The roads in germany are among the safest in the world. This refers not only to the above-average condition of the infrastructure, but also to the risk protection for those involved in an accident – which can never be ruled out, even on the safest of roads.
The compulsory liability insurance for cars
For a car to be allowed to drive permanently on public roads in germany, d.H., if the driver does not only use it for transit, the car must be registered at the responsible office. This process is also known as admission.
One of the conditions for registration of the car is that the driver must have liability insurance for the car to be registered. Section 1 of the compulsory insurance act stipulates that the owner of a car must take out "liability insurance to cover personal injury, property damage and other financial losses caused by the use of the car".
Motor vehicle liability, as a compulsory car insurance policy, thus serves the purpose of ensuring that the parties involved do not have to waive their rights of recourse in the event of an accident simply because the party causing the accident is financially unable to settle the claims. And he doesn’t need to, because in his place the motor vehicle liability insurance takes over the costs.
The function of vehicle insurance
Liability insurance for cars is therefore about protecting the victims from the risk of being left empty-handed in the event of a car accident, on the one hand, and protecting the driver from the risk, on the other. It is not uncommon for a traffic accident to result in property damage in the five-digit range.
In order to protect the driver from unreasonable recourse claims in such a case, liability insurance for cars also has the function of risk protection for the driver. However, drivers should not blindly trust that liability insurance will settle claims for an unlimited amount of coverage.
The legal amount of coverage
The coverage amount indicates the maximum amount for which the liability insurance is liable. As stipulated in the annex to § 4 of the compulsory insurance act, the minimum legal requirement for the amount of cover is currently 7.5 million euros for personal injury.
The legal amount of coverage for property damage is 1.12 million euros and for other damages of an indirect nature, the liability insurance must be taken out with a coverage amount of at least 50.000,- € stand straight.
Risk protection of the car owner comes first
In order for the driver to be able to take advantage of the risk protection intended by the legislator, it must be ensured that no liability insurance can turn away potential customers. For this reason, § 5 paragraph 2 of the third party liability insurance stipulates that insurers must in principle accept any application for the conclusion of an insurance contract.
Although this is contrary to the principle of private autonomy underlying german civil law. This gives everyone – including the operators of liability insurance for cars – the freedom to decide for themselves with whom they want to conclude contracts and with whom they do not want to conclude contracts.
However, since the legislator believes that the risk protection of the car driver takes precedence, private autonomy is exceptionally restricted here.
compare car insurers and save money
Since everyone who drives a car is dependent on insurance, there is a wide range of insurance agencies on offer: you will find numerous insurance policies on the market at the most varied conditions.
It therefore makes sense to compare the various insurers in order to secure the best conditions. with our car insurance comparison you are guaranteed to find top providers with the best prices. Always pay attention to the coverage numbers, which are unlimited in the best case.