Heat pump theft protection - Covered by building insurance?

Hey,

I would like to raise the following issue. I had read that the theft of heat pumps is apparently a new area of activity for thieves. Now I wonder to what extent theft is covered in residential building insurance? Have you had this on your radar? For example, I do have heat pumps/solar systems covered, but I assume this only refers to the "normal" risks such as storm, fire, hail.

Asking the group: How does it look for you in this regard? The comparison portals do ask about this, but theft seems to be somewhat neglected there.

Thanks for your feedback!

The exact situation I have been warning about for a long time is happening again. New residential areas are particularly affected by thefts of heat pumps. They usually stand right in front of the house on a silver platter. So if a device worth 20,000 euros and only a few weeks old stands completely unprotected and mostly not even fenced in, this of course attracts thieves. But also the envious neighbor or another ill-wisher can cause great damage by simply cutting the supply lines into the house with bolt cutters. I don’t even know who came up with the idea to always position the heat pump in front of the house. I claim that it wouldn’t be noticed if tomorrow morning two of us simply wait in the new residential area until the residents have left their houses, and I arrive in work clothes with a white van and dismantle it; no one would suspect anything. I think the insurance companies will soon require additional security measures here. It would certainly be appropriate. Maybe the contributions for the residential building insurance will also increase. Basically, the heat pump must be listed in the residential building insurance. Similar to a photovoltaic system. If not, it may be that the damage will not be compensated. So everyone should check if the heat pump is included in their contract. I would definitely use special fastening screws and nuts. With cars, you also have wheel locks for alloy rims. Opportunity makes thieves.

I have here an excerpt from my building insurance.
"Insured items" are heat pumps, but probably not against theft.
"Other insured risks" is theft of externally attached items, which would be an external unit of the heat pump.
But that would mean it is severely underinsured.
Well, I have asked by email how this is handled.



Perhaps this would fall under the component of the "Unnamed Risks Coverage."

A thief wants one thing above all:
Not to get caught.

Sure, in most cases no one will get suspicious if a white van pulls up and someone dismantles the outdoor unit.
But the thief doesn’t know in which case someone will get suspicious. And that is already a deterrent... what if the neighbor watches and notes the license plate, even takes photos? Or even goes outside and talks to the "technician"? Like, “Could you please take a look at my place?”

When a big black BMW was parked in my neighbor’s driveway and two guys were walking around the house, I asked him on WhatsApp if he knew about it... it was his patio builder... otherwise he could have called the police.

Hey, I would like to bring up the following issue. I had read that the theft of heat pumps is apparently a new field of activity for thieves. Now I am wondering to what extent theft is covered by the residential building insurance? Have you had that on your radar? For example, I do have heat pumps/solar systems covered, but I assume that this only relates to the "normal" risks such as storm, fire, hail. Asking the group: How is it with you in this regard? It is asked about on comparison portals, but theft seems to be somewhat neglected there. Thanks for your feedback!

In residential building insurance, the risk of "burglary theft" cannot be insured because you cannot steal the building itself. The risk of "burglary theft" only exists in household contents insurance. Furthermore, it would be a simple theft and not burglary theft.

Would have thought there would be a bit more feedback here, or does it rather not matter to you?

I did some research the past few days. The topic does seem to be somewhat neglected.
In my building insurance, it would probably actually fall under the category "Theft of externally attached items," which is insured for 5K. If you look at the big portals, there are many different approaches in this category. Some insure the theft of externally attached items with exactly 0€, others again with 5K up to 10K, at least from the spot checks.

There is apparently a product at Mannheimer called "Lumit" that might cover theft. However, from my initial glance, I had only read about the basic risks there.