good feeling, for which you reward yourself with a cocktail evening with your friends.

When you get home, you're in for a nasty surprise. In your absence someone has gained access to your apartment and not only taken your headphones with them: on your balcony, too, there is now a yawning void where your underwear used to be.

You put on your bathing suit, lie down in bed and think about the next steps. Didn't you have an insurance that pays for such things? And which of the stolen things does it cover?

Of course, you've got some burning questions. Our friendly support will be happy to answer them for you:

Is my expensive underwear covered by my contents insurance?

Yes, as your expensive underwear is also part of your household goods. To illustrate it with a very figurative example:  Your household contents include pretty much all things that would fall out of your house or apartment if you turned it upside down. This includes furniture, valuables, utensils, and even your laundry.

Does my coverage also extend to my balcony?

Yes, because there are many other places besides your apartment that are covered by your contents insurance. Your laundry is also protected against burglary on the balcony, terrace and garden. Very important: Burglary here means that access to your laundry is basically secured - for example by a locked garden gate - and someone has violently gained access to your property. A freely accessible garden is therefore not included and is therefore unfortunately not covered. By the way: Your washing machine is also insured if it is stolen from the laundry cellar of the shared laundry room.

If something like this happens, the following steps are important. First, be sure to go to the police and report the burglary.

In the next step, open the Getsafe app on your phone, report the burglary to Getsafe as a contents claim and send us the police report as well as the purchase invoices for the items. Luckily, you had just ordered your underwear from Zalando and still have the invoice in your emails.

Within a few days, your claim will be processed and you will receive the payout for your laundry and headphones to your bank account.