February 2026
Personal Effects Insurance Ireland: What is Covered?
You may have heard the term “personal effects” when talking to your insurance provider about your contents cover, or when referencing your home insurance policy. But what does personal effects mean?
Personal Effects vs. Contents: What’s the Difference?
In insurance, personal effects are the items that you wear or carry outside of the home on a day-to-day basis. In the context of your Allianz home insurance policy, these are the items that are covered under your policy when they’re not actually in your home. Cover for personal effects only applies once you have selected Miscellaneous Unspecified All Risks.*
*Miscellaneous Unspecified All Risks is an optional extra. Payment on any one item is limited to €2,000.
What Items Count as Personal Effects?
Some items that are covered under your Allianz home insurance policy include, but are not limited to:
- Clothes
- Wallets
- Purses
- Handbags (including what’s in your handbag like makeup or perfume, but excluding documents)
- Jewellery (including smart watches like a Fitbit)
- Glasses (including sunglasses and contact lenses)
- Dentures
- Hair pieces (including wigs)
- Hearing aids
- Personal organisers
- Mobile phones
- Mp3 players (i.e. iPod, portable speakers)
- Earphones/headphones (i.e. Airpods)
- Laptops (including tablets i.e. iPad, Kindle)
- Cameras (i.e. DSLR, GoPro; including lenses and accessories)
- Sat navigation (used for hill walking)
- Portable gaming device (i.e. Nintendo DS)
- Medication
- Camping Equipment
- Small Medical Devices (i.e. insulin pumps, blood pressure monitors; Limit of €2,000)
Common Exclusions: What Personal Effects Insurance Won't Cover
Some items that are not covered under your Allianz home insurance policy as a personal effect include but not limited to:
- Musical Instruments
- Drones
- Electric shavers
- Electric toothbrushes
- Driving licenses and passports
- Money over the limit provided under Unspecified all Risks
- Sat navigations (used solely as a car accessory)
- Suitcase
- Buggy/pram
- Car seat
- Electric scooters (Including Segways, hoverboards)
- Electric wheelchairs
Tech Note!
With many people working remotely or in hybrid roles, your work laptop is often considered a personal effect if you own it but check with your employer if they provide their own insurance for company-owned devices.
Keep in mind, this is not a complete list of what is (or is not) a personal effect. Please contact Allianz if you have a question about an item not listed here.
Not sure how much cover you need? Try this: Empty your pockets and bag right now. If you had to replace everything you carry today, what would the total be? If it’s over €2,000, you might need to adjust your 'Unspecified' limit.
Learn more about Allianz Home Insurance.
Get an Allianz Ireland Home Insurance quote online.
Related Article:
Allianz p.l.c. is regulated by the Central Bank of Ireland. Standard acceptance criteria and policy conditions apply.
Information correct as at 17/02/2026
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