We are moving to Basel April 1, we have a move consultant and insurance specialist through my wife's company who recommend legal insurance. We have never used a lawyer in our lives except for home sale, thought about it, but never pursued. Is this insurance worth the cost. Two options are offered

Private Law Protection Insurance 250000 SFr coverage

Traffic Law Protection Insurance 250000 SFr coverage

Legal Protection Insurance Combination of two above plus Worldwide legal protection same coverage as both above plus 50 k SFr for travel worldwide, at a 10 percent discount of the sum of above two.

What cost ? How much are you paying ??

There are so many things not covered that it really isn't worth it. (e.g. Divorce is not covered)

Also here all the legal costs are automatically awarded to the loser, so if you are certain of your case you can always start proceedings.

I beg to differ on this. At one of my previous employers, I had a tiff with my manager. He then wrote me a very bad Leaving Certificate( Zeugnis ). This was 3.5 years of my life. No employer wanted to take me after that.

I paid an attorney to take this to court, and I had them write me a proper Work Certificate. This cost me almost 9000CHF to litigate.

Every time an attorney lifts a finger. It is 2000CHF+.

Legal insurance is definitely worth it.

neighbour dispute over 2 years long, more than 10k

for 100 francs or so a year.

Bar gain.

It's like any insurance -- it's only worth it when you need it, but don't have it.
If the policy seems OK, and you can afford, then take it.

The "sue you" mentality is slowly heading this way.

Like all insurances it doesn't cover everything. You would be foolish not to take it here, anything legal is extreemly expensive and as an expat what happens at home is sometimes irrelavant here further confusing things. We have ours with Protecta and their advice over the telephone before it gets too involved has paid their premium many times over.

I use ASSISTA from Touring Club Suisse (TCS).

I firmly believe that no expat should be in CH without legal insurance. You do not know the ins and outs of how things work here, and the language in most cases, therefore you have a very large potential to run into legal related problems. This is one of the cheapest insurances you will every pay should you need it !

They have a general legal insurance (Privée in French) and one for any driving related issues (Circulation in French) that are the most used. WELL worth the cost. Have used it in the past for landlord issues with rent increases.

Link German: http://www.tcs.ch/main/de/home/versi...htsschutz.html

Link French: http://www.tcs.ch/main/fr/home/versi...htsschutz.html

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Do or do not, there is no try(ing). Yoda

We always have the legal assistance option through TCS. It's very cheap. At this point I can't remember how much it was (+/-100F per year?). It is very much worth it. As others have said, getting a lawyer is expensive. We used it only once or twice. And it was so worth it if only for the peace of mind to know where you stand.

On the other hand I had to consult a lawyer once and it cost me 400F for the privilege of having the lawyer literally read the text from a book.... Um, yeah. I can do that...

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Definitely get it for traffic law. For private law... depends how much trouble you think you're likely to get into.

You need to really read the small print closely. I looked at loads of policies and discovered that quite a few had fairly low limits of cover for certain areas eg. housing disputes. Given that you can hardly say "gruezi" to a lawyer without getting a huge bill (sorry to any lawyers reading this...) you don't want to find your cover running out in the middle of a court case.

I think it's worth it, because you may never have to use it. Just telling people you have legal insurance makes some problems just go away.

For just a few francs a month it was very useful to me when I quit my job and wanted to know a few things. Well worth it in my view...

It sounds pretty good, as I was being told that I couldn't get discount. I have someting similar, but I don't get discount, so I am paying 295 CHF per year for this. Rechtsschutzversicherung? Is this what we are talking about? Which insurance company are you using?

Any by the way, it is good to have it as a foreigner, specially when your German is not perfect working... 20 CHF something a month makes you feel secured, for me it is.

get it. you'll be glad if you need it.

Hiya,
Please can you suggest a few names/firms? I don't have a clue re how to search or get a quote.
I think I am now interested. Thanks

We use CAP. They were quite helpful when I was in an auto accident.

Here is a link comparing most of the companies.

http://rechtsschutzversicherung-schweiz.ch/

If you do choose this insurance be aware that most companies begin with a 3 month waiting period, during which time you cannot start a claim. This stops you rushing out for insurance just after you have been nicked for a serious crime.

Another point is that many insurance companies sign you up for a 10 year long insurance cover contract. TCS do not, but beware, and tell them to cancel this clause if you don't agree with it.

I would be surprised if serious criminal activity is covered at all!