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Insurance for vehicle transfer services and delivery drivers in Germany

Vehicle transfer drivers sit in a different car every day, and none of them is theirs: a new car to a customer, a returning lease car to a dealer, a van to a workshop. A scraped alloy or a deer on the motorway quickly becomes your problem. This page explains what is compulsory in Germany, where the gaps are and what cover costs.

Insurance for vehicle transfer services

The question almost everyone asks first

Who pays if I damage a car I am delivering?

Damage to third parties is paid by the motor liability of the vehicle or the red plates. Damage to the delivered car itself is not. That needs the owner's comprehensive cover, extended to outside drivers, or your own transfer comprehensive policy. Agree this in writing before each job, or you may be left with the excess or the whole repair bill.

What goes wrong in this trade

  1. 01

    Damage to the customer's car

    A kerb, a tight car park, a stone chip: the dealer or lessor wants you to pay for the repair of the new car.

  2. 02

    Accident with third parties

    A rear end collision on the motorway. Liability pays, but your client's no claims record suffers.

  3. 03

    Theft on the way

    The car spends the night at a service area or outside a hotel and is gone or broken into by morning.

  4. 04

    Wrong plates, wrong papers

    Missing log book entries or an expired short term plate lead to fines and disputes about cover.

  5. 05

    Loading the transporter

    A car slides off the ramp while being loaded onto a car transporter. Carriage law applies, with its own liability rules.

  6. 06

    The trip home

    Drivers return by train or bus, often late at night with plates in their luggage. Accidents happen there too.

Risk radar
Liability 5Fire and water 4Theft 3Cyber 2Downtime 3Health 3

Compared with other trades, 1 low to 5 high.

The insurance you need

Essential

Car insurance

Motor liability is compulsory, for the vehicle itself or through the red plates. Transfer comprehensive protects the vehicle you are driving.

Strongly advised

Cargo insurance

If you carry vehicles on your own transporter or trailer, the load needs cover; in commercial road haulage goods in transit liability is compulsory.

Business liability

For damage away from driving, for example manoeuvring in a dealer's yard. Damage to transferred vehicles is usually excluded here.

Accident insurance

Around the clock cover for you as owner and for freelance drivers who are not covered by a Berufsgenossenschaft (statutory accident insurer).

Business legal expenses

For fine proceedings, disputes about fault and unpaid invoices from dealers and leasing companies.

Depends on the business

Fleet insurance

For your own shuttle vehicles that take drivers to pick up points.

What it costs: example prices

Transfer cover is usually priced by number of journeys, mileage or vehicle values. Premium vehicles, trips abroad and young drivers push the price up.

InsuranceExampleTypical range
Car insuranceTransfer comprehensive for customers' cars worth up to €60,000, €500 excess, around 300 journeys a yearabout €1,500 to €3,500 a year
Car insuranceMotor liability for a dealer's red plates used for transfersabout €600 to €1,500 a year
Cargo insuranceGoods in transit liability for a car transporter, €600,000 per eventabout €800 to €2,000 a year
Business liabilityTransfer service with five drivers, €3 million limitabout €250 to €600 a year
Accident insuranceOwner driver, €100,000 disability sumabout €150 to €350 a year

For comparison: One front end repair on a premium car often costs as much as a whole year of transfer comprehensive.

All premiums are guide figures from our quoting work, excluding German insurance premium tax,

October 2026.

Legal details come from the FZV, the road haulage act and the German Commercial Code.

Sources of the price examples

Our suggestions: three packages

01

Solo driver

For: self employed transfer drivers using the client's plates

  • Car insurance
  • Business liability
  • Accident insurance

Together about €1,900 to €4,400 a year

Request this package

02

Transfer service

For: five to twenty drivers working for dealers and lessors

  • Car insurance
  • Business liability
  • Accident insurance
  • Business legal expenses
  • Fleet insurance

Together about €5,000 to €14,000 a year

Request this package

03

With car transporter

For: businesses that drive and also carry vehicles by truck or trailer

  • Car insurance
  • Cargo insurance
  • Business liability
  • Business legal expenses

Together individual, usually from about €8,000 a year

Request this package

The worst day on a transfer run

Six things that really happen to transfer drivers, all on one run from Hamburg to Munich. Tap through and see who pays.

Damage so far€34,000
  1. Leaving the dealer's tight underground car park, the new car's alloy scrapes the kerb.

    €1,200 · Paid by: Car insurance

  2. Rear end collision in a jam near Hanover; the driver in front is injured.

    €14,000 · Paid by: Car insurance

  3. The front of the delivered car is badly damaged.

    €9,500 · Paid by: Car insurance

  4. Manoeuvring in the lessor's yard, you damage a roller door.

    €3,200 · Paid by: Business liability

  5. The other side disputes how the accident happened, and you need a lawyer.

    €2,100 · Paid by: Business legal expenses

  6. On the way home the driver falls on the station stairs and breaks an arm.

    €4,000 · Paid by: Accident insurance

Which package would you have had?

Paid by insurance: €0
Out of your own pocket: €34,000

Illustrative amounts before any excess.

What is paid depends on the policy terms.

Practical tips from your broker

  1. Agree in writing before each job whose comprehensive cover applies and who pays the excess.
  2. Photograph the car all round at pick up and delivery, with date and mileage.
  3. With red plates keep the log book and the required records complete.
  4. Before trips abroad check that plates and insurance are valid there.
  5. Park overnight only in secure places; many policies require it.
  6. If you carry vehicles by truck, plan for carriage law and goods in transit cover from day one.

Why NAMMERT for your business

We know the gap in someone else's car

Most losses hit the transferred vehicle itself. We look for insurers offering transfer comprehensive and compare excess and value limits.

Explained in English

German policy wording can be hard going. We explain the clauses that matter in plain English.

Family run since 1989

Our work is free for you; the insurer pays our commission.

Frequently asked questions

Questions and answers

What insurance is compulsory for vehicle transfers in Germany?

Motor liability for every vehicle driven.

Unregistered vehicles may only be driven with red plates or short term plates and valid liability

insurance.

Can a transfer service get red plates?

The FZV names reliable manufacturers, parts makers, workshops and motor dealers.

Pure transfer services therefore often drive on their client's plates or on short term plates.

Who pays for damage to the transferred car?

Not motor liability.

Either the owner's comprehensive cover includes outside drivers,

or you need your own transfer comprehensive policy.

What applies if I carry cars on a truck?

Then you are a carrier.

The German Commercial Code limits liability to 8.33 units of account per kilogram,

and commercial road haulage requires goods in transit liability of at least €600,000 per event.

What does transfer comprehensive cost?

In our quoting work about €1,500 to €3,500 a year for around 300 journeys with cars worth up to

€60,000.

NAMMERT insurance broker

Request quotes for Vehicle transfer

The recommended covers are ticked.

Change what does not fit; we compare quotes, in English.

1Who is it for?
2Which insurance?

Choose as many as you like. For each one, the details an insurer needs for a quote appear below.

Personal

Business

3Details

Car insurance in Germany (liability, partial and fully comprehensive)

Most precise with the HSN and TSN codes from the registration document

Personal accident insurance (private Unfallversicherung)

Be specific, for example software developer in an office, or electrician on building sites

For example motorcycling, diving, climbing, paragliding

For example accident pension, cover when travelling home, help at home after an accident

Business liability insurance in Germany (Betriebshaftpflicht)

For example electrical installation in homes, café with outdoor seating, online shop for furniture

For example work at clients' sites, own products, exports to the US, parent company abroad

Business legal expenses insurance in Germany (Firmenrechtsschutz)

For example plumbing business, tax practice, online shop for electronics

Existing disputes cannot be insured, but knowing about them helps us advise you

Cargo and transport insurance in Germany

Only for hauliers and own-account transport

For example Incoterms, ADSp, packing, storage, previous claims

4Your current policy
5How can we reach you?

Related trades

Haulier

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Do I need goods in transit liability even with just one lorry?

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Can I insure my hire cars on ordinary motor tariffs?

Boat or yacht? NAMMERT has its own cover concepts for boats, arranged by the same broker.

Boat insurance

Your broker: Norman Nammert, trading as NAMMERT.

Insurance broker licensed under section 34d(1) of the German Trade Regulation Act.

Broker register no. D-C08Q-TOSD4-37.

NAMMERT Assekuradeur GmbH is a separate company.

It does not arrange your contract.

Statutory disclosure (German) · Updated