Hi there,
Forgive me, if I ask this without searching fully for my answers first. I have tried...
I have been living here for 2 years this August (with my Swiss Partner and daughter) and had a fairly large scale shock back in 2009 when I first became aware of the cost of all the various insurances we had to take out... Health, Building Contents, Illness, Liability (Self employed) etc...
I know Switzerland is not cheap compared to the UK for these kind of things - but I am beginning to think that the Combined Yearly amount of CHF16,000 is may be too much.
I know I have not given the full details of how much cover I have taken out within each area - but I would like to know if there is an Independent Advisor / Agent here on EF that can advise me / my family in English if there are any other alternatives that are lower in costs...
Any help is appreciated...
Thanks in advance.
Ben
(happy weekend to you all)
Switzerland has a reputation for order, decency and an almost obsessive desire for security. The Swiss are, for example, the most heavily insured nation in the world - a fact reflected in the number of insurance and re-insurance businesses based in the country - and have the highest per capita insurance spend. These characteristics permeate every aspect of Swiss life and also percolate down to the business level.
http://www.worldbusinessculture.com/...ess-Style.html
Health will depend on your deductable, I keep mine at 2000/yr, and save 200/month.
But, yes, if you have two people at 300/deductable, with semi-private, plus a child, you are already at 1100-1200/month just for health insurance.
Tom
We are 2 with health cover, 2 motorbikes and a car on fully comprehensive cover, and home contents and the total is around 10k. Not self-employed so can't help on that. For us the biggest is health care, and here we have kept the costs down by taking the biggest deductible possible (2.5k each).
Hope that helps.
We're with Helsana - due to my partner having already been with them through her illness from 7 years ago - so got stuck with them - but got a slightly better deal, my deductable is 1'500 a year and we're all in for under 900.00 a month. So may be we got a good deal after all ?
Ben
Thanks Geneva Sculler,
We have No car(s) or motorbike (not yet) - the Liabilties for personal and work with the illness cover are were things get expensive me thinks...
I never had these kind of insurances back in the UK - especially the accident cover and when i got knocked over by a cyclist (on the pavement) which broke my hip and led me to not be able to work for 3 months meant those months were very tricky indeed...
Ben
Also to remember that insurance/road tax are pro rated, so if you take a vehicle off the road for part of the year, you don't pay for that period.
Also, two vehicles can share plates, so, for example, my 999R has a plate for April-September, my SS/ST2 have a shared plate from May-October, my 2 LeMans have a shared plated year round, and my XV250 is registered year round.
Tom
Accident is either provided by your employer (if you are employed), or by your health insurer (CHF 12/month) if you are not employed (family members, kids, etc.)
Tom
Hi Ben I would be happy to take a look at all this for you, see if you could be getting better service and save some £££
Best,
David.
I have had excellent service and advice in flawless English from a chap called Marcus Vinti -
http://www.glocals.com/guides/biz/Ba...surance-Group/ .
He arranges all forms of insurance, and has saved me money. I would recommend him without hesitation. Based in the Zurich area.
Hi There,
When I used to work as an IT contractor 5 years ago I was a member of the local "Self-Employment Club" and they had a deal with KPT for loss of income insurance. We paid 1,400 pa for an income coverage of about 100K after 3 months. Perhaps you can find a similar club in your area.
Jim.
PS - Our club died, but the insurance option went on for years afterwards as KPT was happy to keep renewing the offer...
For a couple of 2, we pay:
470chf for household insurance (up to 110k chf) + theft outside up to 4k + private liability (at Mobiliar);
670chf for car insurance (private liability + accident, no casco; with Zurich Connect), car is an old Audi A6;
72chf travel insurance (with UBS credit card);
2160chf health insurance for me (2500chf franchise) at Assura + 3920chf for my wife (300chf franchise + accident insurance) at Atupri;
10chf velo vignettes
All together 7300 CHF.
hi David...
I have already Pm'd you - but have just come across 2 Insurances that we have for our Kollective and even my Swiss Partner is not able to explain to me why we have these.
- Kollektive Krankenversicherung (CHF 1'700.00 a year)
- Freiwillige Unfallversicherung gemäss UVG (3'800.00 a year)
Can you or others shed some light as to what each of the above means?
Thanks in advance.
Ben
It will cost a little more but I would move away from Assura. They are known to be one of the worst providers for health insurance. You may also get a small discount on having both policies with Atupri.
Try placing ur car insurance as well with Mobiliar and ask them if it saves money. As Mobiliar is a cooperative they return unused profits to their members in the form of premium discounts the following years. And car insurance holders are normally the first to benefit.
Thanks for the tips swissAussie,
I only use Assura for the obligatory insurance, as each provider is legally obliged to cover exactly the same, aren't they? I never go to the doctor anyway, I just need the cheapest thing there is, so Assura fits the bill.
Another story with my wife's insurance - she uses hers a lot. We're very happy with Atupri's service, although they wouldn't offer a discount for insuring both of us. Atupri is not that much more expensive than Assura so I might move next year.
As for car insurance with Mobiliar, I got a quote 300chf worse than with Zurich Connect, but that might be because of a different bonus level they were willing to offer. I'm at the top bonus level with Zurich at the moment.
Thanks for your info - I just went through all the various insurances we have and it adds up to just over CHF 18'000 a year - this is what we're covered for - and if anyone thinks they can help us reduce this amount then fantastic - NB. Health Insurance will have to stay with Helsana for my Partner & Daughter due to previous health history - I can move mine...
Kollectiv Krankenversicherung @ 1'670.00
covers 2 people @ 65'000 each - 100% a year each after 90 days.
Win Professional - Haftpflichtversicherung @ 302.50 (liability)
Unfall versicherung @ 3'638.00
covers 2 people @ 65'000 each - 80% a year after 3 days.
Win Professional - Sachversicherung @ 482.67 (equipment value)
Health Insurances @ 980.00 a month x 12 = 11'760.00
Home Contents Insurance @ 600.00 a year. upto 150'000.00 in value
GRAND TOTAL: CHF 18'453.17.
Is this a Good Deal ?
Thanks once more to all those contributing. Much appreciated.
Ben Fernandes
Hi Ben,
Seems to me as
Kollectiv Krankenversicherung @ 1'670.00
Unfall versicherung @ 3'638.00
Win Professional - Sachversicherung @ 482.67
are all because of the fact you're self employed. Still, not knowing what they are you might be paying money and never taking advantage of them, even if you could (in a case of being knocked over by an uninsured cyclist, for example).
First I would recommend to contact the person who sold them to you and find out why and how these are useful, and if they are obligatory.
For basic stuff as household and health insurances, do the research yourself - use www.comparis.ch and read around. I'd rather avoid advisors, as they tend to advise what's best for them (commision) instead of what's best for you. By the way, you can still move out of Helsana for the obligatory insurance, while leaving the additional insurances in place. Not knowing what your coverage is, it's hard to say whether you are getting a good deal or not.
It sounds you might be "over"insured, however that depends on what level of risks you are willing to expose yourself to.
health insurance might be the biggest one, if you have a private plan with a low deductible - it can easily be 600/mth for your area. do you need that?
of course there is also comparis.ch where you can compare health insurance plans, based on your age, ZIP code, ... -
you can bring down the 16k by
- looking into competitor insurers
- decreasing coverage
i don't see another way?
That all depends on who the advisors are; we certainly will actually talk people out of cover they don't need. Selling something for it's own sake is bad for one's reputation and business if you're in it for service and the long haul. There are many products I could talk to people about right now that, in the current climate, I would tell them to avoid like the plague!
Comparis on such a range of complicated products is little use as, although it might give a price guide, the terms and product cover differs extensively. Comparing apples with apples it ain't and in fact they are getting kickbacks from the highest pushed and "featured" advertisers too; It is a useful tool but not impartial.
Thanks to everyone and to Saint for the recent quote. Un know to me until just this week - we are stuck in our contracts until Dec 2012. So some advise, do your shopping around, get everything explained and ask for how long the contract is - before igning anything.... Obvious I know -
Cheers
Ben
Moderator, please close this thread. thanks