Business liability
Covers harm to customers and buyers, product liability for your pieces and damage to customers' property while you work on it, if included.
Insurance broker / Business types / Manufacturing
Insurance for small manufacturers, craftspeople and instrument makers in Germany
Violin, ring, wooden toy or knife: in a small workshop the value lies in a few pieces and in your own hands. Customers' pieces are often in the workshop too, for repair or rework. This page shows what to insure in Germany in case a fire, a burglary or a faulty product hits your business.
The question almost everyone asks first
Is my customer's violin covered if my workshop is burgled?
Only if third party property is included in your contents insurance, and then usually only up to a limit. For valuable instruments, jewellery or watches the standard sum is rarely enough. Keep a list of customers' pieces with their values and have the sum set to match. Many customers also have their own instrument or jewellery insurance.
What goes wrong in this trade
- 01
Burglary at the workshop
Precious metals, gemstones, old instruments and finished pieces are small and valuable. Burglars know that.
- 02
A customer's piece is damaged
A stone cracks while soldering, an old top splits during varnishing, an heirloom bends while polishing. Such damage is often irreplaceable.
- 03
Toys and children
Small parts, flaking paint, sharp edges: with products for children a fault quickly leads to injuries and recalls.
- 04
Fire at the bench and kiln
Soldering torches, kilns, varnishes and wood dust are typical causes of fire in small workshops.
- 05
On the road at markets and fairs
Goods in the car, on the stand and in the hotel are not automatically insured. Theft from a stand happens fast.
- 06
Your own hands
Cuts, burns and strain on hands and back can bring a one person workshop to a sudden halt.
Compared with other trades, 1 low to 5 high.
The insurance you need
Essential
Business contents
Replaces tools, material, finished pieces and third party property after burglary, fire and burst pipes.
Strongly advised
Cargo insurance
Insures goods on the way to markets, fairs and galleries, in the car, on the stand and in the post.
Occupational disability
If your hands, eyes or back give out, a small workshop loses its income immediately.
Depends on the business
Business interruption
Pays running costs and lost profit if the workshop is out of action for months after a fire.
Cyber insurance
For your online shop and customer data if you sell a lot directly over the internet.
Business legal expenses
For disputes over commissions, copyright in your designs or with the workshop landlord.
What it costs: example prices
Small workshops are among the cheaper businesses to insure, as long as values and customers' property are not too high. Jewellery, watches and old instruments raise the security requirements and with them the premium.
| Insurance | Example | Typical range |
|---|---|---|
| Business liability | One person workshop, selling direct and online | around €100 to €300 a year |
| Business liability | Workshop with five staff and retail stockists | around €300 to €900 a year |
| Business contents | Tools, material and goods worth €60,000 | around €150 to €450 a year |
| Business contents | Goldsmith with precious metal and customers' jewellery, safe | around €500 to €2,000 a year |
| Cargo insurance | Goods worth €20,000 at markets and fairs | around €150 to €500 a year |
For comparison: Liability and contents insurance for a small workshop cost roughly as much a year as one handmade Damascus steel kitchen knife.
Guide figures excluding German insurance tax, as of September 2026, from published tariff examples for small businesses and our own quoting. For jewellery and precious metal, insurers require a safe and an intruder alarm, which strongly affects the premium. We obtain the exact quote.
Sources of the price examples
Our suggestions: three packages
01
Workbench
For: One person workshops and side businesses
- Business liability
- Business contents
Together around €250 to €700 a year
Request this package02
Workshop
For: Workshop with staff, commissions and markets
- Business liability
- Business contents
- Cargo insurance
- Business interruption
Together around €700 to €2,000 a year
Request this package03
Studio and shop
For: Workshop with online shop, fairs and valuable stock
- Business liability
- Business contents
- Cargo insurance
- Business interruption
- Cyber insurance
- Occupational disability
Together around €2,000 to €5,000 a year, income protection extra depending on age
Request this packageThe worst day in the workshop
Six things that really happen in workshops and small manufactories, all on one Saturday with a craft market. Tap through.
Damage so far€79,100
-
Burglary overnight: gold, stones and three customers' rings in for repair are gone.
-
While restringing, the top of a customer's old violin cracks. Restoration by a specialist.
-
At the market stall someone reaches into the display and disappears with two silver bracelets.
-
A child swallows a broken piece of a wooden toy and has to go to hospital.
-
The online shop is hacked and customer data has leaked. Lawyer, report to the authority and notifications.
-
The kiln sets the workbench on fire. Workshop, material and orders are covered in soot.
Which package would you have had?
Illustrative amounts before any excess. Whether and how much is paid depends on the policy terms.
Practical tips from your broker
- Have damage to customers' pieces while you work on them included in your general liability, with a sum that matches the pieces you accept.
- Insure customers' property in your contents insurance and keep an intake list with value and photo.
- For jewellery and precious metal, ask in advance which safe class and alarm system the insurer requires, otherwise the sum insured is worthless.
- Include goods at markets, fairs and in the car expressly, also overnight in a locked vehicle.
- If you make toys, document the tests and CE marking and choose a higher product liability sum.
- Protect your ability to work with income protection insurance that describes your craft precisely.
Why NAMMERT for your business
We ask about the customer's piece
The biggest gap in workshops is other people's property. We clarify it in advance and compare quotes from several insurers.
We know claims from the inside
As an underwriting agency for boats we settle claims ourselves, including on valuable one off items. We know how to prove value and damage.
Workshop and private life together
In small workshops business and private life overlap. We look after both with one contact, and can do so in English.
A family business since 1989
Craft values continuity, and so do we. Our work costs you nothing; the insurer pays our commission.
Questions and answers
Frequently asked
Does a craftsperson need business liability insurance?
Yes, as soon as you sell. Personal liability insurance does not cover business activities, and you are liable for your products even without fault.
What does insurance cost for a small workshop?
Liability and contents start at around €250 a year. With markets, staff and business interruption, workshops usually pay between €700 and €2,000.
Are goods on a market stall covered?
Not under the workshop's contents insurance. For that there is exhibition or goods in transit insurance.
Do toys need special insurance?
Product liability is part of it. More important is that you meet the safety requirements and can prove the CE marking properly.
Does insurance pay if I damage a customer's piece?
Only if damage during work is included. Many basic policies exclude exactly that.
Which Berufsgenossenschaft is responsible?
It depends on the material: wood and metal usually BGHM, print and paper BG ETEM, other crafts sometimes VBG. The statutory accident insurer assigns you when you register.
NAMMERT insurance broker
Request quotes for Small manufacturing and crafts
The recommended covers are already ticked. Change what does not fit; we obtain quotes and come back with a comparison. You can write in English.
Thank you, we have your request.
We will be in touch within one working day. If it is urgent: +49 3375 29 12 77.
Related trades
Is ordinary contents insurance enough for my jewellery?
Is my instrument covered by my home contents insurance?
Are we liable if harmful substances are found in our clothing?
Official classification
This page covers the following classes of the German WZ 2025 (identical to NACE at four digits):
- 18.20 Vervielfältigung von bespielten Ton-, Bild- und Datenträgern
- 32.20 Herstellung von Musikinstrumenten
- 32.30 Herstellung von Sportgeräten
- 32.40 Herstellung von Spielwaren
- 32.91 Herstellung von Besen und Bürsten
- 32.99 Herstellung von sonstigen Erzeugnissen a. n. g.
Source: Federal Statistical Office of Germany (Destatis), WZ 2025. All business types
Boat or yacht? Here we are not the broker but the underwriting agency, with our own policies and our own claims handling.
Boat insuranceNAMMERT Assekuradeur GmbH, insurance broker licensed under section 34d(1) of the German Trade Regulation Act, broker register no. D-C08Q-TOSD4-37. For boat and yacht insurance we act as underwriting agency, not as broker. Statutory disclosure (German) · Updated