ECA (as in eca-vaud.ch)

Finance, Taxes, Banking, Insurance and Retirement
21
ECA paid quickly for the hail damage we had in June 2013. Large window and a few window blinds needed replacement. That alone is going to cover our premiums for 50 years or so ...

22
Hi everyone,

I have a question about ECA. I just moved to VD from ZH and discover it is apparently a legal obligation to have a household insurance for fire and natural catastrophe coverage with the cantonal insurance institution ECA. The thing is I already have a contract with an insurance company in ZH and my contract runs until 2020. Does anyone know if it is possible to terminate the contract with the insurance company in ZH on the basis that I would have double insurance otherwise?

Cheers

23
If you have RC insurance it's not the same as the ECA insurance. ECA is for fire, floods, etc which is normally excluded for RC.

24
Thanks @miniMia for the answer.

Yes, as far as I know, RC = third party liability insurance.

Well, when I was in ZH, I had third party liability insurance (= RC) and household insurance (to protect against fire, natural catastrophes, etc...) split under 2 different subsections but under the same insurance contract with the same company. Now, that I am in VD, if I get ECA, then I will be paying twice for the fire & natural catastrophe subdivision of the household insurance piece. Hence, back to my original question, does anyone know if it is possible to terminate the contract with the insurance company in ZH on the basis that I would have double insurance otherwise?

Cheers

25
How about calling your insurance agent? I think it should be possible to exclude those risks covered by ECA and reduce the premium. The agent should also be able to tell you what risks are not covered by ECA, like theft for example.

26
Ah. I've only ever lived in Vaud. So I didn't know you had a second policy for basically what EVA covers.

I would imagine that you should be able to cancel unless your ZH cover is on top of the ECA cover.

As SwissinuS says, best to check your contact and call your insurance.

27
Thank you @miniMia and @aSwissInTheUS for your answers.

I generally only try to contact insurance agents as a last resort as I know, from my experience, that they dont always say the truth because they want to keep you and make you pay as much as possible.

Let's see if someone finds an answer to my question...

28

What has this got to do with speaking with them ?

You speak with the, you ask them questions, you make your own decision once they left and you can check everything.

I think you'll find Zurich are obliged to cancel the coverage directly as the ECA is a legal obligation in Vaud, but check with your agent, what else can he do except say continue to pay and are you necessarily obliged to follow this advice

Send an email to ECA and ask them, they don't bite.....

29
You'll probably find that your previous household insurance policy in Zurich covered fire/flood damage. Contact the insurance company explaining that you've moved to Vaud and that fire/flood is now covered by ECA. They'll adjust your existing policy accordingly. As others have explained, the ECA is a good deal and you'll almost certainly end up paying less in total.

30

It's not household you need to remove but Natural disasters and fire their is a difference....

Your household insurance (Zurich) will try to base their quote on your fire insurance declaration (ECA) which is total rubbish as in a fire or flood EVERYTHING will be destroyed, but a burglar will never steal your kitchen table or sofa !!

If ECA insurance is say Chf 500'000.-- you probably need not more than Chf 100'000.-- for household insurance

31
I currently get two bills from the ECA, one for the building (our house) and the other for the contents. If you're renting you won't see the former as it's included in your rent or embedded in the charges. Obviously the two bills are for significantly different amounts.

32
Hi everyone,

So, I only need the contents part (we are 2 people in a 4.5 rooms apartment which we rent). I'm considering putting the same value of about 75k CHF for both Zurich Insurance (covering theft and escape of waters) and ECA (covering the fire and natural disasters). I guess I could put a little less for Zurich Insurance but I dont want them to tell me that I'm under insured.

1. Does that make sense?

2. Is 75k CHF for my criteria realistic?

3. Any ad'hoc input?

Cheers

33
A colleague of mine told me that you can be "overinsured" as well, ie. if you put too high of a value, you won't get that much, so did you do you math that you actually have 75K worth of personal stuff? Do keep in mind, if you request 75K, you'll be paying a higher premium than if you did a lower value.

When I went to the the ECA office, I asked if I have to insure things that do not belong to me, like the fridge and stuff in the bathroom and they said I don't.

34
I'd strongly recommend that you get in touch with ECA directly - they're actually quite easy to deal with. They have a lot of literature about their services in English, and staff who speak English who can advise you on your specific questions far more accurately than well-meaning EFers :-)

35
Bad advice. If your stuff is worth 500k and you insure it for 100k you will only get a fifth of your damage claim, because you insured all items for a fifth of its true value. You can only reduce the insured sum when you insure specific items like all the paintings, electronics, bicycle, and jewelry but nothing else.

36

maybe, but with ECA it is fire damage and all gets destroyed, yet with houshold it will be theft and not all gets stolen.

Nobody will steal my sofas, but they may steal the TV which would be fully covered

37
However the insurance company will repay only the pro-rata on the total estimated value of all the goods. So if you have 100000 worth of goods, insure it for 50000 (so 50%), have 10000 worth stolen or destroyed, you'll only get 50% of the damage (5000).

38
When you rent an apartment it's only you who takes care of it and you have to return it at least in the same condition as you took it. If natural disaster happens your landlord may feel sorry for you but will expect to get back the apartment in a proper condition and certainly will send you a bill for all the damages.

Hope that helps. Otherwise I would really like to see an apartment filled with personal stuff worth say 80k. Right, someone might keep valuable art but how many of us do? And if I'm wrong let me know To be honest, I have way too many things in my apartment than I need but if I'd calculate the value based on new purchase it would be max 15k including all the Ikea furniture.

39
Actually it is the otherway round. The landlord has an obligation to provided the tenant an apartment in working and good condition. If a natural disaster happens the landlord must fix the issue or the tenant can reduce rent (by following the procedure set by law, which means first writing a registered letter with a deadline, if it passes w/o any action opening an escrow account with rental court and than pay the withheld rent into it)

Same when a burglar breaks into the flat. Damage on the property is the landlords problem and they have to fix a broken window or door at their own cost ASAP.

But then you have only insure the TV specifically, and exclude the sofa specifically. It is a huge difference if you insure everything for a fifth of its value vs. insure only a fifth of all stuff. In the first case you will only get a fifth of any damage in the second you will get the full damage but only for the stuff you insured. If you are underinsured this will have an impact on any claim and it could be even insurance fraud if you claim more than you are entitled too.

https://www.beobachter.ch/versicheru...-hausrat-teuer

40
But this is in the cast of total loss (fire, natural disaster) and here i fully agree the contents need to be insured for 100% or 110% of the value, however in the case of theft ithink it is different.

If my TV gets stolen, i report it, the insurance company pays out, there isd no way i will lose 100% of my possesions through theft however through fire and natural disaster is almost certain 100% loss

They are 2 very different and seperate risks, and thus the insurance coverage is different too.