Personal liability in Germany is considered vital for expats and locals alike. It ensures that you are covered if you were responsible for any harm to another person(s) or their property/belongings. You will need to pay the damages for any property destruction or physical injury of another, even if it occurs by accident as per German law.
Therefore, if you ever find yourself in any high-profile case, you can have a level of protection with liability insurance. It may not be common, so as an expat, you may not know of its importance. So, this article highlights 6 reasons why you should get it if you’re an expat so that you know why it’s worth the investment.
1. Liability Insurance Is Common in Germany
Due to the severity of German law regarding this matter, insurance is commonplace. It helps keep your life as peaceful as possible in the event that you accidentally damage someone’s property or injure them by accident. Small things such as accidentally spilling coffee on someone’s laptop in a café or wine on a friend’s expensive carpet could get you into trouble.
In Germany, it’s expected of you to help cover the cost of such damages. Therefore, by filing an insurance claim, you can have your insurer cover those costs, making it easier for you and that stranger or friend (depending on the situation). It can also be a good idea to get a package with your expat health insurance in Germany so that you get an affordable deal.
2. It Helps You Secure a Home on Rent
Some apartment or house owners don’t allow tenants to live in the residential space on rent unless the tenant has insurance. Some contracts include a clause that mentions that it’s the renter’s responsibility to get liability insurance. Therefore, you could miss out on many accommodation options, which could make living in Germany more difficult than it needs to be.
3. It Can Prevent You from Financial Ruin
What’s covered in an insurance policy will vary from one insurer to the other. However, in most policies, there’s coverage for others’ medical bills if you were responsible for their physical injury.
So, if you get into an accident and injure someone to the point that they need to be admitted to the hospital, your insurance policy will cover the costs of the hospital bills. Hospital bills can be extremely high if you pay out of pocket, so your insurance policy, in this case, could protect you from financial ruin.
4. It Covers Litigation Costs
Many insurance policies also cover litigation costs. So, if someone sues you for something that you were not responsible for, your insurance can cover the litigation costs of handling that legal case. The legal fees can be fairly high in some high-profile cases, so you can greatly benefit by having those covered by your insurance policy.
5. It Helps Limit Bureaucracy and Simplifies the Process of Covering Damages
If you ever find yourself in a situation in which you physically injure someone by knocking them down by accident, and you need to cover their medical bills, you simply have to contact your insurer to handle all aspects of the case.
Also, you could simply share your insurance details with the person affected and have them contact your insurer instead. In either case, the insurer will do most of the paperwork, simplifying the entire process for you or the person affected. As a result, you don’t have to engage with additional bureaucracy either.
6. It Helps You Live a Peaceful and Comfortable Life in Germany
This reason is more of a summation of the rest of those mentioned above, but it’s worth mentioning that personal liability insurance in Germany can help you live a comfortable and peaceful life in this country.
With a fairly affordable insurance policy, you can save yourself a lot of money, and you also don’t need to panic if you’re caught in an accident. In addition to that, you’ll also open more opportunities when leasing property.
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While you can certainly try to be careful with avoiding damaging other people’s property, there’s still a chance that you could do so by accident. In that case, you could end up paying a lot of money in repairing or replacing the damaged item if its value was high. Therefore, you can save money and trouble by simply opting for liability insurance.
Many insurers in Germany are also now offering their services in English for expats so that language doesn’t create any barriers to living a comfortable and peaceful life in Germany.
