Car insurance: optional guarantees and all-risk insurance

Verified 02 July 2021 - Directorate for Legal and Administrative Information (Prime Minister)

If you are a driver of a motor vehicle, you can take out optional insurance in addition to the compulsory insurance. Compulsory insurance is used to compensate third parties, while optional guarantees are used to compensate you for injuries or damage to your vehicle. The rules apply regardless of your nationality and the length of your stay in France.

The guarantee all risks allows you to be compensated for all damage to your vehicle, regardless of the type of accident and regardless of your liability as a driver.

This warranty allows you to be compensated in the event of a collision with another vehicle, pedestrian or animal, when the pedestrian or owner of the vehicle or animal is identified.

So if the other vehicle has escaped and disappeared, you will not be able to be compensated.

Likewise, if the collision with a wild animalThere will be no refund.

With the subscription of this guarantee, you can receive compensation in case of theft or fire that corresponds to one of the following values:

  • Value of your vehicle on the day of the accident
  • Fixed value provided for in the contract from the outset

In case of theft, the compensation will be paid to you within a certain period, specified in the general conditions of the contract.

If the vehicle is found before the end of the period and the payment of the compensation, any damage caused by the thieves will be refunded to you.

Please note

the insurance may require you to install prevention equipment or systems (for example, engraving the registration number on the windows or installing an alarm).

This warranty allows you to be compensated for damage to the windshield. It may also apply, depending on the contract, to the following other glazed elements:

  • Side windows
  • Rear window
  • Roof glass
  • Lights for headlamp optical units
  • Exterior mirrors

This warranty allows you to be compensated in case of damage to your vehicle caused by the storm.

In case of underwriting this warranty, you will be compensated if material damage is caused to your vehicle by a natural disaster: earthquake, avalanche, floods, tidal wave for example.

The application of this guarantee depends on the publication in the Official Journal of an inter-ministerial decree establishing the state of natural disaster in the area concerned.

This warranty is intended to compensate you for damage caused to your vehicle by industrial accidents.

The application of this guarantee depends on the publication of a natural disaster order in the Official Journal. The order specifies the areas affected by the damage and the period during which it occurred. The insurer will not be able to apply the frankness.

This guarantee allows you to be compensated in the event of an accident, if you are a driver and your liability is involved in the accident, or if there is no designated person responsible.

Warranty packages vary by contract and can cover, for example, the following risks:

  • Illness (medical, surgical, pharmaceutical, hospitalization and prosthetic expenses)
  • Temporary incapacity
  • Disability
  • Death

This warranty covers you in case of damage or disappearance of objects (personal or professional) transported in the vehicle.

Some additional warranties may also be offered, including the legal protection or support and troubleshooting.