# Insurance for printing companies and copy shops in Germany

> When a press stops, the whole business stops with it. Add paper, solvents and ink under one roof, and customers who send a bill for every misprint. This page shows what a printing business should insure and what it costs.

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

## Will insurance pay if we print a job wrongly?

No insurer pays for your own reprint; that is your business risk. If the customer suffers further loss, for instance because a mailing went out with the wrong date or packaging they supplied was ruined, public liability can pay, provided damage to processed goods and financial loss are included. These are exactly the extensions standard tariffs often lack.

## At a glance

- **Compulsory:** No insurance is required by law; leasing companies usually insist on machinery insurance for financed presses
- **Biggest risk:** Machinery breakdown with weeks of downtime, and fire in the paper and chemicals store
- **Basic cover from:** about €150 a year for a copy shop's public liability
- **Statutory accident insurer:** the BG ETEM (printing and paper processing section), the Berufsgenossenschaft or statutory accident insurer; compulsory for every business with employees
- **Often forgotten:** Damage to customers' materials while you process them, such as spoilt packaging or supplied paper, is often only covered with an add on
- **WZ 2025 / NACE:** 18.11 Drucken von Zeitungen, 18.12 Sonstiges Drucken, 18.13 Druck- und Medienvorstufe, 18.14 Binden von Druckerzeugnissen und damit verbundene Dienstleistungen, 82.10 Sekretariats- und Schreibdienste, Copy-Shops

## What goes wrong in this trade

- **Machinery breakdown:** A foreign object in the printing unit, a bearing failure, an operating error: spare parts come from abroad and the press stands idle for weeks.
- **Fire:** Paper, solvents, inks and hot dryers under one roof. A fire in a print works spreads quickly through the whole building.
- **Misprints with consequences:** Wrong prices on an insert, a swapped barcode on labels: the customer wants more than a reprint, such as postage and lost sales.
- **Customers' materials:** Finishing, printing on textiles or packaging: if the customer's material is spoilt, its full value is at stake.
- **Hands in the machine:** Guillotines, folding machines and rollers are among the most accident prone workplaces in industry.
- **Print data:** Prepress and the web shop hold customer data. A ransomware attack halts production and raises data protection issues.

**Risk radar** (Compared with other trades, 1 low to 5 high.): Liability 3, Fire and water 5, Theft 2, Cyber 3, Downtime 5, Health 4

## The insurance you need

- **Business liability** (Essential): Covers injury and property damage, including damage to customers' goods during processing and financial loss from printing errors. https://www.nammert.com/en/insurance-broker-business-liability.php
- **Machinery breakdown** (Strongly advised): Replaces printing presses, guillotines and folders after operating errors, short circuits and breakdown, which no contents policy pays for. https://www.nammert.com/en/insurance-broker-machinery-breakdown.php
- **Business contents** (Strongly advised): Covers machinery, paper stock, inks and finished jobs against fire, escape of water, storm and burglary. https://www.nammert.com/en/insurance-broker-business-contents.php
- **Business interruption** (Strongly advised): Pays wages, leasing instalments and lost profit while nothing is printed after a fire or machinery breakdown. https://www.nammert.com/en/insurance-broker-business-interruption.php
- **Cyber insurance** (Strongly advised): Covers attacks on prepress, workflow and web shop, including data breach notifications. https://www.nammert.com/en/insurance-broker-cyber-insurance.php
- **Commercial buildings** (Depends on the business): If you own the building: rebuilding after fire, storm and escape of water. https://www.nammert.com/en/insurance-broker-commercial-buildings.php
- **Cargo insurance** (Depends on the business): For deliveries in your own vehicles and goods on their way to customers. https://www.nammert.com/en/insurance-broker-cargo-insurance.php
- **Group accident insurance** (Depends on the business): Adds to the Berufsgenossenschaft's cover for staff working on guillotines and folders, off duty too. https://www.nammert.com/en/insurance-broker-group-accident.php

## What it costs: example prices

Machinery and loss of income cost the most, because that is where the big money sits. Liability is comparatively cheap as long as you do not print packaging for food or medicines.

| Insurance | Example | Typical range |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Business liability | Copy shop with one or two staff, €3 million limit | about €150 to €350 a year |
| Business liability | Offset printer with eight staff, damage to processed goods included | about €600 to €1,500 a year |
| Machinery breakdown | Printing press worth €300,000 | about €1,500 to €3,500 a year |
| Business contents | Fittings, paper and stock worth €250,000 | about €600 to €1,400 a year |
| Business interruption | Loss of income for twelve months, €500,000 gross profit | about €500 to €1,200 a year |

For comparison: A copy shop's public liability costs about as much a year as two or three printed roll up banners for a trade fair stand.

_Guide prices excluding German insurance premium tax, as of September 2026. The machinery figures are based on published example premiums of about 1 per cent of the sum insured for mobile plant; fixed machinery is usually cheaper. The other values are guide figures from our own quoting work._

- [Bernhard Assekuranz: Maschinenbruchversicherung, Kosten und Vergleich](https://bernhard-assekuranz.com/maschinenversicherung/maschinenbruchversicherung-kosten-vergleich/)
- [BG ETEM: Berufsgenossenschaft Energie Textil Elektro Medienerzeugnisse](https://www.bgetem.de/)

## Our suggestions: three packages

- **Copy shop** (Copy shop and digital printing with a few staff): Business liability, Business contents, Cyber insurance. Together: about €500 to €1,200 a year
- **Print works** (Offset or digital printer with one large press): Business liability, Machinery breakdown, Business contents, Business interruption. Together: about €3,000 to €7,500 a year
- **Industrial** (Printer with several presses, its own building and deliveries): Business liability, Machinery breakdown, Business contents, Business interruption, Commercial buildings, Cyber insurance, Cargo insurance. Together: about €8,000 to €20,000 a year

## The worst day at the print works

Six events printers really know, all on one Thursday. Tap through and see who pays.

- 06:15: A spanner gets into the printing unit. Cylinder and blanket roller are damaged. (€48,000, Paid by: Machinery breakdown)
- 08:30: The press is down for four weeks, jobs go to competitors, and wages and leasing keep running. (€65,000, Paid by: Business interruption)
- 10:45: 200,000 inserts carry the wrong promotion date. The retail customer demands postage and distribution costs. (€23,000, Paid by: Business liability)
- 13:20: The workflow server is encrypted and prepress grinds to a halt. (€16,000, Paid by: Cyber insurance)
- 15:50: During finishing, 5,000 folding cartons supplied by a customer are ruined. (€9,500, Paid by: Business liability)
- 21:40: Solvent soaked cleaning rags ignite and the paper store catches fire. (€120,000, Paid by: Business contents)

**Damage so far:** €281,500

## Practical tips from your broker

- Have damage to customers' goods during processing and financial loss from printing errors named expressly in your public liability.
- Insure presses at replacement value under machinery insurance and report every new purchase straight away.
- Align business interruption with machinery insurance so that downtime after a breakdown is covered too.
- If you print packaging for food or medicines, you need extended product liability including recall costs.
- Store solvents and oily rags in approved containers; the insurer's fire safety conditions are often a precondition for paying out.
- Check your leasing contracts: the leasing company often has to be named as an insured party.

## Why NAMMERT for your business

- **We factor in downtime:** In a print works, machinery breakdown and loss of income belong together. As a broker we compare several insurers and make sure there is no gap between the policies.
- **We know how settlements work:** In boat insurance we handle claims ourselves. That experience helps when loss adjusters negotiate over replacement or repair of a press.
- **One contact for the whole business:** Machinery, building, vehicles, staff benefits and your personal policies all run through us.
- **Family run since 1989:** Like many printers, we are a family business. Our advice costs you nothing; the insurer pays our commission.

## FAQ

### What does insurance for a printing business cost?

A copy shop gets by on about €500 to €1,200 a year. A printer with a large press and loss of income cover usually pays €3,000 to €7,500.

### Do I need machinery insurance if I already have contents cover?

Yes. Contents insurance pays for fire, water and burglary, but not for operating errors, foreign objects or breakdown. In a print works those are the more frequent losses.

### Is a misprint covered?

Your own reprint is not. Consequential losses for the customer can be claimed under public liability if financial loss and damage to processed goods are included.

### Which Berufsgenossenschaft is responsible?

The BG ETEM. This statutory accident insurer is compulsory for every business with employees and has its own rules for guillotines and printing presses.

### Do I have to insure my leased press myself?

Usually yes: the leasing contract requires machinery insurance and the leasing company is named as an insured party.

### Does insurance cover downtime after a machinery breakdown?

Only if business interruption for machinery breakdown has been agreed. Classic loss of income cover often only covers fire, water and burglary.

## 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-printing.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.