How Your Car Insurance Protects You Abroad

If you Cause an Accident Abroad

Good to know: If you are traveling within Europe, you can normally rely on your car insurance is valid as usual. This is because motor vehicle liability insurance taken out for Germany automatically includes cover for geographical Europe and the EU states. Otherwise, this must be explicitly excluded from the insurance contract. In this case, your insurance will pay at least as much in other European or EU countries as is contractually agreed, for example, the same amount of cover. Only in cases where a higher minimum amount of cover is legally required in the country where the accident occurred will the insurance pay this higher amount instead. This means that there is no disadvantage for you.

If you are Injured in an Accident Abroad

If you are involved in an accident abroad through no fault of your own, the person who caused the accident or their motor vehicle insurance must pay for the costs you incurred. However, the protection is not complete everywhere.

Even in the European Community, where motor vehicle insurance is compulsory and there are requirements for minimum coverage amounts, it is not necessarily guaranteed that all costs will be covered in the event of a serious accident. For example, while the minimum coverage for personal injury in Germany is 7.5 million euros, in Poland it is 5 million euros. Other EU countries – including popular holiday destinations such as Italy and Greece – lag far behind these amounts. So if you are injured abroad by another driver, their motor vehicle insurance may only cover part of the damage because the coverage amount is too low.

In this case, you can protect yourself with foreign damage protection. It compensates for the difference between the other party’s insurance policy and the actual damage as if your other party had taken out an insurance policy with the same coverage amounts as you. At AXA, this compensation insurance for trips abroad is included in the “Extra Protection” module. You can integrate this into your car insurance very easily and at short notice.

If you are Traveling Abroad with a Rental Car etc.

If you don’t travel in your car, you can now opt for a rental car almost anywhere. But what if you cause damage to someone else’s car? Although you will have motor vehicle liability insurance for this too, the statutory coverage amounts, which are sometimes significantly lower in other countries, may not be enough to meet all compensation claims.
A sensible solution is then the so-called Mallorca policy or Mallorca clause in the motor vehicle liability insurance for your car. This will cover you in the event of an accident you cause with someone else’s car if the coverage amount of the motor vehicle liability insurance taken out for this car is not sufficient. It will then cover the damage not covered up to the contractually agreed coverage amounts. At AXA, the Mallorca policy is always included in the motor vehicle liability insurance. It is valid in geographical Europe and all EU countries.