What is Contents Insurance? How to Protect Your Personal Effects

July 2026

Most of us have belongings that we want to keep safe. For example, the laptop that you need for college or work, the jewellery that your nan gave you, your mobile phone, your ‘proper’ camera and your treasured sneaker/shoe/handbag collection. When these ‘personal effects’ are in your home, they can be protected by your Home Insurance. You do have Home Insurance, right?  

Say, for example, if your home was burgled and your wallet, handbag, tablet and gaming equipment was stolen, your home and contents insurance should cover the items — depending on your policy of course.

Examples of Personal Effects covered under Allianz Home Insurance include, but aren’t limited to: 

• Clothes 
• Wallets/Purses 
• Handbags (including its content e.g. makeup or perfume, but excluding documents) 
• Jewellery (including smartwatches like Fitbit) 
• Mobile phones 
• Mp3 players (e.g. iPod, portable speakers) 
• Headphones (e.g. AirPods, Beats) 
• Laptops (including tablets e.g. iPad, Kindle) 
• Cameras (e.g. DSLR, GoPro; including lenses and accessories) 

Learn more about Allianz Personal Effects

But what happens if your belongings are stolen when you take them with you outside of your home? Well, that’s where Personal Possessions Cover comes in handy.

Your Home and Contents Insurance doesn’t automatically cover your items if you take them outside. This is why you should consider Personal Possessions Cover, an optional extension of cover under your Home Insurance policy. It protects your much-loved belongings against loss, accidental damage or theft when they are away from your home. This is why this type of cover is sometimes known as ‘contents away from the home’.

When you take out an Allianz Home Insurance policy, you have the option of taking out All Risks additional cover. This means your valuables are covered not just when you take them outside your home, but also if they are lost, damaged or stolen from your securely locked car. It also covers your items, for up to 60 days, if you take them abroad. Terrific news for avid travellers. 

All Risks cover also extends to sports equipment, bicycles and personal money — as specified in your insurance schedule. For full details of covers, exclusions, terms, conditions and limitations please refer to the Household Policy document.

• Wear and tear — damage over time by general use 
• Mechanical and electrical breakdowns — damage by a mechanical or electrical fault 
• Unattended items — e.g. sports or camping equipment left unattended 
• Unlocked items — e.g. bicycles and items from vehicles  
• Unconcealed items— e.g. items on display or not hidden from view in vehicles 
• Loss or damage to camping equipment while in use 
• Loss or damage to sports equipment while in use 
• Business equipment like tools 
• Documents of any kind

Allianz Home Insurance offers two types of All Risks Cover: 

Unspecified All Risks Cover: this option allows you to select a total amount (€2,000-€12,000) that your personal possessions will be covered for each year.*  

When choosing this, ask yourself how much cover you need? For example, when you leave the house, if you only ever take your camera worth €1000, your watch worth €500 and your phone worth €1000, then consider selecting an insured sum of €3,000. However, don’t forget to include things like glasses, clothes, hearing aids and wallets/purses. 

*The maximum amount payable is €2,000 for any one item in any one Period of Insurance. 

Specified All Risks Cover: These are high-value items that you explicitly list and describe on your insurance policy. Examples include jewellery, watches, artwork, electronics, or other valuable possessions. 

This gives you the option of listing more valuable items individually, such as sports equipment, jewellery and musical instruments. Each item is covered for the amount that you choose, up to a maximum of €10,000 per item.

Specified risk cover is a personal choice by the customer and may be chosen for items that are of higher value that might regularly be taken outside of the home, or they have a higher potential to accidentally lose. An example could be an engagement ring, or a high-value bicycle. Unspecified all risk is a blanket cover which would have a limit for €500 for bicycles and €2,000 for other personal effects, so if there were items of higher value specified cover may be a better option here.

Personal Possession Cover is an optional add-on for Allianz Home Insurance policies. We’ve made this part super quick and easy. For the best price, get an Allianz Homeowners Insurance quote online and save 10% on a new policy. However, if you’d like to speak with us, we can talk through your requirements over the phone. Just give us a call on 01 448 4848* and we’ll give you a quote in minutes.

A: Contents insurance is a specific type of property protection designed to safeguard your moveable, everyday items—often referred to as personal effects—kept inside your home. While standard buildings cover addresses the physical framework of the house, contents insurance means you are financially protected if personal items like your laptop, phone, jewellery, or gaming equipment are stolen during a burglary or damaged by a fire.

A: Standard contents insurance covers the valuable possessions you own inside the home against specific risks like theft, fire, smoke, and storm damage. Under an Allianz policy, this includes items such as clothes, laptops, headphones, smartwatches, and cameras. It also naturally extends to unexpected household costs, such as providing up to €4,000 in automatic cover for dedicated home-office equipment like personal computers and printers.

A: Contents insurance works by compensating you for the cost of repairing or replacing your belongings following a covered incident. Because standard policy limits typically stop at your property boundary, you can customize how it works by adding an optional Personal Possessions Cover (also known as 'All Risks' Cover). This option allows you to choose between blanket Unspecified Cover for smaller daily items up to €2,000 each or Specified Cover to individually list high-value items like an engagement ring or high-end bicycle up to €10,000.