A Guide to Swiss Personal Liability Insurance
                     A Guide to Swiss Personal 
Liability Insurance
What Is Personal Liability 
Insurance In Switzerland?
Personal liability insurance in Switzerland protects the 
financial security of the members of a household from the 
consequences of unintentional damage to a third party or 
to their belongings worldwide. It covers all types of 
damage including physical harm, damage to property and 
damage to third party personal belongings. It also 
provides legal protection in the event of a liability 
claimed filed against the policyholder and his or her 
family.
Why Should You Buy Liability 
Insurance In Switzerland?
Life moves fast and accidents involving a third-party or 
third-party property can happen at the blink of an eye. 
Being badly prepared for an accident can compromise the 
financial stability of an entire family. Two examples best 
illustrate this:
 If you injure a third party and they need to 
hospitalized, your liability insurance will pay their 
medical bills, loss of income benefits and any other costs 
related to the accident. Without liability insurance, you 
will have to personally compensate the person’s losses, 
which could become a major financial burden.
 If you accidentally set fire to your apartment and part 
of the building burns down, your liability insurance will 
pay to rebuild and refurbish the damaged property. 
Without liability insurance you will have to compensate 
the owner of the building for the rest of your life.
The above examples luckily do not happen everyday. 
More common claims with smaller amounts are also 
covered (broken glasses, phones, computers etc).
Swiss landlords take the risk of you damaging the 
property you are renting from them very seriously. So 
seriously that if you do not subscribe to a liability 
insurance contract they will not give you the keys to take 
possession of your rental.
The legal protection should also not be overlooked, as you 
need to prove the other person is guilty if you seek 
compensation for damage inflicted on you and defend 
yourself if a third party makes a claim against you. 
Without liability insurance either one of the above can 
cost thousands of Francs in legal fees.
What Amount Should You Be 
Insured For?
It is recommended to be covered for at least CHF 5 
million. Fewer and fewer companies provide coverage for 
less, and generally going from 3 to 5 million only costs 
CHF 10 - 15 more per year. If you need your liability 
insurance to compensate for someone’s medical expenses 
or damaged property after a fire you are responsible for, 
these extra millions will be a lifesaver. It is possible to go 
as high as CHF 10 million.
How Is Swiss Personal Liability 
Insurance Compensation Calculated?
Three factors will influence how your claim will be 
compensated:
1. Liability claims are compensated using the depreciated 
value of the item that needs to be replaced. This value will 
also take wear and tear into consideration. Insurance 
companies generally use a depreciation rate of 10% per 
year. All of the above means that an item that is more 
than three years old will be relatively poorly 
compensated.  This method of calculation is known as 
“actual value”.
2. The client can choose one of several deductibles when 
they subscribe to a Swiss liability insurance contract. 
Specialists recommend the lowest CHF 0.- deductible 
principally for two reasons:
 The difference between the yearly premium for the 
lowest deductible and the higher deductibles is generally 
less than CHF 20.- per year. 
 In general, no compensation whatsoever will be 
received if a CHF 500.- deductible is chosen. This is due to 
the “actual value” liability insurance compensation 
calculation explained in slide 4.
Imagine that you break a three or more year-old item 
worth CHF 800.- that belongs to a third party. If you 
choose the CHF 500.- deductible the item will be 
deprecated by at least CHF 240.- (800 less 30% 
depreciation), meaning compensation will only be CHF 
60. With a 0.- deductible the compensation will be CHF 
560.-
3. Insurance companies consider that certain activities 
represent a higher risk to third-parties than others. For 
these specific activities extended liability insurance 
modules are required. Such activities include:
 Flying drones or model aircrafts that weigh more than 
500g
 Driving cars or boats that do not belong to you
 Riding horses
 Hunting
Specialists also recommend that school teachers and 
mountain guides consider extended liability coverage in 
case their students or clients are injured while they are 
under their supervision.
If third-party damage is suffered in one of the above 
situations the policy-holder will not receive any 
compensation if they have not subscribed to the relevant 
extended module.
Everyone should always include the third-party gross 
negligence waiver extended coverage to their insurance 
contract. Consult the next slide for more information on 
this.
We recommend consulting our insurance expert to make 
sure you are correctly covered, and no special situations 
apply to your personal situation.
What Is Gross Negligence And Why You 
Should Always Include The Gross 
Negligence Waiver In Your Swiss 
Liability Insurance Contract?
We are all expected to abide by the basic rules of safety and 
security that can be expected of a normal adult person. This 
often comes down to common sense. Simple examples 
would be:
 Do not leave a fragile object on the floor, someone might 
walk on it
 Do not cross a busy road when there is no zebra crossing, 
you might be hit by a vehicle
 Do not ride your bicycle on a busy pavement, you will 
most probably either fall off or hit someone.
Insurance companies use the term gross negligence when a 
person does not abide by the basic rules of safety and 
security. If you make an insurance claim the insurance 
company will analyze the circumstances of the accident and 
see if they can claim gross negligence. If they can they have 
the contractual right to penalize you and not compensate 
the full amount. If they can prove gross negligence due to 
the use of drugs or alcohol they can refuse to settle the 
claim.
Make sure to always include a gross negligence waiver in 
your liability insurance in Switzerland so you are never 
penalized by this measure (unless drugs or alcohol are 
involved…).
Contact One Of Our Specialists For 
Help On Expat Experts
Charles, our certified insurance specialist is available on 
+41 78 601 40 90. He will help you safeguard the financial 
security of your family in the event of an accident. For a 
complete guide to personal liability insurance in 
Switzerland click here: 
https://expat-experts.ch/personal-liability-insurance/