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Insurance for New in Germany: what you really need
Health insurance is compulsory from the day you live here, statutory through your employer or private if you earn above the threshold or are self-employed. Personal liability is the next step, and many landlords ask for it. Bring written proof of claims-free driving years from your home insurer; some German insurers credit them towards your no-claims class.
You can skip
- Travel or expat health plan as permanent cover
Such plans usually do not meet the German legal requirements for health insurance and often end after a fixed period.
- Savings life insurance if you may leave soon
Most costs fall in the first years, so cancelling after a short stay returns much less than you paid in.
The policies one by one
Personal liability
In Germany, anyone who negligently causes damage to someone else pays for it in full, with no upper limit. Private liability insurance (Privathaftpflicht) pays justified claims and fights …
Contents insurance
In Germany, the insurance for your belongings is called Hausratversicherung. It pays new-for-old after fire, burst pipes, burglary, storm and hail. Unlike renters insurance in the US, it …
Occupational disability
Berufsunfähigkeitsversicherung, usually shortened to BU, pays a monthly pension if illness or injury leaves you unable to work in your own occupation. It is the closest German equivalent to …
Travel insurance
German insurers sell up to six different travel policies, but only one is essential: Auslandsreisekrankenversicherung, travel health insurance. Statutory health insurance pays only partly …
Private health insurance
Germany runs two parallel systems: statutory health insurance (GKV) for about nine in ten residents and private health insurance (PKV) for the self-employed, civil servants and employees …
Supplementary health
If you are in German public health insurance, you are well covered for medical treatment, but not for everything you may be used to. Supplementary policies from private insurers add …
Legal expenses insurance
Legal expenses insurance pays for lawyers, court fees and experts when you need to enforce your rights or defend yourself. In Germany it is widespread and sold in modules: private life, …
Car insurance
You cannot register a car in Germany without liability insurance, and the insurer, not the car, carries your no-claims history. German pricing rests on four things most newcomers have never …
Why this order
The rule: existential risks first, expensive ones second, comfort last
First insure what could ruin you financially: unlimited liability towards others under the German Civil Code, the loss of your income through illness, and your house if you own one. Then losses that hurt but will not ruin you, such as replacing the contents of a flat. Comfort cover such as dental top-ups or travel extras comes last.
Pay small losses yourself. Every premium carries administration costs, so insuring a phone or glasses costs more over the years than it pays out. Compulsory in Germany are health insurance with long-term care cover for everyone, motor liability for every registered vehicle and, in several federal states, dog liability.