Protection & safety · Jurisdiction DE

Motor liability and own-damage cover

Motor liability covers harm to others and is compulsory in Germany. Own-damage cover is a voluntary contract for your own car.

In more detail

The Compulsory Insurance Act requires liability cover before a vehicle takes part in traffic. Partial and full own-damage cover are not compulsory. They differ by which harms to your own car the contract names, for example glass damage or a crash you caused. The exact events sit in the conditions, not on a learning page. The German Insurance Association describes the market layers.

Background

Liability cover does not pay for harm to your own car. Own-damage cover does not automatically pay every loss and is not a statement about price. Other countries know compulsory cover for harm to others and voluntary layers under other names. This module stays with the German layers. Finmon names no insurer and no premium.

An example

You damage another car. Liability is the layer that is meant to carry that third-party harm. A dent only on your own car is a question of own-damage cover, if such a contract exists. Two harms, two questions.

A common misconception

With the compulsory policy, your own car is covered in every loss as well.

The duty concerns harm to others. Harm to your own vehicle needs its own contract, and that contract has limits too.

Source: Pflichtversicherungsgesetz (PflVG), § 1. Last reviewed: 2026-10-29. Editorially reviewed on 2026-10-29. Next review 2027-10-29. Version 0.2.0. Finmon explains. It does not advise. Not investment, tax or legal advice.