Accidental damage insurance allows you to insure specific types of damage to your vehicle. There are three types of accidental damage insurance: partial accidental damage insurance, collision accidental damage insurance and comprehensive accidental damage insurance.

• Partial accidental damage insurance: Damage that you did not cause. For example from hail, fire, theft, damage caused by martens, etc.
• Collision accidental damage: Damage that you caused in an accident.
• Comprehensive accidental damage insurance: If you have both partial accidental damage insurance and collision accidental damage insurance, it is known as comprehensive accidental damage insurance. 

This is the age you are when you take out an insurance policy. There is coverage that dictates a minimum and/or maximum age at entry.

Assistance refers to our services that are available to help you 24/7. For example: Breakdown assistance, medical information over the phone or organising your repatriation from abroad.

If your vehicle has been damaged, we calculate its residual value at the time the damage occurred. There are two ways of calculating this value: using the base value or the current value. To calculate the base value, we apply a mathematical formula that takes the age, mileage and other factors into account. This formula is based on the guidelines for I independent car experts.

If you take out life or savings insurance, you can name beneficiaries. These are the people who will receive the insurance money in the event of your death. Beneficiaries are typically family members such as your partner or your children. But you can also name business partners as your beneficiaries.

Benefits are the money that we, the insurance company, pay in the event of a claim. The term can also be used to refer to the replacement of something that has been damaged. 

The term claim refers, for example, to a collision, glass breakage or the consequences of a fire. But accidents, death, disability or legal pitfalls can also be referred to as “claims” in the insurance world, even if we do not call them that. In the insurance industry, then, a claim refers to anything for which benefits from property or life insurance are paid out.

The class of vehicle has an influence on the amount of the insurance premiums. Vehicles with a lower class are cheaper. The class of vehicle is based on the accidents and damages associated with the vehicle class.

When you take out insurance, we incur costs. For example, the cost of making a quote and drawing up the policy, as well as paying referral commissions. These costs are known as conclusion costs. They are usually included in the premium you pay for your insurance. 

Insurance conditions can usually not be adjusted during the term of contract. However, we are allowed to adjust the conditions if there are special circumstances, such as a change in law.  

Confirmation of cover is confirmation that we will pay for your claim, in full or in part. You have to report your claim to us in order to receive this confirmation. We will then check whether or not you are insured for your claim. 

Coverage refers to the protection your insurance offers for specific risks and claims. If your policy clearly states that a specific claim is covered, then we will usually assume the costs for this claim. For example: Car insurance coverage might include collision or parking damage. In the case of life insurance, coverage is often an amount of money paid out in the event of death or a pension for loss of earning capacity. 

This refers to the current value of an item. The current value is calculated by using the age of the item and level of wear. For example, for a vehicle claim, we determine how much the vehicle is currently worth. There are two ways of calculating this: using the base value or the current value. The current value represents the market value of the vehicle at the time of the claim. The value of the vehicle is calculated using the operating life, mileage and condition of the vehicle. 

A deductible is the amount that you need to pay yourself in the event of a claim. If you decide on a high deductible, your premiums will be lower. And if the deductible is lower, then you will pay higher premiums. 

This refers to the term of contract. That is the time between concluding the contract and the end of the contract. The end of contract date is listed in your policy. A damage event that results in a claim must take place within the duration in order for us to cover it.  

Entitlement to insurance benefits is what you have in the event of a claim. For example: You are entitled to a specific amount that we pay you for your claim.  

As an insurance company, we are allowed to exclude certain benefits from your insurance contract. We then do not have to pay out these benefits in the event of a claim. For example: We might exclude water damage from your household contents insurance. This must be detailed in your insurance contract.

For exclusion of liability, we agree with you that you are not liable for a specific mistake. That means you are not legally responsible for it. However, this only applies to mistakes made recklessly or due to a lack of attention. If you make a mistake deliberately, it is not possible to exclude liability.

When you take out first-loss insurance, you agree to an insured sum in the event that something is damaged. This type of insurance makes sense if the insured value cannot be determined in advance. It means that you are not at risk of being under-insured and having your benefits reduced.

Full-value insurance means that the full, current value of an item is insured. If something happens – for example a fire or theft – then the insurance will pay enough money to fully replace the insured object or to rebuild it. Of course, this is only the case if you really do insure the full value of the item – if you do not, this is known as under-insurance. Full-value insurance is often taken out for buildings.

If there is a gap in coverage, it means that you do not have enough insurance coverage to cover the entire costs of a claim. This might be the case if certain risks are not included in your policy, or if the insured sum is lower than the potential maximum damage.

You will receive General Policy Conditions for every insurance policy you take out. These conditions contain important information about your insurance. For example: Claims that are covered or not covered, what to do in the event of a claim or how and when you can cancel your insurance policy. Important: If your policy has special conditions, then these apply instead of the General Policy Conditions. The General Policy Conditions only apply when your policy does not list different conditions.

The geographical scope determines where your insurance cover applies. This might, for example, be in Switzerland, in Europe or globally.

A person is considered grossly negligent if they act in a way that could have been prevented by common sense. Another word for this is ‘reckless’. For example: It is grossly negligent to drive through an intersection when the traffic light is red. Or to leave the doors of your house unlocked.

When you take out insurance, we are obliged, as an insurance company, to provide you with all the important information. This includes, for example, the General Policy Conditions. This information helps you to better understand your insurance policy. You are also required to provide us with important information. This is known as your obligation to provide information.

This is a person who provides you with advice on the subject of insurance and recommends suitable products. This is also something that our own insurance advisors do. The difference is: A broker is not associated with a specific insurance company. They look for suitable products from multiple providers for their clients. Insurance brokers are often simply called brokers. 

You need third party liability insurance for your car in order to drive it on the roads. The insurance certificate proves that you do have third party liability insurance. We send this proof to the driver and vehicle licensing office so that your vehicle can be registered. There are also insurance certificates for other types of insurance, such as for third party liability insurance, hunting liability insurance, third party liability insurance for dog owners, etc.

You can find more details in our FAQ. 

If a person pretends that they have suffered or intentionally causes damage in order to have money paid out to them, this is known as insurance fraud. For example: A person sets their apartment on fire and then claims money from their insurance. Or a healthy person pretends to have an illness and receives a daily sickness allowance. Those who commit insurance fraud are also affecting all other policyholders. That’s why we combat insurance fraud with every means at our disposal.

Insurance industry refers to the insurance sector. It describes the insurance industry and all insurance companies. 

The insured amount is the maximum amount that we will pay out in the event of a claim. 

The insured sum is the maximum amount that insurance pays out in the event of a claim. That means it represents how much protection is offered by an insurance policy. For example: For life insurance, the insured sum is the money that your beneficiaries will receive in the event of your death. For household contents insurance, it is the amount that you will receive if furniture or other items have been damaged or stolen.  

This refers to the value of an item at the time you concluded the insurance contract. Depending on the situation, the insured value may represent the replacement value or current value of the item.

This term refers to us, the insurance company. As an insurer, we insure our policyholders.

If you have two vehicles, but only ever drive one at a time, you can use interchangeable licence plates. These licence plates are valid for both vehicles. However, you can never drive both vehicles at the same time.  

This is a name for insurance policies that also apply abroad. If you are planning to travel, it is very important to check which countries your insurance covers. If it only applies in Switzerland, then you can expand the scope of application or take out supplementary cover.

You need this card if you are planning to drive your car in Europe (outside Switzerland). It provides proof that you have third party liability insurance for your vehicle. If you do not have this card, you are not allowed to drive abroad. In Switzerland, insurance companies provide this proof directly to the driver and vehicle licensing office.

You can find more details in our FAQ. 

If you are liable for something, that means you must take legal responsibility for it. For example: If you hurt another person or break something that belongs to them, you will be liable for those damages. Third party liability insurance covers these types of claims. 

This is the upper limit for the amount that an insurance policy will pay out in the event of a claim. The limit of compensation is stated in your policy. There are a variety of different limits of compensation. For example, the limit of compensation may be a set amount, a percentage share or a specific number of benefits per year. 

If you want to take out health or life insurance, you will have to undergo a health check. If it seems very likely that you will need the coverage from this insurance within the near future, the premium for the insurance will be more expensive. It is also possible that we will exclude certain illnesses from our benefits. Or we might decline to provide insurance if the associated premiums would be extremely high.

Monetary assets are: cash, securities, savings books, precious metals (in the form of stocks, bars or merchandise), coins and medals, loose precious stones and pearls, credit cards, travel tickets and season tickets.

This is the term we in the insurance industry use to refer to natural catastrophes. These include, for example, flooding, falling stones, storms, hail, landslides, avalanches, etc. You can take out insurance against damages caused by natural catastrophes.

Vehicle insurance makes use of a bonus system. The lower your bonus level (also known as a premium level), the lower the premium you pay. The bonus level rises if you have an accident. If your policy includes no-claims bonus protection, then your premiums will not increase, even if you have an accident. This applies to one accident per year.

You can think of an obligation as being a sort of duty that benefits you. You are not required to do anything. But not doing something could have negative consequences. For example: If you need to make a claim, you should report it to us immediately. Of course, nobody will force you to do that. But if you do not report a claim or any consequential losses immediately, we may not cover your claim, or may cover only part of the costs.  

If you have a claim, you must make sure that the claim does not get bigger. This is an obligation. If the claim gets bigger and you could have prevented it, then we might not cover the entire cost of the claim. For example: Your windshield is smashed, but you do not repair it immediately. Because of this, rain damages the inside of your vehicle. 

If you take out a new insurance policy or report a claim, we will need certain information from you. You are obligated to provide this information to us. For example, information on your health, accident statements, medical certificates or expert opinions. This is the only way we have of determining the correct insurance premium or checking whether we can cover a claim.

Parking damage is damage caused to your parked vehicle by an unknown third party. This means it is not damage that you cause when parking. 

This term is used to refer to a damaged item that can still be repaired. Partial damage means that the repair costs less than what you would have to pay to buy the item again. 

If you receive a payment commitment from us, then we will definitely cover the costs for your claim. For example: You car is damaged in an accident. The garage repairing your car wants confirmation in advance that the costs will be covered. 

A policy is an insurance contract. You will receive a policy when you take out insurance with us. The policy contains the most important information: coverage, premium, term of contract, etc.  

This refers to the person who is the insurance company’s contracting partner. The policyholder is usually also the insured person, but not always. For example, your employer might be the policyholder while you are the insured person. Or you are the policyholder and your child is the insured person. 

The premium is the amount you pay for your insurance. Depending on the insurance policy, you will pay a premium monthly, semi-annually or annually. You will receive a premium statement when you make this payment. 

You can use this calculator to find out how much you would pay for an insurance policy. You can find a calculator for almost any type of insurance on our website.

You must pay your premium annually on the date stated in your policy under due date (premium due date). 

Recourse refers to reclamation. The term is used when we charge you for costs that we have already paid for you. This is legal in specific circumstances. For example:

• If you act in breach of contract.
• If you caused a claim due to gross negligence.

The replacement value is the price that you would have to pay right now in a shop if you had to purchase a new item. It is also known as the replacement cost.

The residual value is the value of an item once it has been damaged.

If we cover a claim for you, then we are the service provider (we cover the costs). Service providers are defined as a contracting partner who has to provide a benefit. 

Slander is when a person makes false claims that damage someone else’s reputation.

Your policy may contain special conditions. These are different from the General Policy Conditions. As such, these special conditions will be listed in your policy. For example: A loyalty discount or an additional premium in the event that you are subject to an above-average amount of risk.

This is a tax on insurance premiums. It is determined by the federal government. We add this tax to your premium invoice and then pay it to the federal government. There is no stamp tax on life insurance with regular premiums, or for health, accident, disability and unemployment insurance.

Subsidiary insurance only pays after other insurance contracts have refused to pay. You can think of it as a sort of safety net, in the event that your other insurance does not cover the entire claim.

You have a right to receive supplementary benefits in the event that your AHV or IV pension does not cover the minimum cost of living. Your canton of residence will provide you with this financial support. Important: Unlike social welfare, you have a legal right to supplementary benefits. 

In some cases, your policy may contain supplementary conditions that will apply in addition to the General Policy Conditions or special conditions. These conditions set out rules for additional situations that are important for you, but are not described by the other conditions. 

If you do not pay your premium, despite the fact that we have sent a reminder, then you will lose your insurance coverage. Your coverage is thus suspended and you will have to pay for any claims yourself. Once you have paid your premium, including any reminder fees, you will be insured once more.

One simplified way to think about a tariff is that it is the price you pay for your insurance coverage. The tariff depends on the amount of risk and the scope of the benefits that you want to insure. The higher the risk, the higher the tariff.

Third-party insurance is the term used when you take out insurance for another person. That is, the person who signs the contract is not the insured person. 

If the cost of repairing an item is too high, it is known as a total loss. For example: You have an accident and the repairs to your car would cost more than the car is currently worth. Or there are holes in your sofa caused by a fire, but reupholstering it would cost more than it is worth. If a repair is no longer worth it, you will receive the current value of the damaged item from us.

Vandalism refers to damage that was caused deliberately by third parties. For example: If someone breaks off your car’s antenna or destroys the plants on your terrace. 

A waiver of right of recourse means that we will not ask you to repay any costs if you caused a claim due to gross negligence. You can add this coverage to your policy. If you do not have a waiver of right of recourse in your policy, we have the right to reclaim any money that we have paid on your behalf if your actions were grossly negligent.