I don’t have any insurances except the obligatory ones (car and health). I know that it’s common in Switzerland to buy some insurances (house, bike, dog, lost keys, etc.), but I have no idea which ones make sense and which not from a Mustachian perspective. I also have a baby now and think about getting a life insurance.
Do you have any recommendations in that matter?
Isn’t home insurance mandatory as well? Or is that only a requirement from regies when you rent?
I have no idea, I hope it’s not. Maybe I don’t need one because I’m sub-letting and orginal renter is paying one? I’m not really sure why I didn’t get one.
You can check www.comparis.ch to…compare them. I think they make a lot of sense, at least the basic ones.
My philosophy regarding Insurances is :
If you cannot afford the consequence of an event (even if its probability is very small), you should insure against it.
So I have health insurance and house insurance (If my apartment burns down and I have to reimburse it, i am bankrupt, end of the story).
As a mustachian with already some money aside, I do not believe in Life insurances. Your stash is already having the role of a life insurance and usually insurance companies invest your premiums at a very low rate of return…
My mood is only take insurances for really expensive and unlicky event. (for exemple, health issue during a trip in US).
For all other cases, just put money aside.
I’d clearly add liability insurance. usually they come with the house insurance. if something unforseen happens, this saves your existence from bankruptcy.
Thanks guys for the responses.
So to sum it up, you recommend:
Any companies worth checking out?
I have had only good experience with Axa (and English support).
Got my stolen bike reimbursed in no time, and without any fuss.
Vaudoise.
Needed twice and was reimbursed without questions. Wasn’t asked to pay the franchise.
This year got a premium reduction (company profit redistribution).
I have the Hausrat & Haftpflicht combo. It costs 240 per year. The Hausrat is not really something I needed. I do not own expensive stuff at home. The Haftpflicht is something a Swiss guy strongly recommended to me. He said, if you unwillingly hurt somebody and you have to pay millions for the treatment, it’s game over. Haftpflicht insures you up to 5’000’000 chf.
If your TV starts a fire and the whole building burns, I think you need to have Hausrat.
Correct me if I’m wrong, but I think Hausrat insures ONLY the objects in your flat, and the total sum insured is pretty low, like 50-100k (mine is only for 20k). Not remotely enough to pay for a burned down building. I think for these kinds of events the building owner is insured himself. My whole building are rental flats and they regularly check the state of our electrical installations.
Btw. If you write your post like that, without checking, you really misinform people.
This kind of event should be covered by the personal liability insurance. At least it’s so in my case.
I can confirm that home contents coverage is only for your belongings (furniture etc.).
Kind of reviving an old thread, but I wanted for me and my gf to share the same insurance. We got an offer: 180 CHF for Haftpflicht and 250 CHF for Hausrat. Then it got me thinking: why would I need a Hausrat anyway? Does anyone know a good reason to have it? I heard, if you move out and the landlord charges you with some insane costs, the Hausrat can cover them. But does it work in practice?
That’s covered by Haftpflicht.
Hausrat just covers your own belongings and there’s a ton of things that can be insured. Burglary, theft, fire/water damages. Among the more useful options IMHO is they can cover your bike if it gets stolen for example. Check the terms and deductables however
Yes it’s called “einfache Diebstahl” and usually covered up to 2000 CHF. But if we were to follow the philosophy of @Julianek, then a loss of 2000 CHF should not be big deal, thus no need to insure against it. Since the insurance company has to make a profit, most of the people will just pay and pay, but nothing will ever get stolen.
I would consider insurance for the kid’s teeth treatment. Not the usual dentist stuff we all have now and then but the orthodontics stuff which can cost up to around chf 15’000 per kid. I got one and it’s around chf 4 per month. (KPT) That’s basically the only Zusatzversicherung for kids that make sense.
But check
-which percentage they pay
-up to which amount per year/per person they pay
Where did you get that quote? Don’t you get an insurance for both types for ~250 or less?
for 2 people. and it was by helvetia, they aren’t cheap.