Property insurance
Machinery, goods, fittings: property insurance replaces your working assets at replacement-as-new value after a fire, water damage or theft.
Two minutes is all it takes: tell us who you are and what needs covering. We come back with compared quotes.
The essentials
Property insurance, often called contents insurance, protects everything that keeps your business running: machinery, installations, goods, furniture and fittings installed in your premises. It responds in the event of fire, water damage, burglary or machinery breakdown, and generally pays out at replacement-as-new value, meaning the cost of replacing the item.
A Vaud particularity: contents must be insured against fire and natural hazards with the cantonal insurance establishment. The private contract complements this for theft, water damage, machinery breakdown or all-risks extensions. Coordinating the two properly prevents a risk from being insured twice, or not at all.
The classic trap is underinsurance: if the sum insured is lower than the actual replacement value of the contents, the payout is reduced proportionally, even for a partial claim. A regularly updated inventory and a sum revised after every significant investment protect you from this unpleasant surprise.
What this insurance covers
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Fire and natural hazards
Fire, smoke, lightning, explosion, then storm, hail or flooding: the foundation of any property insurance, taken out depending on the canton with a private insurer or the cantonal establishment.
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Burglary and robbery
Goods, equipment and cash stolen during a break-in or a robbery, including the damage caused to the premises by the burglars.
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Water damage
Leaking pipes, sewer backflow or overflowing installations: frequent claims that affect stock, machinery and fittings alike.
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Machinery breakdown
Technical failure of a production machine or installation: material defect, operating error, short circuit. Valuable when production relies on a single machine.
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All-risks extensions
Beyond named perils, cover extends to sudden and unforeseen damage, dropping, tipping over, mishandling. Useful for IT and mobile equipment.
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Goods in transit
Your goods and equipment remain covered between your sites, at your clients’ premises or at an exhibition, a frequent blind spot in standard contracts.
Who it is for
- Workshops and manufacturing businesses whose machinery carries the activity.
- Shops and restaurants: stock, fittings, display windows and professional kitchens.
- Offices, practices and fiduciaries: IT equipment, furniture and tenant’s fittings.
- Tradespeople who move tools and equipment between the depot and their worksites.
- SME tenants who have invested in fitting out their premises.
How we support you
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Analysing your risks
What you have, what is missing, what overlaps: an honest assessment.
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Competitive tenders
Several insurers approached against a precise specification, compared item by item.
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Long-term follow-up
Set-up, renewals, claims: a single point of contact, year after year.
Frequently asked questions
What does a company’s property insurance cover?
It insures the movable assets of the business: machinery, installations, goods, raw materials, furniture, IT equipment and fittings installed by the tenant. The basic perils are fire and natural hazards, burglary and water damage; depending on your needs, machinery breakdown, all-risks extensions and goods in transit can be added.
What is underinsurance and how can it be avoided?
Underinsurance occurs when the sum insured is lower than the replacement-as-new value of the contents. The insurer may then reduce the payout proportionally, even for partial damage. To avoid it: keep your inventory up to date, insure at replacement-as-new value and revise the sum after every significant acquisition. We check this point at every renewal.
Is fire insurance compulsory in the canton of Vaud?
Yes. In the canton of Vaud, buildings and contents alike must be insured against fire and natural hazards with the cantonal insurance establishment. The private contract complements this base for theft, water damage, machinery breakdown and other extensions. The rule varies from one French-speaking canton to another, we coordinate the cantonal and private parts for you.
Is machinery breakdown cover worth it for an SME?
It all depends on how reliant you are on your equipment. If a production machine, an oven or a server carries most of your activity, its failure costs far more than its repair: late orders, waiting clients. Machinery breakdown cover pays for the damage itself; combined with business interruption cover, it also pays for the income lost during the stoppage.
Also worth exploring
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Jules Rossier, non-tied insurance intermediary within the meaning of Art. 45 of the Insurance Supervision Act (ISA), registered with FINMA under no. F01581788.