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Finding a French Insurance Company

As part of the purchase process of your French idyll, you will need to organise insurance cover.

Sometimes, because of concern about language, international buyers foolishly obtain insurance cover from an insurer in the UK (or other home country), when you will generally get a cheaper price by going direct with an insurer based in France. If you need help with language, then better to seek it out.

To get French house insurance, you can go to a local agent or broker, but you may also want to do some prior investigation over the Internet.

The various approaches are as follows:

• Insurance Agent – An insurance agent (agents généraux/agent d’assurance) will act on behalf of an insurance company in connection with the distribution of their products. Their advantage is that they may be local, and you can discuss and modify more easily the precise terms of the insurance cover. However, you will not be offered a choice of insurance companies, and their rates are likely to be more expensive than going direct.
• Insurance Broker – A broker (courtier) is not mandated by a single insurer although they may be tied into to only a few insurers, so you will not necessarily get the lowest or best quote on the market. As their income is commission based, you also need to be careful you are not being offered a policy the scope of which exceeds your requirements.
• Mutuelles – These are non-profit making cooperative based insurance bodies, operating under the umbrella of Groupement des entreprises mutuelles d'assurances (GEMA). They hold around 40% of the market. Their members include Macif, Mae, Maaf, MFA, Matmut.
• Banks – A number of the banks (bancassurers) have either created their own subsidudary insurance companies, or signed an agreement with an insurer, to offer insurance to their clients. Thus, there is Pacifica/Credit Agricole, Banque Populaire/Maif, Société Générale/CGU, and Credit Lyonais/Allianz. As a rule their policies compare with those of the mutuelles, but they are less flexible in personalisation of the contract.
• Insurance Companies – There is nothing to stop you going direct to the main insurance companies, although surprisingly few French citizens do so, perhaps put off by the lack of personal contact, as they are obliged to either obtain the insurance over the phone or via the internet. Companies include, Generali, Aviva, Groupama, Gan, AIG, and AXA
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• On-Line Insurers – Insurers offering a service exclusively on-line, which may be either affiliated to one or more of the main insurers, or a dedicated subsiduary of a insurer. Thus, the insurance company Groupama has launched Amaguiz.com, whilst the mutuelle Macif has also launched idmacif.fr, although this currently only offers car insurance. The indications are that these on-line insurers are offering very attractive rates, although you will need to read the small print.

Alternatively, look through your local French yellow pages under Assurances and you will find several pages of insurance companies and agents!

Whilst, in theory, you can take out an insurance policy over the Internet, in reality most people surf the net to find comparative quotes, and then go and talk to a local agent or broker.

Moreover, most on-line insurance applications are limited to those with a certain profile; if you present unusual circumstances, and/or you are a high-risk client, then most Internet sites are unlikely to process your application.

Some insurance are also reluctant to broadcast too readily to their competitors their premium levels, so may require that someone making an enquiry on the Internet makes contact with a local agent to obtain final details.

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In all cases you will be asked to complete a questionnaire (proposition d’assurance), which will enable the insurance company to evaluate the level of risk and the premium payable.

The insurance company is then obliged to provide you with a clear written explanation (in French of course!) of the premium payable, the guarantees, and the manner in which they operate.

As might be expected, it is essential that you provide information that is correct and do not commit error by omission, failing which you may well not be covered in event of claim, or have the contract cancelled by insurance company.

So, once the contract is signed by both parties, then the contract is valid.

At the best of times, insurance companies anywhere in the world seek to minimise their risk, and this applies in no small measure to France, where procedures are often very strict and policies often narrowly interpreted.

You are going to need to try and understand some of the detail of the policy, or risk not fulfilling the qualifying criteria should you need to make a claim.

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The consequences of an inaccurate or false declaration depend on the level of intent in the declaration and its materiality as determined by the insurer.

Where you can demonstrate that it was an accidental error then, if the error is picked up by the insurer, or yourself before a claim, then you may be asked to pay an increased premium. Where it the error is found following a claim, then the level of the compensation may be reduced.

In the case of deliberate false declaration then the policy can be nullified, as though it had never existed. Where the insurance company has already paid out on a policy, then they can seek full reimbursement.

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If you need immediate cover you can obtain provisional cover through a note/lettre de couverture, although the insurance company is not obliged to offer it to you.

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All contracts will contain an excess charge (franchise), which is the responsibility of the insured party. The excess may be a fixed sum, or a percentage of the indemnity, or mix of both.

It is sometimes possible to negotiate the level of the excess, so that for a higher excess figure the premium is reduced, and for an extra payment you may be able to remove an excess altogether.

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Next: Types of House Insurance Cover

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