I have been thinking about getting legal insurance. I already have personal liability and household insurance from Zurich. Yesterday I called them, asking for quote and they sent me one from a subsidiary of theirs / or a related company (not sure which) called Orion.
Have you had experience with them?
Is Orion an insurer you would recommend?
When I compare different insurer plans in comparis.ch, I do not see Orion or Zurich listed there.
Also, I was thinking if it makes sense to have legal insurance under the same company/umbrella where I have other insurance types. And the very reason is that if I have insurance claims one day (hopefully not), asking the same company to cover legal expenses seems awkward and perhaps not quite effective.
On the other hand, I do not like using too many companies for different things. I would prefer to consolidate as much as I can when it makes sense to do so.
I have a similar situation as you. Most of my insurances are with Zurich. Including my legal insurance. It is with Zurich, I pay them. The lawyers they use if you need to use them are Orion I understand, based in Basel.
I did have to use them once to check out a situation for me. Zurich put me on to Orion and I dealt directly with them. It was a small issue and dont think they spent too much time or effort with me, but sure enough I didnt pay anything.
My impression/hope is if they (Orion) felt the issue was bigger you would get more attention.
The cover isnt bad. For about 100 chuffs you get about 250k worth of cover, but its a 3 month lead in time I think. By that I mean if you have a current issue or expecting an issue in the next few weeks, you wont be covered yet. You'll need to have the policy for 3 months before you can use it.
Thanks for the input. I am not having or expecting legal troubles. I just wanted to cover that just in case.
I guess it got a bit more expensive recently. I have the family standard package which has a coverage of 600k, but costs about 300. They do not have a cheaper option and that is without the vehicle legal part.
we use Group Mutuel and have invoked it twice and each time its been great. You call a number, they tell you the legal situation, if you want to open a case they can either represent you in terms of contacting the people in the dispute or they let you say "I want this lawyer" and they do all the paying.
Legal insurance needs to be a separate insurance line (i.e. an insurance company that only provides legal insurance) since cases can often be against insurance companies and then it would be a bit awkward if it is the same company. So you will invariably get a separate insurance contract even if you ask your main household insurer for legal insurance.
I have had legal insurance with CAP since I arrived in Switzerland (for almost 30 years).
Full cover (contractual, transport and home owner) will cost you Fr 399 pa. If you don't need the homeowner cover, it is, of course, cheaper.
For this they will firstly give you *sound* legal advice by telephone. Read this forum where you will find posters asking for advice on insane cases ("my pet goat escaped and ate the next door neighbour's Picasso") and then read the even more insane advice from the many armchair lawyers who respond. Forget that b/s advice, call a *real* lawyer for free. If your case has some basis then they will represent you and even pay for an expert witness and local lawyer to argue your claim.
Over the years, I have used them on around 15 occassions; once for a case that went to the cantonal high court with total costs of around Fr 30k (we won). Other times, simply a letter from the CAP to the other party was enough to settle the case.
If you consider that a 1 hour discussion or 1 letter from the lawyer will cost you about the same as the annual cover, I *cannot* understand why any expat would not sign up for a legal insurance.
I can't give any recommendations for other legaly insurance companies but I can strongly recommend CAP.
As others have said, it makes a certain amount of sense for you legal insurance to be with a company other than where your other insurance is held, just in case you have an issue with them.
My legal insurance is with Protekta and the one time I had to call seriously on them, they were very good, I had a dedicated person dealing with my case and they finally called on an external lawyer, who was also excellent. The case, which was with my health insurance, took nearly 2 years to resolve.
We have legal insurance through corner card. It has been very useful. They are very willing to give advice over the phone as this will obviously cut costs compared to letting a situation escalate. Invaluable advice as to liability and as to which insurance scheme might cover the issue.
Similar here. I wonder if it's the review lemming effect, new small company offers great service, gets top review, everyone switches to them, they have to grow incredibly fast and can't maintain the same level.
Is there any reason a business owner, freelancer, or odd jobs person, etc . should NOT have Legal Insurance. From what I've been reading, the benefits and piece of mind would far outweigh the modest cost.
I hope this isn't considered threadjacking but it seems better asking here than starting a new thread.
Can someone please help me understand the necessity of legal insurance? Just for a private citizen, I don't do any freelancing or work outside of my day job.
I have liability insurance, which I was advised to get by my relocation consultant because I have a dog, and her recommendation was 'if your dog bites someone you will need liability insurance' (and I guess also because I'm in a rental property).
But I've now seen several people talk about the necessity of separate legal insurance, and I don't quite understand what the difference is. Is it only for employment purposes? Or as someone mentioned earlier, 'my goat escaped and ate my neighbour's Picasso' ( ), is it basically the provision of legal advice and services whenever you need?
Based on the response, I may have some misconceptions too. At the moment, Im interested in a few aspects (and maybe more that I haven't considered or known about).
Insurance for:
1. Legal assistance involved with the buying of goods and services as a private individual. Maybe this would apply if I hire a building contractor or maintenance worker that has done a faulty job or used improper materials and I want to pursue some type of recovery.
2. Legal assistance when I am the seller of goods and services. If I sell something on Ricardo and just happen to get a super difficult buyer that wants the world for 1chf and keeps escalating until he's impossibly satisfied.
3. Legal support for violations of motor code, criminal conduct, etc.
Im thinking of the need for legal representation for things that could be very disruptive to financial, family, or living situations,.
My perspective is from US law which might explain some confusion,.