Motor vehicle hull insurance
What is comprehensive insurance?
With comprehensive insurance, you can insure yourself against the financial consequences of damage to your own vehicle. It is not mandatory, but about 85 percent of all car drivers have comprehensive insurance.
Benefits of full and partial comprehensive insurance
Partial comprehensive insurance covers the costs of damage to your own vehicle. It specifies exactly which events are insured. These are, for example, damage caused by
- Collisions with furry game
- Breakage
- Vehicle theft/attempted burglary
- Theft/damage to accessories
- Hail/Storm
- Flood
- Fire
In addition to the benefits of partial comprehensive insurance, fully comprehensive insurance compensates for other damage to your own car, for example damage after an accident you have caused yourself. It also covers the costs of vandalism damage such as scratched paint or a dented door.
Deductible in comprehensive insurance
Insurance customers can also agree on a deductible with the comprehensive insurance. In the event of a claim, the customer then assumes part of the costs himself, for example 150 euros or 300 euros – this can also influence the amount of the premium.
The no-claims discount in fully comprehensive insurance
If the insurance customer has no accidents or damage for many years, this can reduce premiums. The insurers refer to this as the no-claims discount. This means that they grant the customer a financial discount – depending on the number of claim-free years.
An example: If a novice driver concludes a contract for the first time, he usually pays more premiums for motor vehicle liability and fully comprehensive insurance than for a contract that has already been accident-free for many years. The influence of a certain no-claims class on the premium varies from insurer to insurer. Special classifications of an insurer, for example through so-called "discount protection", are also only taken into account on a company-by-company basis and cannot be transferred to another insurer. (No-claims discount briefly explained)
What does gross negligence mean for hull?
As a rule, motor vehicle hull insurance only has to pay for part or not at all for the damage caused to the vehicle if the policyholder caused the damage through gross negligence. The insurer can reduce the benefit on a pro rata basis. The severity of the negligence is decisive.
Examples of gross negligence are driving under the influence of alcohol and running a red light. Gross negligence also plays an important role in other lines of insurance.
What are the consequences of drinking and driving for car insurance?
Anyone who has more than 0.3 per mille of alcohol in their blood is considered relatively unfit to drive. The only exception: For under 21-year-olds and for novice drivers in the probationary period, there is an absolute ban on alcohol, i.e. 0.0 per mille. However, the relative inability to drive only applies if there are other indications such as alcohol-typical driving errors, speech difficulties or impaired gait.
Consequences for motor vehicle liability insurance:
The motor vehicle liability insurance of the drunk insurance customer always covers the damage of the traffic victim. The traffic victim does not go away empty-handed even if the driver has driven under the influence of alcohol.
Anyone who causes an accident under the influence of alcohol can be taken into recourse by their motor vehicle liability insurance, in principle up to a limit of 5,000 euros. The limits of recourse are regulated in the Compulsory Motor Insurance Ordinance.
Consequences for partial or fully comprehensive insurance:
The comprehensive insurer can already reduce benefits in the event of relative inability to drive.
By the way: There are providers on the market who waive the objection of gross negligence. However, this does not apply to damage caused under the influence of alcohol or drugs or when the vehicle is stolen.
Download: Insurance for motor vehicles (PDF brochure)
source : What does partial and fully comprehensive insurance do? (dieversicherer.de)