Other countries, other customs. If you travel by car, you need to be aware of the limits of your insurance coverage. Not all countries have the best payment practices, and the performance of insurance companies is not comparable to that in Germany.
Foreign damage protection insurance can help you out here. It ensures that vehicle drivers don't get the big end of the stick in the event of an accident abroad that wasn't their fault.
Minimum coverage amounts not at German level
Liability insurance for motor vehicles is mandatory in EU countries, but there is no such thing as a uniform minimum coverage. There is still a lot of water flowing down the mountain before the harmonization of coverage levels takes effect. Transitional periods ensure that countries such as Croatia, Romania and Poland, as well as Portugal, Spain and Greece, have no interest in immediately adopting German practices. Until the final performance adjustment in the sense of the 5. Therefore, according to the European Union's Motor Insurance Directive, foreign damage protection insurance is just as essential as the Mallorca policy.
Benefits in case of damage
With a foreign damage protection insurance, the motorist is compensated by his insurer as if the insurer had contracted the foreign accident perpetrator with a liability insurance policy. The claims for damages are thus based on German law and German standards.
The additional insurance takes effect if:
a) the driver is involved in an accident abroad with his own vehicle through no fault of his own and
b) the costs are not taken over by the insurance of the accident causer or the liability of the accident opponent is not sufficient to the settlement of the damage.
Provided that these two conditions are met, the foreign damage protection insurance covers the damage incurred up to the agreed coverage limit or the difference in the event of insufficient coverage.
As a rule, the additional protection applies to the European Union, but other countries are certainly included and purely a matter of contract. It should be borne in mind that, especially outside the EU, compulsory insurance is often a foreign concept. Therefore, the foreign damage protection insurance is strongly recommended to all who are on vacation much with the car beyond the borders of the country on the road. Namely because the foreign damage protection insurance covers not only the accident costs but also the lawyer's fees and costs of proceedings. Since the settlement of claims abroad can often take months, foreign damage protection insurance is not only sensible, but downright necessary.
The difference between foreign damage protection and Mallorca policy!
To put it bluntly, the foreign damage protection insurance takes care of the private car, while the Mallorca policy takes care of the rental car abroad. However, the Mallorca policy also guarantees protection against undercoverage of the other party in the event of an accident for which the other party is not at fault.
As the name erroneously suggests, it is not only effective on the Balearic island. Rather, the countless accidents of German vacationers with rental cars on Mallorca have made the introduction of this insurance product inevitable. The designation for it was thus quasi obvious.
Often the Mallorca policy is already a component of the motor vehicle liability insurance. Only in the cheaper basic tariffs of the providers it is either missing completely or does not offer the full amount of the German minimum coverage sum. The exact view in the contract is therefore indicated.
This problem does not arise for German vacationers if they rent a car in their own country from a provider with German insurance coverage.
Conclusion of a foreign damage protection
The foreign damage protection insurance supplements the motor vehicle liability insurance. If the motor vehicle protection for abroad is part of the motor vehicle liability insurance, no separate costs are incurred. If the foreign damage protection insurance is offered as a separate product, a corresponding cost surcharge is to be expected.
It is important to check the validity of the policy for the vacation country in question before taking out the policy. The cover usually includes the EU countries as well as Andorra, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Monaco, Norway and Switzerland. The protection is regularly limited in time, but the rates can be determined online in no time with a motor vehicle rate calculator.
Comparison of relevant providers
- HDI
In the test of the German Customer Institute, the motor vehicle insurance is ranked 1st. WirtschaftsWoche is no less impressed, rating the insurer as very good. In any case, motorists have the option of beefing up their Motor-Plus motor liability insurance with foreign damage cover. According to German law, this policy regulates personal injury and property damage caused by a vehicle registered abroad. The same applies to damage caused to the driver of a vehicle in Germany by a car registered abroad.
- HUK-COBURG
Customer service is a top priority at HUK-COBURG. Data and contracts can be easily viewed online at any time via the "My HUK" service area. More than 11 million customers seem to be convinced of the insurer's performance. And even some of them may have opted for Classic motor liability insurance with foreign damage cover. It allows them to secure compensation in the event of a road accident that was not their fault in the European Union, Albania, Macedonia, Kosovo, Andorra, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Montenegro, Monaco, Norway, Serbia, Switzerland and the European part of Turkey.
- ADAC
The Automobile Club's KomfortVario automobile liability insurance includes the Mallorca policy in addition to the foreign comfort package. The foreign comfort package is nothing more than a foreign damage protection insurance, which guarantees that the automobile club quickly and easily takes over the settlement of claims in the event of accidents abroad through no fault of your own.
- Allianz
Equal to the basis of the motor vehicle liability insurance is its extension with the foreign damage protection with up to 100 million euros compensation for property damage and personal injury useful. If the basic package is valid in Germany, the extension for abroad is indispensable.
The most important at a glance
- Foreign damage protection is used to settle accidental damage abroad through no fault of your own. Especially outside the EU, liability insurance is in short supply, which is why car protection for abroad is indispensable.
- Unlike the Mallorca policy, the foreign damage protection insurance does not apply to rental cars, but to private cars.
- The costs for protection vary from provider to provider and are either included in the motor vehicle liability insurance or can be quickly determined online with the help of the rate calculator.