The basic package looks similar for every home – it's the optional covers that make the policy truly yours. Garden furniture, solar panels, bicycles, smart devices, refrigerated food, lock replacement: the range on offer is wide, and that's exactly the trap too. The right list of extras isn't the longest one, but the one that follows your actual life – well matched, without wasted items.
- An optional cover is a layer built on top of the base package: it brings in a separate risk, asset or service, typically with its own limit.
- The typical range covers: the garden and plants, solar panels, bicycles, smart and sports equipment, refrigerated food, lock replacement, graffiti.
- The principle: choose to match your circumstances – don't switch everything on, but don't strip everything out to save money either.
Around the house: garden, garden items, graffiti
Garden furniture, a trampoline, a barbecue, plants, or a garden pond are typically excluded from the base cover, or included with a low limit – which is why a separate extra exists for houses with a garden. This includes lock replacement (after a lost or stolen key) and, with many policies, fixing graffiti damage too. The question is always the same: what's outdoors, what's it worth, and what does the policy say about it – items kept outdoors are typically subject to stricter rules than those inside a closed building. It's also worth knowing the difference here: an outbuilding – a garage, a storage shed – typically falls under the buildings cover, while the contents stored inside it are often paid at a lower limit; the garden extra exists precisely for these gaps.
Solar panels and the like: the building's new assets
Solar panels, solar collectors, and heat pumps are among the biggest value-adding investments of recent years – and they're often missing from the policy, because the policy is older than the investment. The first question: does the item count as building or contents under the policy wording – a fixed solar panel typically counts as part of the building, and needs to be reflected in the buildings sum insured too. The second: do you need a separate extra for it, for instance for storm or surge damage. If your home has grown through renovation or an extension, our renovation article shows what's worth reporting.
Mobile assets: bicycles, smart devices, sports gear
Items used outside the home too – bicycles, phones, laptops, sports equipment – are typically only paid under the home contents cover if kept inside the flat or a locked storage space. For theft in public places, or breakage away from home, many policies offer a separate extra, with its own terms. This category also includes spoilage of refrigerated food during a prolonged power cut – a small claim, but an annoying one, and there's cover for it. For smart devices, breakage is a separate question: everyday dropping or knocking is typically only paid under an extra specifically for that. The principle here too: start with the list – what regularly leaves the home – then the cover.
How to choose wisely
With three questions. What genuinely exists and has value in your home? What does the base package already cover – our cover map helps clarify that? And where is the limit actually meaningful – because an extra with a token limit only sounds good? The service-type extra – sending out an emergency tradesperson – has its own article: home assistance. And you don't have to do the choosing alone: after a needs assessment, we line up several insurers' offers side by side, so you can see item by item what each one covers. The same works in reverse at renewal: whatever you no longer have, or no longer value, can be switched off. Start with the online calculator (in Hungarian).
A question about your own home? Run the numbers in minutes with the online calculator (in Hungarian), or book a free 20-minute consultation →
