Insurance for machinery and plant engineering firms in Germany
As a machine builder you are not liable for a single part but for what your plant does at the customer's site: the stopped production line, the spoiled material, the cost of removing and refitting. Add installation work on other people's premises and a machine park of your own that everything depends on. This page shows how to cover all of that in Germany and what it costs.
Does our general liability pay if our machine brings the customer's production to a halt?
Standard general liability pays for injury and property damage. If the customer's line simply stops and nothing is physically broken, that is a pure financial loss, and in Germany it is only covered by extended product liability (erweiterte Produkthaftpflicht). That is where the building blocks you need sit: removal and refitting costs, further processing, and the machinery clause for products made by your plant. Without them, you pay yourself.
What goes wrong in this trade
01
The machine turns out scrap
A badly set control or a design error lets faulty parts run at the customer's plant for days. Material, labour and late delivery quickly add up to six figures.
02
Installing on someone else's site
During assembly a component drops from the crane, or a fitter damages the hall ceiling or one of the customer's pipes. It often happens far from your own works, sometimes abroad.
03
Breakdown in your own works
A spindle failure on the machining centre or a short circuit in the control cabinet stops production. No fire or burglary is involved, so contents insurance does not pay.
04
Injury caused by your plant
If a safety guard is missing or the operating manual has gaps, an operator at the customer's site gets hurt. Then the public prosecutor and the liability insurer look at the case at the same time.
05
Attack on design data
CAD files, control programs and remote maintenance access are a popular target. One encrypted server halts design and production together.
06
Accidents at machine tools
Crushing at presses, cuts, heavy loads: machine building is one of the sectors with many reportable workplace accidents.
With extended product liability, installation risk and cover abroad, because your plants stand at customers whose losses go far beyond the value of the machine.
Adds to the statutory accident insurer for fitters who travel a lot, and helps when you are recruiting skilled staff.
What it costs: example prices
For machine builders the premium depends on turnover, export share, the type of plant and the building blocks of product liability. If you deliver to the USA or build plants for the food or car industry, expect to pay noticeably more.
Insurance
Example
Typical range
Business liability
Small contract manufacturer, turnover around €100,000 to €300,000, €3 million cover
around €350 to €1,200 a year
Business liability
Special machine builder with 20 staff, extended product liability, exports within the EU
around €3,000 to €8,000 a year
Business contents
Machines, material and stock worth €1.5 million
around €1,500 to €3,500 a year
Machinery breakdown
Stationary machine park with a new value of €800,000
around €2,500 to €6,500 a year
Business interruption
Loss of income after property damage and machinery breakdown, twelve month indemnity period
around €800 to €2,500 a year
Cyber insurance
Firm with around €3 million turnover and remote maintenance
around €1,200 to €3,000 a year
For comparison: For a special machine builder, liability with extended product liability plus contents insurance costs about as much a year as one week of commissioning with two service engineers at the customer's site.
Guide figures excluding German insurance tax, as of September 2026.
General liability is based on published tariff examples; machinery,
contents and cyber are guide figures from our own quoting.
Machinery insurance is priced per mille of the sum insured; we obtain the exact quote for you.
Six losses that really happen in machine building firms, all packed into one Wednesday. Tap through the day and see which policy pays.
Damage so far€510,000
After a programming error the spindle of the big machining centre seizes. Repair and a replacement spindle.
€38,000 · Paid by: Machinery breakdown
Your packaging line at a customer's plant has been sealing at the wrong temperature for a week. 60,000 packs are scrap.
€95,000 · Paid by: Business liability
During installation in someone else's hall a control cabinet slides off the forklift and tears off a sprinkler pipe.
€24,000 · Paid by: Business liability
The server holding all the CAD data is encrypted. Design and production planning stand still for three days.
€42,000 · Paid by: Cyber insurance
An assembly tips over on the lorry to the customer because the load was badly secured.
€31,000 · Paid by: Cargo insurance
A smouldering fire in the paint booth destroys the booth, the paint stock and two nearly finished plants.
€280,000 · Paid by: Business contents
Which package would you have had?
Paid by insurance: €0
Out of your own pocket: €510,000
Illustrative amounts before any excess.
What is paid depends on the policy terms.
Practical tips from your broker
Agree extended product liability on the German insurers' association model with every building block, including the machinery clause and inspection and sorting costs.
Choose at least €5 million cover; customers in the car industry often ask for €10 million or more.
Have installation, commissioning and test runs at the customer's site expressly included, also outside Germany.
Check deliveries to the USA and Canada separately: different limits apply there, and lawyers' fees are often counted against the sum insured.
Insure the machine park at new value and update the list every year, otherwise you risk underinsurance after a new purchase.
Align your terms of sale with the policy: liability caps and warranty promises to customers are only partly insurable.
Why NAMMERT for your business
We read product liability block by block
The price gap between two quotes often lies in the removal and refitting costs or the machinery clause. As a broker we put the wordings of several insurers side by side for you.
We know claims handling from the inside
In boat insurance we handle claims ourselves. We use that experience when causation and amounts are disputed after a production stoppage at your customer's site.
Works, installation and management in one place
We arrange liability, machinery, transport and D&O together so no gap opens up between the policies.
A family business since 1989
Like many engineering firms, you want one contact who knows your business, and you can talk to us in English. Our work costs you nothing; the insurer pays our commission.
Frequently asked questions
Questions and answers
Is product liability included in general liability?
Basic product liability for injury and property damage usually is.
Extended product liability for financial losses at the customer, such as removal,
refitting and scrap, has to be agreed expressly.
What is the difference between contents and machinery insurance?
Contents insurance pays for fire, burst pipes, storm and burglary.
Machinery insurance pays for damage from inside and through operation, such as a short circuit,
a material defect or a collision inside the machine.
What does insurance cost for a machine building firm?
A small contract manufacturer starts at around €350 a year for general liability.
A special machine builder with 20 staff usually pays €6,000 to €15,000 in total for liability,
contents, machinery and business interruption.
Are we covered when we install a plant abroad?
Only if the policy includes losses abroad and installation work.
Europe is often included; worldwide cover,
and the USA and Canada in particular, must be agreed separately.
What changes with the new EU Machinery Regulation?
It applies from 20 January 2027 and sets higher requirements for safety,
software and documentation.
If you cannot prove conformity properly, your position after a loss is weaker;
insurance does not replace the documentation.
Do we need product recall insurance?
If you supply series parts or components in large numbers, yes.
Recall costs are not included in general liability and are insured as a separate building block.
NAMMERT insurance broker
Request quotes for Machinery and plant engineering
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