Insurance for pet cremation and burial services in Germany
You collect a family dog from a vet at night, keep it cool, cremate it and hand the urn to people who have just lost a member of the family. For pet cremation and burial services in Germany, the business rests on three things: the van, the equipment and trust. Here is what insurance is compulsory, what protects your business and what it costs.
Does my liability insurance pay if an urn is mixed up?
It depends on the wording. The animal and the urn are goods in your care, and many basic policies exclude those. The material value is small; the dispute is about refunds, compensation and lawyers. Make sure goods in care are expressly included, and protect your process with heat proof tags and photos.
What goes wrong in this trade
01
Cremator down
A fault in the burner or controls stops cremations for weeks. Vets send their work elsewhere while staff and cooling still cost money.
02
Cold room failure
If cooling fails over a weekend, a dignified handover is no longer possible.
03
Mix up
The wrong urn with the wrong family is a liability claim and a human disaster.
04
Collections around the clock
Night drives to vets and homes, heavy dogs, narrow stairwells.
05
Fire on the premises
Where you work with high temperatures and fuel, fire is a real risk.
06
Disputes about services
Individual or communal cremation, urn choice, farewell room: misunderstandings end in refund demands and reviews.
Six things pet cremation services really go through, all on one Monday. Tap through and see who pays.
Damage so far€48,200
On a collection run the van slides on a wet road into a parked car.
€4,200 · Paid by: Car insurance
A short circuit destroys the cremator controls; the board has to be replaced.
€9,800 · Paid by: Machinery breakdown
Three weeks without cremations, vets send their work elsewhere.
€21,000 · Paid by: Business interruption
Carrying a large dog, your employee breaks the glass door of a vet surgery.
€2,300 · Paid by: Business liability
A family receives the wrong urn and claims compensation.
€3,500 · Paid by: Business liability
A burst pipe floods the farewell room; floor and furniture are ruined.
€7,400 · Paid by: Business contents
Which package would you have had?
Paid by insurance: €0
Out of your own pocket: €48,200
Illustrative amounts before any excess.
What is paid depends on the policy terms.
Practical tips from your broker
Have goods in care, meaning animals and urns, expressly included in your liability policy.
Tag every animal with a heat proof marker and photograph each step.
Insure cremator and cooling under machinery cover, and downtime under business interruption cover.
Set up a cooling alarm that alerts your phone.
Tell the insurer about the van conversion and its business use.
Record individual or communal cremation in writing with every order.
Why NAMMERT for your business
We read the exclusions
For pet cremation, what decides is whether goods in care and the cremator are covered. As an insurance broker, Norman Nammert compares the wording of several insurers for you.
Van, equipment and business together
Vehicle, cremator, liability and your personal insurance all run through one contact.
Broker since 1989
A family business, not tied to any insurer. Our service is free for you; the insurer pays our commission. We advise in English.
Frequently asked questions
Questions and answers
What insurance is compulsory for a pet cremation service in Germany?
Motor liability for every vehicle, with at least €7.5 million for injury,
€1.3 million for property damage and €50,000 for financial loss.
Public liability is not compulsory, but strongly advised.
What does public liability cost?
Without your own cremator about €250 to €500 a year,
for a crematorium with staff about €600 to €1,400, as guide values from our quoting work.
Is the cremator covered by contents insurance?
Against fire, water and burglary usually yes.
Operating errors, short circuits and breakdown need machinery insurance.
Who pays if the cremator is out of action for weeks?
Business interruption insurance replaces lost profit and running costs if the downtime results
from an insured loss.
May pets be cremated instead of going to the carcass disposal service?
Yes.
The Animal By-Products Disposal Act exempts pets from collection if they are cremated in a
suitable incineration plant.
NAMMERT insurance broker
Request quotes for Pet cremation
The recommended covers are ticked.
Change what does not fit; we compare quotes, 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.
