Insurance
Haftpflichtversicherung
Private Haftpflichtversicherung covers damage you accidentally cause to other people or their property, with coverage sums in the millions for a premium of roughly €3 to €8 per month for students. It is not legally required but considered the one essential voluntary insurance in Germany.
Personal liability insurance pays when you damage someone else's property, injure someone, or cause financial loss by everyday carelessness: the dropped phone of a friend, a bike collision with a pedestrian, water damage spreading to the neighbor's flat. German law makes you personally liable for such damage with your entire current and future assets, which is why coverage sums of 10 to 50 million euros are standard.
Students are often still covered through their parents' family policy while in first-degree education; that coverage typically ends with marriage, the end of studies, or a certain age depending on the insurer's terms.
What it means for working students
Check the parental policy first; if you are an international student, your parents' policy from home almost never covers German liability claims, so a local policy is one of the first contracts worth signing after arrival. Landlords increasingly ask for proof of liability insurance with rental applications, especially for shared flats. At student premiums of a few euros monthly with million-euro coverage, the asymmetry is heavily in your favor; pick a tariff that includes loss of borrowed items and lost keys (Schlüsselverlust), the two claims students actually file.