# Insurance for laundries and dry cleaners in Germany

> Every day your rails hold valuables that are not yours: suits, wedding dresses, furs, hotel linen. One wrong programme, a mix up at the counter or a dryer fire, and you owe your customers. Add solvents that can contaminate soil and groundwater. This page shows what you should cover and what it costs.

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

## Does my insurance pay if a garment is ruined during cleaning?

Only if damage to customers' items you treat is expressly written into your public liability policy, because items you work on are excluded in basic tariffs. The insurer then pays the current value, provided you made a mistake. If the care label was wrong or the fabric already damaged, you are often not liable. Clauses that limit your liability very heavily do not always stand up in court.

## At a glance

- **Compulsory:** No insurance is required by law. Dry cleaning machines using solvents are, however, subject to strict environmental rules
- **Biggest risk:** Customers' items damaged, mixed up or lost, and fires in dryers and ironers
- **Basic cover from:** about 250 euros a year for public liability for a small drop off shop, including damage to items you treat
- **Statutory accident insurer:** BG ETEM, the Berufsgenossenschaft for the textile and fashion sector; membership is compulsory once you have employees
- **Often forgotten:** Customers' items in the contents policy: if there is a fire at night, the clothes in your shop are not yours, but they are your problem
- **WZ 2025 / NACE:** 96.10 Wäscherei und chemische Reinigung

## What goes wrong in this trade

- **Shrunk, discoloured, torn:** A cashmere coat on the wrong programme, sequins come off, a lining runs. Damage to items you treat is the daily argument at the counter.
- **Mixed up or gone:** A suit is handed to the wrong customer or never turns up again. That is damage to property in your custody, which many policies only cover if agreed separately.
- **Fire in the dryer:** Lint and oily towels from beauty salons can ignite by themselves. Dryer fires are among the most common major losses in laundries.
- **Solvents in the ground:** Older dry cleaning machines used perchloroethylene. If solvent gets into the soil or groundwater, the clean up becomes very expensive.
- **Machines at a standstill:** If the big washer extractor or the ironer breaks down, the hotel linen piles up. Contract penalties and lost customers follow.
- **Heat, steam and chemicals:** Burns on the ironer and press, skin problems from cleaning agents, heavy lifting: the work is physically demanding.

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

## The insurance you need

- **Business liability** (Essential): Covers damage to items you treat and, if agreed, lost or mixed up customer items plus environmental damage from solvents. https://www.nammert.com/en/insurance-broker-business-liability.php
- **Business contents** (Strongly advised): Replaces fittings, supplies and customers' items in the shop after fire, burst pipes, storm and burglary. https://www.nammert.com/en/insurance-broker-business-contents.php
- **Machinery breakdown** (Strongly advised): Washer extractors, dry cleaning machines, ironers and presses are expensive and break down through operating errors or short circuits. https://www.nammert.com/en/insurance-broker-machinery-breakdown.php
- **Business interruption** (Strongly advised): Pays wages, rent and lost profit while the plant is out of action after a fire or machinery breakdown. https://www.nammert.com/en/insurance-broker-business-interruption.php
- **Fleet insurance** (Depends on the business): For collection and delivery vans that pick up and return linen from hotels and practices. https://www.nammert.com/en/insurance-broker-fleet-insurance.php
- **Cyber insurance** (Depends on the business): For your till, customer records and order management, without which nobody knows which item belongs to whom. https://www.nammert.com/en/insurance-broker-cyber-insurance.php
- **Business legal expenses** (Depends on the business): For disputes with customers over compensation, with landlords and with machine suppliers. https://www.nammert.com/en/insurance-broker-business-legal-expenses.php

## What it costs: example prices

The premium depends heavily on the business: a drop off shop with a small cleaning unit pays little, a commercial laundry with hotel clients considerably more. Machine values, turnover and the value of customers' items on the premises are the main factors.

| Insurance | Example | Typical range |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Business liability | Dry cleaner with counter, one to three employees, including damage to treated items | about 250 to 600 euros a year |
| Business liability | Commercial laundry with 15 employees and hotel clients | about 1,200 to 3,500 euros a year |
| Business contents | Fittings and customers' items worth 60,000 euros | about 250 to 600 euros a year |
| Machinery breakdown | Cleaning and washing machines worth 120,000 euros | about 600 to 1,500 euros a year |
| Business interruption | Loss of income for up to twelve months after fire or machinery breakdown | about 200 to 700 euros a year on top |

For comparison: Public liability and contents cover for a small dry cleaner cost roughly as much per year as cleaning forty men's suits.

_Guide figures from our own quoting experience, excluding German insurance premium tax, as of September 2026. Comparison sites rarely give fixed premiums for dry cleaners, because turnover, machines and solvents vary so much. We obtain the exact quote for you._

- [VersicherungsCheck24: Betriebshaftpflicht für Textilreiniger](https://www.versicherungscheck24.de/berufshaftpflichtversicherung/textilreiniger/)
- [Online Vergleich Versicherung: Betriebshaftpflicht Reinigung](https://www.online-vergleich-versicherung.de/betriebshaftpflichtversicherung/betriebshaftpflicht-reinigung/)

## Our suggestions: three packages

- **Counter** (drop off shop or small dry cleaner with a few machines): Business liability, Business contents. Together: about 500 to 1,100 euros a year
- **Cleaner** (dry cleaner with its own plant and up to ten employees): Business liability, Business contents, Machinery breakdown, Business interruption. Together: about 1,500 to 3,500 euros a year
- **All round** (laundry with hotel and practice clients, delivery vans and order software): Business liability, Business contents, Machinery breakdown, Business interruption, Fleet insurance, Cyber insurance. Together: about 5,000 to 11,000 euros a year

## The worst day at the dry cleaner's

Six things that really happen at laundries and dry cleaners, all on one single Tuesday. Tap through the day and see who pays.

- 08:20: A customer collects her wedding dress. The beadwork has come loose during cleaning and the fabric is stained. (€2,400, Paid by: Business liability)
- 10:05: A made to measure suit has vanished, apparently handed to another customer. The owner wants it replaced. (€1,600, Paid by: Business liability)
- 11:40: Solvent leaks from a faulty pipe on the cleaning machine and seeps into the soil of the neighbouring property. Expert report and clean up. (€65,000, Paid by: Business liability)
- 14:15: The control unit of the large ironer burns out. The machine is down for two weeks and the hotel linen has to be sent elsewhere. (€14,000, Paid by: Machinery breakdown)
- 16:50: Because of the breakdown a hotel client leaves, and the income is missing for months. (€18,000, Paid by: Business interruption)
- 22:30: Oily towels ignite in the dryer. Shop, fittings and the customers' items on the rails are covered in soot. (€75,000, Paid by: Business contents)

**Damage so far:** €176,000

## Practical tips from your broker

- Have damage to customers' items you treat expressly included and agree a limit that matches your most expensive pieces.
- Check that lost and mixed up customer items are covered too, not only damaged ones.
- Include other people's property in the contents policy, otherwise the customers' items are exactly what is missing after a fire.
- Include environmental liability and environmental damage cover if you work with solvents now or did in the past.
- Never put towels from beauty and massage businesses away without cooling them, and record the cool down cycle; it lowers the fire risk and helps with the claim.
- For delicate items, warn customers in writing about the risks before you accept them, for example when the care label is missing.

## Why NAMMERT for your business

- **We read the exclusions for customers' items:** Whether damage to treated items and items in your custody is covered decides every second argument at your counter. As a broker we compare exactly these clauses across several insurers.
- **We know claims settlement from our own work:** In boat insurance we settle claims ourselves. After a dryer fire with other people's items on the premises, we know which lists and records the insurer needs.
- **Machines, shop and vehicles together:** Liability, contents, machinery, business interruption and delivery vans are coordinated by us, so there are no gaps between the policies.
- **A family business since 1989:** Our advice costs you nothing; the insurer pays our commission. You have fixed contacts who know your business.

## FAQ

### Does a dry cleaner have to be insured in Germany?

There is no legal obligation. Without public liability that covers damage to treated items, though, you pay for every damaged customer item yourself.

### How much do I have to pay for a damaged garment?

Usually the current value, not the price new. A five year old coat is worth considerably less than when it was bought. Very strong limits on liability in your terms and conditions are often invalid.

### What does insurance for a dry cleaner cost?

For a small dry cleaner with a counter, liability and contents together are usually between 500 and 1,100 euros a year. With machinery insurance and business interruption, correspondingly more.

### Are customers' items insured in a fire?

Only if other people's property is included in your contents policy. Public liability usually does not pay after a fire, because you are not liable without fault.

### Which statutory accident insurer is responsible?

For laundries and dry cleaners it is BG ETEM. It will get in touch as soon as you register your first employees.

### Does the insurance also cover the delivery service?

Damage at the customer's premises and during loading and unloading belongs in public liability, the vehicle itself in motor insurance. Linen in transit is often only covered with a goods in transit clause.

## 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-laundry.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.