Insurance contract

Insurance company

An insurance company (or insurer) is the contracting party that is obligated to provide benefits to a policyholder in the case of an insured event. In our comparison, you will find premiums from insurance companies that provide an online premium calculator.

Insured event

It is considered an insured event if the facts of the case meet the criteria that generally create a liability on the insurer's part to pay benefits or entitle the policyholder to receive compensation.

Insurance benefits

As an integral part of the insurance policy, the insurer undertakes to provide benefits should the insured event occur. Benefits within the scope of contents insurance are linked to the damage event (indemnity insurance). They may be disbursed in cash or compensated in kind (e.g. legal advice or representation in court by the insurance company's own employees). They also include profit distribution as well as conversion values and surrender values from prematurely terminated contracts.

Insurance protection

This describes which kind of coverage applies for whom, what, where and for how long. When the insurance company accepts the application, the insurance protection becomes final. It is set out in the policy when the insurance protection for the individual benefits expires. If you stop paying premiums prematurely, coverage lapses fully or in part according to the terms and conditions regarding the type of insurance concerned.

Proviso

The insurance provider may limit or even fully exclude certain risks / partial risks from coverage by imposing a proviso (or qualification).

Tip: Check whether your insurance contract / policy contains any provisos.

General Conditions of Insurance

The General Conditions of Insurance (GCI) contain the provisions applicable to all contractual parties. They are an integral part of the insurance contract. Insurance providers must adhere to the Federal Act on Insurance Policies (VVG; not available in English) when defining the GCI, which must then be approved by the competent supervisory authority, the Federal Office of Private Insurance (FOPI). This rigorous control guarantees that the policyholder's interests are respected in any event. Since the GCI constitute an integral part of the insurance policy, the insurance companies must make them available to prospective policyholders for their application.

The GCI of many insurers are also available on the Internet, i.e. you can download and read them any time.

Ask your insurance provider to explain any phrases that you may find unclear or incomprehensible in order to avoid nasty surprises in the event of a claim.

Effective date

The effective date of a contract (also start or inception of contract) is agreed upon in the insurance contract and written down in the insurance policy.

Term of contract

The term of contract (or contract duration) is specified in the insurance contract. It is possible to subsequently change the duration and possibly certain parts of the contract.

Tip: comparis.ch recommends to agree on as short a contract duration as possible to avoid being bound to one insurance for several years. As an alternative, it is also possible to arrange for an annual right of cancellation with the insurance company in order to remain flexible.

Negligence

Our civil law assumes that everybody may expect a certain measure of care and mindfulness from his or her fellow human beings. This means that every policyholder is obliged to exercise due care. If such understood rules for the prevention of damage are culpably violated, this may result in a reduction of the insurance benefits. When somebody causes damage because he/she has not exercised the average amount of care, this is referred to as negligence.

Gross negligence

It is considered gross negligence if there is a severe breach of the generally applying duty of care. If such conduct leads to an event of damage or loss, this may result in a reduction of the insurance cover.

Risk

The term 'risk' refers to the likelihood of the occurrence of an event that causes an insured loss. When and how such an event happens is uncertain and incidental. If the insured persons are unable to influence the likelihood of the occurrence of the insured event and the amount of loss, this is considered an objective risk.

The term subjective risk refers to the dangers that depend on the insured persons' behaviour. These are risks whose occurrence and amount of damage can be influenced by the insured persons themselves.

Violation of the duty of disclosure

Any person who wilfully makes false or incomplete statements about the risk or the property insured violates the duty of disclosure. In the event of damage, the insurance company may fully or partially reject a claim.