Business liability
Covers harm caused by eye tests, contact lens and hearing aid fittings, and damage to customers' items in your care, provided these activities are included.
Insurance broker / Business types / Retail and wholesale
Insurance for opticians and hearing aid acousticians in Germany
Opticians and hearing aid acousticians work with measuring equipment that costs as much as a car, and customers' hearing aids worth several thousand euros cross the counter every day. On top of that you are responsible for your customers' eyes and ears. This page explains what should be insured and what it costs.
The question almost everyone asks first
Who pays if a customer falls after we got their prescription wrong?
If the fall can be traced to a mistake in the eye test or in centring the lenses, your public liability pays, as long as your craft work as an optician is covered. The same applies to corneal damage after a contact lens fitting and to hearing damage from a badly adjusted hearing aid. Make sure the policy names each of these activities explicitly.
What goes wrong in this trade
- 01
Expensive measuring equipment
Refraction unit, slit lamp, lens edger, audiometry booth: a single drop or power surge quickly costs five figures.
- 02
Customers' hearing aids
A pair of hearing aids handed in for cleaning or repair is often worth several thousand euros. If they go missing in the workshop, you pay.
- 03
Errors in testing and fitting
A wrongly measured prescription, lenses centred off axis or a contact lens that injures the cornea: all of these lead to liability claims.
- 04
Burglary
Designer frames and sunglasses are easy to carry off and sell on; whole displays can vanish in one night.
- 05
Health data
Eye test results, audiograms and prescriptions are specially protected data. An attack on your customer records triggers reporting duties.
- 06
Business at a standstill
No edger, no glasses; no measuring station, no fittings. One broken machine stops the whole business.
Compared with other trades, 1 low to 5 high.
The insurance you need
Essential
Strongly advised
Business contents
Replaces frames, lenses, hearing aids and fittings after burglary, fire, water and storm, including customers' property where agreed.
Electronic equipment
Covers measuring devices, the lens edger and audiometry equipment against drops, operating errors, power surges and water.
Business interruption
Pays your running costs if a fire or equipment failure means you cannot fit glasses or hearing aids.
Depends on the business
Cyber insurance
For attacks on your customer records and online booking, and for handling health data after a breach.
Occupational disability
Protects owners whose work depends on good eyesight, steady hands and concentration.
Business legal expenses
Legal expenses cover for billing disputes with health insurers and for disagreements with landlords or staff.
What it costs: example prices
Liability cover is inexpensive for opticians and hearing aid acousticians. Most of the cost lies in contents insurance and electronic equipment cover for the measuring devices.
| Insurance | Example | Typical range |
|---|---|---|
| Business liability | Optician with one shop and up to three employees | around 80 to 300 euros a year |
| Business contents | Frames, lenses and fittings worth 150,000 euros, burglary included | around 400 to 1,000 euros a year |
| Electronic equipment | Measuring equipment and lens edger worth 80,000 euros | around 300 to 800 euros a year |
| Business interruption | Loss of income for up to twelve months | around 100 to 350 euros a year |
| Cyber insurance | Practice with customer records and online appointments | around 400 to 800 euros a year |
For comparison: For a small optician, liability, contents and equipment cover together cost roughly as much a year as one pair of mid range varifocal glasses.
Guide figures excluding insurance tax, as of September 2026. The liability figure comes from a public price comparison for opticians, contents and cyber from publicly quoted ranges, and electronic equipment cover from our own quoting practice.
Our suggestions: three packages
01
Start
For: small practice, or a new branch with second hand measuring equipment
- Business liability
- Business contents
Together around 450 to 1,100 euros a year
Request this package02
Specialist
For: optician or hearing aid acoustician with its own workshop and measuring stations
- Business liability
- Business contents
- Electronic equipment
- Business interruption
Together around 900 to 2,200 euros a year
Request this package03
All round
For: business offering both optics and hearing care, with several employees and digital customer records
- Business liability
- Business contents
- Electronic equipment
- Business interruption
- Cyber insurance
- Business legal expenses
Together around 1,800 to 3,800 euros a year
Request this packageThe worst day at the optician
Six losses of the kind opticians and hearing aid acousticians really face, all on one Wednesday. Tap through and see who pays.
Damage so far€62,200
-
While the room is being rearranged, the slit lamp falls off the instrument table. Optics and housing are broken.
-
A customer's pair of hearing aids, handed in for cleaning, cannot be found anywhere.
-
A customer develops an inflamed cornea after her new contact lenses and blames a faulty fitting.
-
Lightning strikes nearby and the power surge kills the lens edger and the measuring station.
-
Without the edger, every glasses order is delayed for two weeks and customers go elsewhere.
-
Burglars clear the display of branded sunglasses and designer frames.
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 eye tests, contact lens fittings and hearing aid fittings named explicitly as insured activities.
- Include damage to customers' glasses and hearing aids in your care, with a limit that matches what is usually in your workshop.
- Insure measuring equipment and the lens edger at new value under electronic equipment cover, including anything you lease.
- Check the burglary limit for frames: branded stock is quickly worth more than you think.
- Remember home visits to care homes: equipment and work outside the shop must be covered too.
- Agree loss of income cover for equipment breakdowns as well, not only for fire, so that weeks without a workshop are paid for.
Why NAMMERT for your business
We compare the small print on activities
Whether contact lenses or hearing aid fittings are covered is decided in the detail. As a broker we compare several insurers on exactly that point.
We know how claims are handled
We settle boat claims ourselves. With equipment damage we know that expert reports, serial numbers and service records are what count.
Business and private cover from one source
Your shop, measuring equipment, car and personal protection are looked after together, reachable on +49 3375 29 12 77.
A family business since 1989
Like many opticians, we are owner managed. Our advice costs you nothing; the insurer pays our commission.
Questions and answers
Frequently asked
Do I need professional liability insurance as an optician?
It is not required by law. Public liability that includes your craft work covers the typical mistakes in testing and fitting, and you should not be without it.
What does insurance for an optician cost?
Public liability starts at around 80 euros a year. Adding contents and electronic equipment cover for the measuring devices, small businesses usually pay between 900 and 2,200 euros.
Are customers' hearing aids covered?
Only if damage to third party items in your care is included. Agree a limit that fits what you normally hold in the workshop.
Do I need electronic equipment insurance?
Yes, if you have expensive measuring equipment. It also pays for drops, operating errors and power surges, where contents insurance does not.
Are home visits to care homes covered?
Only if work outside your premises is included. Ask about cover for the equipment you take with you as well.
Which Berufsgenossenschaft is responsible for us?
For optics and hearing care it is usually BG ETEM, the statutory accident insurer for these trades. Registration is compulsory as soon as you employ staff.
NAMMERT insurance broker
Request quotes for Optician
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.
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Official classification
This page covers the following classes of the German WZ 2025 (identical to NACE at four digits):
- 47.74 Einzelhandel mit medizinischen und orthopädischen Artikeln
Source: Federal Statistical Office of Germany (Destatis), WZ 2025. All business types
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