# Insurance for call centres, office services and virtual assistants in Germany

> Your work leaves no scratches, but it can have expensive consequences: a callback not passed on, a missed deadline, an invoice posted wrongly, a data leak with thousands of customer records. These are pure financial losses, and standard public liability does not pay for them. This page shows which insurance you really need and what it costs.

Quelle/Source: https://www.nammert.com/en/business-insurance-office-services.php  
Updated: 2026-09-18

## Which insurance pays if my mistake loses a client one of their customers or causes a missed deadline?

Professional indemnity, which our catalogue lists under professional liability. Public liability only pays for injury and property damage, for example if a visitor falls in your office. Make sure your actual activities are named in the policy: phone answering, appointment booking, correspondence, basic bookkeeping. Anything not named is often not covered.

## At a glance

- **Compulsory:** No insurance is required by law. Clients often ask for professional indemnity cover and a data processing agreement under data protection law, though
- **Biggest risk:** Mistakes that cost clients money, and data protection breaches involving other people's customer data
- **Basic cover from:** about 90 euros a year for public liability for a small office service, plus professional indemnity
- **Statutory accident insurer:** VBG, the Berufsgenossenschaft for service businesses; membership is compulsory from your first employee, including staff working from home
- **Often forgotten:** Cyber insurance: an attack on your phone system or ticket system hits your clients' data
- **WZ 2025 / NACE:** 82.20 Call Centers, 82.40 Vermittlungstätigkeiten für die Erbringung von wirtschaftlichen Dienstleistungen für Unternehmen und Privatpersonen a. n. g., 82.91 Inkassobüros und Auskunfteien, 82.92 Abfüllen und Verpacken, 82.99 Erbringung sonstiger wirtschaftlicher Dienstleistungen für Unternehmen und Privatpersonen a. n. g.

## What goes wrong in this trade

- **The missed message:** A call about a cancellation or a large order is not passed on. The client loses money and wants it back from you.
- **Deadlines and post:** If you open post, enter deadlines or prepare payment reminders, you can miss a deadline. The consequences can run to five figures.
- **Data handled for others:** A call centre processes thousands of customer records. An email to the wrong recipient, a hacked account or an open server is a data protection breach that must be reported.
- **Phone system hacked:** Hacked phone systems are used to dial expensive international numbers, and large bills build up overnight.
- **The line to tax advice:** An office service may record day to day bookings but must not give tax advice. Crossing that line often means losing your insurance cover.
- **Voice, ears, back:** Long phone shifts strain voice, hearing and back. Mental strain is a frequent cause of long absences in call centres.

**Risk radar** (Compared with other trades, 1 low to 5 high.): Liability 3, Fire and water 2, Theft 2, Cyber 5, Downtime 3, Health 2

## The insurance you need

- **Professional indemnity** (Essential): Professional indemnity pays when your mistakes cost clients money, for example missed deadlines or wrong bookings. https://www.nammert.com/en/insurance-broker-professional-indemnity.php
- **Cyber insurance** (Strongly advised): Covers costs after hacking and data leaks: forensics, notifications, third party claims and business interruption. https://www.nammert.com/en/insurance-broker-cyber-insurance.php
- **Business liability** (Strongly advised): For injury and property damage, for example when customers visit your office or damage is done to rented premises. https://www.nammert.com/en/insurance-broker-business-liability.php
- **Electronic equipment** (Strongly advised): Replaces computers, headsets, servers and the phone system after breakdown, power surge or water damage. https://www.nammert.com/en/insurance-broker-electronic-equipment.php
- **Business interruption** (Depends on the business): Pays wages and fixed costs if the office cannot work after a fire and clients walk away. https://www.nammert.com/en/insurance-broker-business-interruption.php
- **Business legal expenses** (Depends on the business): For disputes over fees, penalties in service contracts and employment law. https://www.nammert.com/en/insurance-broker-business-legal-expenses.php
- **Company health insurance** (Depends on the business): Company health insurance helps retain staff in call centres, where turnover is high. https://www.nammert.com/en/insurance-broker-company-health-insurance.php

## What it costs: example prices

Office services and call centres count as low risk for injury and property damage, so public liability is cheap. The money goes into professional indemnity and cyber insurance, which depend on turnover, activities and the volume of data.

| Insurance | Example | Typical range |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Business liability | Office service or call centre, 3 million euros cover, with an excess | about 90 to 200 euros a year |
| Professional indemnity | Virtual assistant or office service, 100,000 euros financial loss cover | about 200 to 500 euros a year |
| Cyber insurance | Call centre with ten workstations and clients' customer data, 500,000 euros cover | about 600 to 1,500 euros a year |
| Electronic equipment | Computers, headsets and phone system worth 30,000 euros | about 150 to 400 euros a year |

For comparison: Public liability and professional indemnity for a small office service cost roughly as much per year as ten to twelve hours you bill to a client.

_Guide figures excluding German insurance premium tax, as of September 2026. Public liability comes from publicly quoted tariff examples; professional indemnity, cyber and electronic equipment are guide figures from our own quoting experience. Bookkeeping services change the premium considerably._

- [berufshaftpflichtversicherung-experten.de: Betriebshaftpflicht Callcenter](https://berufshaftpflichtversicherung-experten.de/betriebshaftpflicht-callcenter/)

## Our suggestions: three packages

- **Solo** (virtual assistant or office service without employees): Business liability, Professional indemnity. Together: about 300 to 650 euros a year
- **Office** (office service with employees and its own premises): Business liability, Professional indemnity, Cyber insurance, Electronic equipment. Together: about 1,000 to 2,500 euros a year
- **Call centre** (call centre with many workstations, large data volumes and regular clients): Business liability, Professional indemnity, Cyber insurance, Electronic equipment, Business interruption, Business legal expenses. Together: about 3,000 to 8,000 euros a year

## The worst day in the office service

Six things that really happen to call centres and office services, all on one single Thursday. Tap through the day and see who pays.

- 08:05: The phone system was hacked overnight. Hundreds of calls to expensive premium numbers abroad. (€7,800, Paid by: Cyber insurance)
- 09:40: A callback asking for a quote was not passed on. The tradesman client loses a large order and demands compensation. (€9,000, Paid by: Professional indemnity)
- 11:20: A payment reminder deadline for a client was entered wrongly, and the claim is now time barred. (€14,000, Paid by: Professional indemnity)
- 13:00: An employee sends a list of customer data to the wrong mailing list. Report to the authority, legal costs, claims from those affected. (€11,000, Paid by: Cyber insurance)
- 15:30: Coffee runs into the central server, and telephony is down for half a day. (€4,500, Paid by: Electronic equipment)
- 17:10: A visitor trips over a cable in reception and breaks a wrist. (€6,000, Paid by: Business liability)

**Damage so far:** €52,300

## Practical tips from your broker

- List every activity in the policy: phone answering, appointment booking, post handling, payment reminders, basic bookkeeping.
- Choose at least 250,000 euros professional indemnity if you manage deadlines or payments for clients.
- In your cyber policy, check cover for phone system misuse and for liability for your clients' data.
- In bookkeeping, stick to day to day bookings and payroll preparation. Tax advice cannot be insured if you are not permitted to give it.
- Sign a data processing agreement with every client and limit your liability as far as the law allows.
- Include home office workstations: your employees' equipment and data at home are not automatically in the policy.

## Why NAMMERT for your business

- **We separate property damage from financial loss:** Many office services have the wrong liability cover. As a broker we show you which losses your policy pays and compare quotes from several insurers.
- **Claims settlement from our own practice:** In boat insurance we settle claims ourselves. After a data leak every hour counts, and we know how to bring insurers and specialists together quickly.
- **Office and private cover from one source:** Liability, cyber, equipment, staff benefits and your own provision are handled by us together.
- **A family business since 1989:** Our advice costs you nothing; the insurer pays our commission. You reach a person, not a hold queue, which call centres in particular will appreciate.

## FAQ

### Do I need professional indemnity as an office service?

Yes, if you take on tasks where mistakes cost money: deadlines, invoices, bookings, correspondence. Public liability does not cover such pure financial losses.

### What does insurance for a virtual assistant cost?

Public liability and professional indemnity together are usually between 300 and 650 euros a year, depending on turnover and activities.

### Can I do bookkeeping as an office service in Germany?

Recording day to day transactions and preparing payroll, yes; tax returns and annual accounts, no. Those are reserved for tax advisers (Steuerberater) and cannot be insured either.

### Who pays after a data leak?

Cyber insurance pays for forensics, notifications, lawyers and claims from those affected. Fines from the data protection authority can only be insured to a limited extent.

### Are employees working from home covered by accident insurance?

Yes, with the VBG, as far as they are working for you. Private trips within the home, for example to the fridge, are not always protected.

### Does the insurance cover clients abroad?

That has to be agreed. If you work for customers in Austria, Switzerland or the USA, tell the insurer; the USA in particular is often excluded.

## Request quotes

We obtain quotes and come back with a comparison. Free of charge and without obligation: the insurer pays our commission. You can write in English. https://www.nammert.com/en/business-insurance-office-services.php#anfrage

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NAMMERT Assekuradeur GmbH, insurance broker licensed under section 34d(1) of the German Trade Regulation Act, broker register no. D-C08Q-TOSD4-37. For boat and yacht insurance we act as underwriting agency, not as broker.

NAMMERT Assekuradeur GmbH, Karl-Marx-Straße 4, 15711 Königs Wusterhausen, +49 3375 29 12 77, info@nammert.com. Wikidata: Q141141479.