# Insurance for pet cremation and burial services in Germany

> You collect a family dog from a vet at night, keep it cool, cremate it and hand the urn to people who have just lost a member of the family. For pet cremation and burial services in Germany, the business rests on three things: the van, the equipment and trust. Here is what insurance is compulsory, what protects your business and what it costs.

Quelle/Source: https://www.nammert.com/en/business-insurance-pet-cremation-and-burial.php  
Updated: 2026-10-15

## Does my liability insurance pay if an urn is mixed up?

It depends on the wording. The animal and the urn are goods in your care, and many basic policies exclude those. The material value is small; the dispute is about refunds, compensation and lawyers. Make sure goods in care are expressly included, and protect your process with heat proof tags and photos.

## At a glance

- **Compulsory:** Motor liability for every collection vehicle, by law at least €7.5 million for injury, €1.3 million for property damage and €50,000 for pure financial loss
- **Law:** Pets are exempt from collection by the carcass disposal service if they are cremated in a suitable incineration plant; until then they must be stored protected from the weather (§ 4 (1) TierNebG, Animal By-Products Disposal Act)
- **Biggest risk:** A cremator or cold room breaking down, and a mix-up of animal or urn
- **Basic cover from:** about €250 a year for public liability for a small service without its own cremator, a guide value from our quoting work
- **Often forgotten:** Damage to animals and urns in your care is excluded in many basic liability policies

## What goes wrong in this trade

- **Cremator down:** A fault in the burner or controls stops cremations for weeks. Vets send their work elsewhere while staff and cooling still cost money.
- **Cold room failure:** If cooling fails over a weekend, a dignified handover is no longer possible.
- **Mix up:** The wrong urn with the wrong family is a liability claim and a human disaster.
- **Collections around the clock:** Night drives to vets and homes, heavy dogs, narrow stairwells.
- **Fire on the premises:** Where you work with high temperatures and fuel, fire is a real risk.
- **Disputes about services:** Individual or communal cremation, urn choice, farewell room: misunderstandings end in refund demands and reviews.

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

## The insurance you need

- **Car insurance** (Essential): Motor liability is compulsory for every vehicle. Comprehensive cover makes sense for new or converted vans. https://www.nammert.com/en/insurance-broker-car-insurance.php
- **Business liability** (Strongly advised): Not compulsory, but essential: damage in surgeries and homes, to visitors in your farewell room and to animals and urns in your care. https://www.nammert.com/en/insurance-broker-business-liability.php
- **Machinery breakdown** (Strongly advised): Covers the cremator, cold room and controls against operating errors, short circuits and breakdown. https://www.nammert.com/en/insurance-broker-machinery-breakdown.php
- **Business interruption** (Strongly advised): Replaces lost profit while the cremator is out of action after an insured loss. https://www.nammert.com/en/insurance-broker-business-interruption.php
- **Business contents** (Strongly advised): For fittings, urn stock and farewell room against fire, water, storm and burglary. https://www.nammert.com/en/insurance-broker-business-contents.php
- **Business legal expenses** (Depends on the business): For disputes with customers, authorities and neighbours. https://www.nammert.com/en/insurance-broker-business-legal-expenses.php
- **Cyber insurance** (Depends on the business): For online booking, memorial pages and customer data. https://www.nammert.com/en/insurance-broker-cyber-insurance.php

## What it costs: example prices

Insurers rarely publish rates for pet cremation. The main drivers are whether you run your own cremator, the value of the equipment and your turnover.

| Insurance | Example | Typical range |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Business liability | Collection and arrangement service without own cremator, €3 million limit, goods in care included | about €250 to €500 a year |
| Business liability | Pet crematorium with two to five staff, €5 million limit | about €600 to €1,400 a year |
| Car insurance | Refrigerated panel van, business use, third party and partial cover | about €800 to €1,600 a year |
| Machinery breakdown | Cremator and cold room worth €250,000 | about €1,200 to €2,800 a year |
| Business interruption | Crematorium, 12 month indemnity period, €300,000 gross profit | about €600 to €1,500 a year |

For comparison: Machinery cover for cremator and cooling costs about as much a year as a few days without cremations.

_All premiums are guide values from our quoting work, excluding German insurance premium tax, as of October 2026. The motor liability minimums are set in the Compulsory Insurance Act (Pflichtversicherungsgesetz), the rule on pets in the Animal By-Products Disposal Act (TierNebG)._

- [Tierische Nebenprodukte-Beseitigungsgesetz (TierNebG)](https://www.gesetze-im-internet.de/tiernebg/BJNR008210004.html)
- [Pflichtversicherungsgesetz, Annex: minimum sums insured](https://www.gesetze-im-internet.de/pflvg/anlage.html)

## Our suggestions: three packages

- **Collection service** (Pet burial service without its own cremator, working with a crematorium): Car insurance, Business liability, Business contents. Together: about €1,200 to €2,400 a year
- **Own crematorium** (Crematorium with cremator, cold room and farewell room): Car insurance, Business liability, Machinery breakdown, Business interruption, Business contents. Together: about €4,000 to €8,000 a year
- **Crematorium and online** (Crematorium with online booking and memorial pages): Car insurance, Business liability, Machinery breakdown, Business interruption, Cyber insurance, Business legal expenses. Together: tailored, usually from about €6,000 a year

## The worst day at a pet crematorium

Six things pet cremation services really go through, all on one Monday. Tap through and see who pays.

- 06:40: On a collection run the van slides on a wet road into a parked car. (€4,200, Paid by: Car insurance)
- 09:15: A short circuit destroys the cremator controls; the board has to be replaced. (€9,800, Paid by: Machinery breakdown)
- 09:20: Three weeks without cremations, vets send their work elsewhere. (€21,000, Paid by: Business interruption)
- 11:30: Carrying a large dog, your employee breaks the glass door of a vet surgery. (€2,300, Paid by: Business liability)
- 15:00: A family receives the wrong urn and claims compensation. (€3,500, Paid by: Business liability)
- 22:10: A burst pipe floods the farewell room; floor and furniture are ruined. (€7,400, Paid by: Business contents)

**Damage so far:** €48,200

## Practical tips from your broker

- Have goods in care, meaning animals and urns, expressly included in your liability policy.
- Tag every animal with a heat proof marker and photograph each step.
- Insure cremator and cooling under machinery cover, and downtime under business interruption cover.
- Set up a cooling alarm that alerts your phone.
- Tell the insurer about the van conversion and its business use.
- Record individual or communal cremation in writing with every order.

## Why NAMMERT for your business

- **We read the exclusions:** For pet cremation, what decides is whether goods in care and the cremator are covered. As an insurance broker, Norman Nammert compares the wording of several insurers for you.
- **Van, equipment and business together:** Vehicle, cremator, liability and your personal insurance all run through one contact.
- **Broker since 1989:** A family business, not tied to any insurer. Our service is free for you; the insurer pays our commission. We advise in English.

## FAQ

### What insurance is compulsory for a pet cremation service in Germany?

Motor liability for every vehicle, with at least €7.5 million for injury, €1.3 million for property damage and €50,000 for financial loss. Public liability is not compulsory, but strongly advised.

### What does public liability cost?

Without your own cremator about €250 to €500 a year, for a crematorium with staff about €600 to €1,400, as guide values from our quoting work.

### Is the cremator covered by contents insurance?

Against fire, water and burglary usually yes. Operating errors, short circuits and breakdown need machinery insurance.

### Who pays if the cremator is out of action for weeks?

Business interruption insurance replaces lost profit and running costs if the downtime results from an insured loss.

### May pets be cremated instead of going to the carcass disposal service?

Yes. The Animal By-Products Disposal Act exempts pets from collection if they are cremated in a suitable incineration plant.

## Request quotes

We obtain quotes and come back with a comparison, free of charge. You can write in English. https://www.nammert.com/en/business-insurance-pet-cremation-and-burial.php#anfrage

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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.

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