# Insurance for opticians and hearing aid acousticians in Germany

> Opticians and hearing aid acousticians work with measuring equipment that costs as much as a car, and customers' hearing aids worth several thousand euros cross the counter every day. On top of that you are responsible for your customers' eyes and ears. This page explains what should be insured and what it costs.

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

## Who pays if a customer falls after we got their prescription wrong?

If the fall can be traced to a mistake in the eye test or in centring the lenses, your public liability pays, as long as your craft work as an optician is covered. The same applies to corneal damage after a contact lens fitting and to hearing damage from a badly adjusted hearing aid. Make sure the policy names each of these activities explicitly.

## At a glance

- **Compulsory:** No statutory insurance requirement; however, contracts with the statutory health insurers and most landlords require liability cover
- **Biggest risk:** Damage to or loss of expensive measuring equipment and customers' hearing aids
- **Basic cover from:** around 80 euros a year for the public liability of a small practice
- **Berufsgenossenschaft:** BG ETEM, the statutory accident insurer for energy, textiles, electrical and media trades, compulsory for every business with employees; you also belong to the Handwerkskammer (chamber of crafts)
- **Often forgotten:** Customers' items in your care: hearing aids in for repair and glasses being adjusted belong to someone else
- **WZ 2025 / NACE:** 47.74 Einzelhandel mit medizinischen und orthopädischen Artikeln

## What goes wrong in this trade

- **Expensive measuring equipment:** Refraction unit, slit lamp, lens edger, audiometry booth: a single drop or power surge quickly costs five figures.
- **Customers' hearing aids:** A pair of hearing aids handed in for cleaning or repair is often worth several thousand euros. If they go missing in the workshop, you pay.
- **Errors in testing and fitting:** A wrongly measured prescription, lenses centred off axis or a contact lens that injures the cornea: all of these lead to liability claims.
- **Burglary:** Designer frames and sunglasses are easy to carry off and sell on; whole displays can vanish in one night.
- **Health data:** Eye test results, audiograms and prescriptions are specially protected data. An attack on your customer records triggers reporting duties.
- **Business at a standstill:** No edger, no glasses; no measuring station, no fittings. One broken machine stops the whole business.

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

## The insurance you need

- **Business liability** (Essential): Covers harm caused by eye tests, contact lens and hearing aid fittings, and damage to customers' items in your care, provided these activities are included. https://www.nammert.com/en/insurance-broker-business-liability.php
- **Business contents** (Strongly advised): Replaces frames, lenses, hearing aids and fittings after burglary, fire, water and storm, including customers' property where agreed. https://www.nammert.com/en/insurance-broker-business-contents.php
- **Electronic equipment** (Strongly advised): Covers measuring devices, the lens edger and audiometry equipment against drops, operating errors, power surges and water. https://www.nammert.com/en/insurance-broker-electronic-equipment.php
- **Business interruption** (Strongly advised): Pays your running costs if a fire or equipment failure means you cannot fit glasses or hearing aids. https://www.nammert.com/en/insurance-broker-business-interruption.php
- **Cyber insurance** (Depends on the business): For attacks on your customer records and online booking, and for handling health data after a breach. https://www.nammert.com/en/insurance-broker-cyber-insurance.php
- **Occupational disability** (Depends on the business): Protects owners whose work depends on good eyesight, steady hands and concentration. https://www.nammert.com/en/insurance-broker-occupational-disability.php
- **Business legal expenses** (Depends on the business): Legal expenses cover for billing disputes with health insurers and for disagreements with landlords or staff. https://www.nammert.com/en/insurance-broker-business-legal-expenses.php

## What it costs: example prices

Liability cover is inexpensive for opticians and hearing aid acousticians. Most of the cost lies in contents insurance and electronic equipment cover for the measuring devices.

| Insurance | Example | Typical range |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Business liability | Optician with one shop and up to three employees | around 80 to 300 euros a year |
| Business contents | Frames, lenses and fittings worth 150,000 euros, burglary included | around 400 to 1,000 euros a year |
| Electronic equipment | Measuring equipment and lens edger worth 80,000 euros | around 300 to 800 euros a year |
| Business interruption | Loss of income for up to twelve months | around 100 to 350 euros a year |
| Cyber insurance | Practice with customer records and online appointments | around 400 to 800 euros a year |

For comparison: For a small optician, liability, contents and equipment cover together cost roughly as much a year as one pair of mid range varifocal glasses.

_Guide figures excluding insurance tax, as of September 2026. The liability figure comes from a public price comparison for opticians, contents and cyber from publicly quoted ranges, and electronic equipment cover from our own quoting practice._

- [betriebshaftpflicht24.de: Betriebshaftpflicht Augenoptiker](https://www.betriebshaftpflicht24.de/betriebshaftpflicht-augenoptiker.html)
- [Versicherungsengel: Kosten der Inhaltsversicherung](https://www.versicherungsengel.de/versicherungen/inhaltsversicherung/kosten)
- [Insurancy: Kosten der Cyber-Versicherung](https://www.insurancy.de/cyber-versicherung/kosten/)

## Our suggestions: three packages

- **Start** (small practice, or a new branch with second hand measuring equipment): Business liability, Business contents. Together: around 450 to 1,100 euros a year
- **Specialist** (optician or hearing aid acoustician with its own workshop and measuring stations): Business liability, Business contents, Electronic equipment, Business interruption. Together: around 900 to 2,200 euros a year
- **All round** (business offering both optics and hearing care, with several employees and digital customer records): Business liability, Business contents, Electronic equipment, Business interruption, Cyber insurance, Business legal expenses. Together: around 1,800 to 3,800 euros a year

## The worst day at the optician

Six losses of the kind opticians and hearing aid acousticians really face, all on one Wednesday. Tap through and see who pays.

- 08:45: While the room is being rearranged, the slit lamp falls off the instrument table. Optics and housing are broken. (€7,500, Paid by: Electronic equipment)
- 10:30: A customer's pair of hearing aids, handed in for cleaning, cannot be found anywhere. (€5,200, Paid by: Business liability)
- 12:15: A customer develops an inflamed cornea after her new contact lenses and blames a faulty fitting. (€6,000, Paid by: Business liability)
- 14:50: Lightning strikes nearby and the power surge kills the lens edger and the measuring station. (€21,000, Paid by: Electronic equipment)
- 15:00: Without the edger, every glasses order is delayed for two weeks and customers go elsewhere. (€6,500, Paid by: Business interruption)
- 23:55: Burglars clear the display of branded sunglasses and designer frames. (€16,000, Paid by: Business contents)

**Damage so far:** €62,200

## Practical tips from your broker

- Have eye tests, contact lens fittings and hearing aid fittings named explicitly as insured activities.
- Include damage to customers' glasses and hearing aids in your care, with a limit that matches what is usually in your workshop.
- Insure measuring equipment and the lens edger at new value under electronic equipment cover, including anything you lease.
- Check the burglary limit for frames: branded stock is quickly worth more than you think.
- Remember home visits to care homes: equipment and work outside the shop must be covered too.
- Agree loss of income cover for equipment breakdowns as well, not only for fire, so that weeks without a workshop are paid for.

## Why NAMMERT for your business

- **We compare the small print on activities:** Whether contact lenses or hearing aid fittings are covered is decided in the detail. As a broker we compare several insurers on exactly that point.
- **We know how claims are handled:** We settle boat claims ourselves. With equipment damage we know that expert reports, serial numbers and service records are what count.
- **Business and private cover from one source:** Your shop, measuring equipment, car and personal protection are looked after together, reachable on +49 3375 29 12 77.
- **A family business since 1989:** Like many opticians, we are owner managed. Our advice costs you nothing; the insurer pays our commission.

## FAQ

### Do I need professional liability insurance as an optician?

It is not required by law. Public liability that includes your craft work covers the typical mistakes in testing and fitting, and you should not be without it.

### What does insurance for an optician cost?

Public liability starts at around 80 euros a year. Adding contents and electronic equipment cover for the measuring devices, small businesses usually pay between 900 and 2,200 euros.

### Are customers' hearing aids covered?

Only if damage to third party items in your care is included. Agree a limit that fits what you normally hold in the workshop.

### Do I need electronic equipment insurance?

Yes, if you have expensive measuring equipment. It also pays for drops, operating errors and power surges, where contents insurance does not.

### Are home visits to care homes covered?

Only if work outside your premises is included. Ask about cover for the equipment you take with you as well.

### Which Berufsgenossenschaft is responsible for us?

For optics and hearing care it is usually BG ETEM, the statutory accident insurer for these trades. Registration is compulsory as soon as you employ staff.

## 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-optician.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.