I think you can cancel if a rate increase is announced.  You will have a time window in which to do so.  I would bet on the rate increasing at least once before the 5 years is up.

Not what you were looking for, but every little escape clause helps. 

Sure, I will watch out for that. But main purpose was to warn newbies not to make same mistake...

I never could imagine such kind of trick might happen in Switzerland!!!

You are welcome, Vitaly!

Main thing is to have open eyes: even in Switzerland!!!

Feel lucky you could be bloked for 10 years ;-)

House insurance can be propose for 1 to 10 years, it s not Allianz to blame but the broker or the agent you deal with.

They are not the cheapest, but about house insurance, there s not a lot of difference with other compagny ( more or less 50 to 100 chf per year from a compagny to an other) if you see  big difference in term of price, be carreful and check if the conditions are exactly the same ( franchise, bonus, coverage...) because it s very easy to sell a price.

Best wishes

Hi Tryky,

start to feel better now :)

I guessed, Allianz itself could not be fault of this, but it is strange to me, that the agency advertising at glocals (!)  would do such kind of things.

In fact, I was quite busy comparing various offers from renowed insurance companies here in CH, and the offer I found was around 20% cheaper and the covarage and liability limits were much higher!

Drop me a message and I can share with you my findings if you are interested!

Cheers

K.

Thanks for posting this, I recently was 'awarded' an apartment and had to have insurance documents.  Because of the very tight timeframe, my relocation agent handled it because they have 'contacts' at Allianz.  She did tell that I was under no obligation to purchase the insurance from them when they contact me, so after reading this I will have second thoughts.  Are there any better alternatives though?

H

Welcome :)

I guess ,if this is urgent for you and you insist, that the Allianz policy is short-term and valid for 1 year only, there shall not be major risks as you would be able to look into alternatives and change the insurance company as you want.

Cheers and good luck!

With Allianz,  the contract term may be for 5 years but you can request the ability for an annual break.  The contract will renew automatically unless you give 3mths notice prior to your annual renewal date.

I suspect the issue is with your broker and not with Allianz.

Hi Daryl,

as I have been explained, there is NO annual renewal date! The renewal day and the 3 months notice is valid only at the expiration of 5 years!!!

And this is what I am awaiting now: how Alliance and the glocals advertised agency in particular will handle this trap!

Hi,

I understood very well what you were saying.

However, i took out my insurance at the beginning of September and I have an annual renewal date, structured exactly the way i explained it.

I don't think Glocals has any issue to answer here.  It was through people like you that my attention was brought to the renewal issue (so thanks for that, andi  think that the thread is useful) however people should be encouraged to use their initiative and to ensure that they get the annual break clause.

Hi guys. All types of insurance in Switzerland are typically for a 5 year term, this is not news. You can terminate the contract sooner if you move out of the country or have a claim ("sinistre" - within 14 days after I think) or have a serious dissatisfaction with them. Another good time to change/renegotiate your contract is when you have a significant change to it such as add/remove items or coverage. Otherwise you're pretty much stuck but again this is Switzerland.

I'm not with Allianz or connected in any way to them, but please do your homework before you start a thread blaming a company for imaginary conspiracy. The way I see it they just do what everyone in the industry does.

Btw I've been working with this insurance broker for a long time:

Vincent Gagliardi / [email protected] / +4122 869 40 10

He works with most insurance companies and he can always give you the top 2-3 quotes to compare and advise you. He saved me a lot of money over the years. I speak French but I think he speaks English as well. I always had a good experience with him and you can use my name if you contact him, but bear in mind that your experience could be different.

Cheers.

Kaspar, 

I'm one of the guys who runs glocals. I am sure that if you wrote to Allianz then they will get back to you, and hope you'll sort things out. 

I don't know the details of your talks with the Allianz agent or details of your contract. But still, 2 quick thoughts re your post:

1. Contract length: I am 100% sure there is no intentional "conspiracy" or "trap" here. I'm willing to bet, even without knowing any details, that when you asked how long the contract is for - which is one of the first questions I would ask - they didn't say "1 year". Maybe there was a misunderstanding in that you assumed all Swiss contracts are 1 year so you didn't ask, and they assumed you'd know it's 5 years so they didn't say it - I don't know. But from that to claiming there was a planned "trap" against you is a long way, and is misleading. 

2. Price:  again, I'm not into the details. But from the bits I know then Tryky is 100% correct: the market is so competetive that no one player is able to offer a significantly lower price unless the coverage is different (or unless there's a group price, like we get for glocals). So if someone offered you a price that is much lower, then the coverage is most probably also lower. 

Folks here also posted some good ideas on how, if you're really not happy with what you got, you can stop the contract.

Last, I think your post title and content is misleading and provocative for no needed reason. When you make such claims you ot only give glocals members the wrong info, but you also make a lot of honest folks who work hard look like crooks, for no reason. 

Nir

Here is what they say on the subject:

The notice periods for private liability and household effects insurance are regulated in the General Conditions of Insurance (GCI) of the particular insurance company.

The insurance contract can be terminated in the following cases:

If the insurance company does not receive the termination letter in time, i.e. latest on the last weekday before the start of the notice period, the contract automatically gets extended for another year.

becarrefull about comparis.ch it was a fantastiv website 3 years ago but since they become insurance broker, they lost what they were made for : objective advice without money interest...

Hi Nir,

thanks for your comments. Please note, that my message is meant for the ones, just arrived and being in similar situation like me one year ago.

And this is my personal opinion and experience which might be different for others.

I strongly believe, however, that anyone should be informed and aware about such kind of, yes, I still call it traps.

Sorry, but no one restricts insurance agent to propose 1 year renewable contract if they believe, their service is all right. Or, if contract is longer, would provide clause fair enough to cancel existing agreement once a year with proper advance notice and not only after 5 years as in my case.

Of course, this is my problem, that I did not consult someone with fluent French in order to understand the finesse in the cancellation clause and I will deal with it. But again, the message is for other folks to be aware.

I also understand your situation for glocals having agreement with this particular agency and their advertisings placed, and negative related feedback from my side. And it has nothing to do with being misleading or provocative: just describing the situation for other folks.

Kaspar:

I have no problem at all with any feedback, good or bad, about anyone who advertises with us. And our advertisers also know that the glocals forums are open to all feedback, good or bad. 

I do have an issue with feedback which uses provocative words to get a misleading message accross, and I believe yours falls into that category. But you disagree, and that's OK. 

In any case, I hope you find a good solution. 

Nir

I have to agree with Nir in this case.  Just because something is an advertised offer on Glocals, it does not relieve the consumer of the responsibility for what he or she signs. 

I know it  is frustrating but we all have to take the time to get a translation (whether  oral or written) in English for any document we sign. 

I  fully  appreciate whatever offers are on Glocals but I research them by talking to other ex-pats to see what they think.  Sometimes the problem lies with relocation agents who have their favorite companies and agents.

@Triky:  That could very well be so about comparis, however, it is one of the few sites that provides some information in  English.

Translator : unfortunatly you re so right...

this kind of thing is extremely common in switzerland; especially in all matters relating to foreigners. and glocals.com is not a benevolent asociation, it is a buisness

There is another forum where  you can find very useful advice on these and other consumer matters, particularly for ex-pats. If anyone is interested, send me a pm.

Answer from Allianz:

Dear all, 

To answer to the post above, we don’t think we “trap” clients as we make sure that all our clients understand what they get from us. 

It is true that most insurance contract in Switzerland are for 5 years (car insurance, house insurance, legal protection, etc…) and this is clearly state with date written on the first page of the proposition. however this is not to “trap” client but to make life easier.

Also with the property market really stuck in here, people don’t move every year and they are happy to know that their house insurance premium is blocked for 5 years.

When we set up an house insurance contract, we make sure that each client has the contract adapted to his needs. For instance the amount of contents that needs to be covered inside house or outside (differ form client to client), if people travel they need the luggage option, etc…

All this is an analysis of each client we cover and, in fact, in Switzerland, people prefer to set this up for a certain time. If they switch address, the contract will follow them, and should be adapted each time there is a change in the house such as a new family member coming, etc…

Also Allianz house insurance price are one of the most competitive in the market,  as Tricky says in his post below: in Insurance you can only compare price when you compare “apple with apple”. There is such difference in each option you can add or take off. What is important is to be well insured according to your needs.

As many glocals members mentioned, you could also add an “annual breaking” option if you would like to change insurance provider every year.  I really do apologize if this is something that you did not know when you signed the contract. However the option can be added at any time in your contract.

Please feel free to contact our glocals team at Allianz and we will make sure that we find a solution the balance of your request and the law that register the insurance contract.

As Nir said below, our team works really hard to make glocals people happy, to write down insurance guide in English, to answer all questions on a reasonable time. We believe this is not fair to post something with an inappropriate title which is not the right image of a company as respectable as Allianz. 

We are always welcome for critics that can improve our team, however we need to make sure that we follow Swiss guideline and Swiss insurance law.

The Allianz glocals team

In my experience (and not to favour any specific insurance company, I work with multiple) I haven't got any issues with my car insurance at Allianz, through Agence Generale Yvon Voland.

The contract is very specified and I know exactly what I get. So far all okay, but again that's also for the other companies.

In the end it all comes down to common sense, like for any contract, just read carefully before signing a document no matter what kind of contract nor what kind of company. And if it's in French just ask them for clarification. In case an insurance rep is not willing to explain in English, now that's the moment where the bells should start ringing

Just my 2 cents.....

Hello fannydelat and thanks for your comments indeed!

As you can see from quite some posts, this question is of interest of number of members and I am happy that final clarifications were provided by Allianz, thank you for that!

It is great to know, that annual breaking clause can be entered anytime. From my perspective it could be easier if this would be inserted by default: and if the customer is happy, why to switch then? So, not a huge risk for Allianz.

Also, I believe, the process description and rights for flexibility as well as other elements of the insurance in English would be very beneficial if posted on glocals and would help to prevent any confusions.

And, again, not to underestimate the value of personal consultancy.

I will write an email to you directly and will be happy to report back to community the related outcome.

"Also, I believe, the process description and rights for flexibility as well as other elements of the insurance in English would be very beneficial if posted on glocals and would help to prevent any confusions." 

If an increasing number of English speakers requested this, it could really help.  Some  Swiss firms don't know how many additional clients they could obtain from this simple measure.  Of course, some other businesses  could care less and even find it to their advantage.