Hi everyone

With the purchase of my new car, I need to sort out my insurance. I never paid that much attention to it with the motorcycle, but when the offers started coming in for the car, I noticed that 1/3 of the cost was liability insurance.

I already have personal liability insurance (up to 5 million) with my girlfriend through AXA. All the quotes coming in are offering 100 million, for about 5-6 times the cost of my existing private liability insurance.

My questions are:
1) Is there some sort of legal requirement to have this higher ceiling with a car?
2) Is there something I'm missing, for example, does private liability insurance normally not extend to motor vehicles or something obscure like that?
3) If the answer to both of the above is no, do any of you see a need to have such a high coverage on liability? I shudder to think of the size of accident that does THAT much damage!

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I'm likely typing from an iPad. Please disregard odd word usage.

As far as I know the Personal Liability Insurance has nothing to do with your vehicle insurance. Vehicle insurance normally cover the third party damages and I am not sure about the ammount - may depend on the provider.

You need to have the personal Liability insurance if you have a Bike (cycle) because recently they stopped doing the velo vignette. Any accident with cycle from now on is covered by your liability insurance.

Private liability and motor insurance are different.

Oh also the Personal Liabilty covers if you beat up someone

I get that. But on my motor vehicle insurance quote, it has a section entitled "Haftpflichtversicherung" and a section "Kaskoversicherung" and a section entitled "Unfallversicherung". Unless I'm missing something, Haftpflichtversicherung would seem to overlap with the Haftpflichtversicherung that I already have.

Personal Liabilty (Privathaftpflicht) insures you as person. Normally there is a clause excluding motor-vehicles / or only very limited use.

Motor vehicle liability insurance (Motorfahryeughaftpflicht) insures your car as a vehicle. W/o insurance no license plate. The insurance will pay regardless who is driving the car as it is bound to the car. It is even possible that no one is driving it. For example car is parked on a steep street, breaks fails, and car crashes in something valuable. A 5 million insurance policy is the minimum according to the law. (Verkehrsversicherungsverordnung)

Anything above is optional and up to you.

PS: Regarding coverage. I do not think you will get much discount when you go from 100 million down to 5 million. The risk for such a high incident sum is very very small. The higher premium is just from the fact that car accidents are very easily in the CHF 2000 and up range. Even a simple fender bender or a scratched door is not cheap.

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What?

Gotcha, that makes sense. Thanks a lot!

A 5 million is generally not possible on a motor policy, 100 Million is the norm> as a Swiss in the US correctly says the personal liability and road liabilities are different things.

If one caused a big motorway pile up and paralysed 50 school kids for example 5 million would never be enough cover and seeing as each of those cases could come at you for care for life the amount is more realistically set at 100 mill.