Insurance
Insurance in Spain for Expats who want cover in English
You have most likely reached our website because you are looking for insurance of some sort. Well, you have come to the right place!
Insurance Cover Spain is a company founded with the sole purpose of providing cover to foreign nationals living or moving to Spain. With our years of experience in everything Spain, and our fantastic levels of cover from a trusted provider, with excusive offers for our clients.
Now that we have covered all the ‘buzz-words’, what kinds of insurance can we offer you and what are thy for specifically?
If you are unfamiliar with the healthcare system in Spain, there are two main ways to access medical care via GP’s, specialists and of course accident & emergency.
Primarily we have the public healthcare system (Sistema Nacional de Salud), which is likely similar to any other public healthcare service you may be familiar with. In Spain however, you are only entitled to public healthcare if you are working or have worked in Spain. Your entitlement is subsidised by your social security deductions from your wages, self-employment fees, or your pension.
Due to this limitation, certain people do not have access to health cover, and therefor chose to insure themselves privately, which gives you access to our next topic; the private healthcare system.
In the private system, we essentially refer to medical centres, physicians and hospitals that are not run or owned by the Spanish state. These centres are privately owned and work together with insurance companies to provide care to patients who are insured with one of the collaborating companies. Naturally, one also has the option to attend private centres without insurance, by simply paying for the services, but that’s never a good idea, as healthcare is very costly.
This is where we come in, as one of the largest insurance providers in Spain, our healthcare cover will open the doors to thousands of healthcare centres and services nationwide.
Life insurance does essentially what is says on the tin, it insures your life. To be more precise, this cover normally constitutes being insured for a relatives or individuals of your choice to receive a pay-out of a lump sum, in the event of your demise.
Of course, this is a subject no one likes to think, let alone talk about, but it’s an important topic, nonetheless. By having your life insured, you are not thinking of yourself, but your family and friends. In the unfortunate event of your death, you may leave more turmoil behind than just the emotional side, finances can have a tremendous effect on those you leave behind, be that due to debts, mortgage payments or even funeral costs, providing you don’t also have a funeral insurance plan.
By thinking ahead and obtaining life insurance, you can rest assured that you are removing financial stress from those you may leave behind, as finances shouldn’t be a factor or a cause for distress at such a time.
Another on-the-nose name, as most insurance covers are, home insurance insures your house, apartment bungalow, whatever it may be. In essence, what you are covering here is your building structure and the content within it, as well as other modalities such as fire, water, and electric appliance damages, which is a no-brainer for any homeowner, even more so if you own multiple properties.
Home insurance, while not mandatory in most cases, is something every homeowner should have, as the costs associated with the maintenance and repair of your abode can be detrimental, should something occur to it or the content within it.
If you rent your property out, it’s even more important to have adequate cover, for which we even offer special landlord – tenant policies, not only covering your home but also the reality that sometimes, we can make a bad choice when choosing who to rent to, with damages or unpaid rent being one of the biggest concerns.
Travelling is amazing, that’s one thing we can all agree on. Visiting new places, exploring new cultures and ways of life, leaving your mundane day-to-day at home without a care in the world. But what if something goes wrong before or during your trip? That’s where travel insurance comes into play!
Travel insurance protects you and your fellow travelers from a wide array of problems that may occur. From issues such as the loss of theft of your luggage or cancelations, right up to health cover while abroad and pay-outs for disability or death as a result of an accident while abroad. Our covers also include less thought of aspects such as repatriation in the event of demise while away and other less morbid things such as early return and additional expenses that arise as a result of an incident.
Naturally, no one hopes to encounter problems while traveling, but this is something that is sometimes out of our hands, so adequate cover is a must, both for peace of mind, and to circumvent additional costs that may arise in the event of something occurring on your journeys.
Everybody knows what car insurance is, most likely because it is a legal requirement in the majority of the world.
If you drive a car, you need to be adequately covered for damages you may incur in the event of an accident or collision. In Spain, the minimum legal requirement is for you to have insurance to cover the damages of third parties, but you can also cover your own damages, both to your person and your vehicle.
Our covers come with some cool additional features too, which you can read more about on our car insurance section.
Essentially the exact same as car insurance, motorbike insurance is simply a specific vehicle insurance but for your two and three wheelers.
It is a legal requirement in Spain for your motorbike to be insured for at the very least personal and vehicle damages to third parties, but our covers do go beyond that, should you wish to cover your own pride and joy as well, so that your damages are also covered, letting you rest easy while on the road.
Dental healthcare is often overlooked, as we often only go to the dentists for treatments when something bad happens, rather than for regular check-ups and preventative treatments.
Many delay or avoid going to the dentists due to the associated costs, given that most treatments are not covered by the Spanish public health system. This can be detrimental to our dental health, with infections and diseases becoming more likely.
Our mouth and teeth are just as important ad the rest of our body, and that’s where our unrivalled expat dental insurance comes into play. For a minor cost, you can be fully covered for most dental treatments, check-ups and aesthetics, with huge discounts on others. So, with us, there will be no reason to delay visiting your local dentist and keeping your smile at it’s best!
Spain is possibly one of the most pet-friendly countries in the world, both due to the climate and a general love for animals, big and small. With over 40% of Spanish households owning at least one pet (some 20 million, the majority of which are dogs, followed by cats), it’s no wonder that pet insurance is commonplace here.
Our pets deserve the very best, but not only when it comes to food and toys. Their health and wellbeing is by far the most important thing to consider. In the event that our littlest family members become ill, we spare no expense to make sure they are back on their feet (or paws) as soon as possible.
Veterinarian expenses can be detrimental to owners when it comes to more complicated problems, which is why pet insurance is a must for anyone who owns pets, especially if you own more than one. The last thing an owner wants to hear is that they cannot afford vital treatment for their pet, which could mean the difference between keeping them alive and well… not.
As horrible as these eventualities are to consider, you always should, because our smallest family members deserve nothing but the best for the joy, they bring int our lives.
Another slightly more morbid topic, that most prefer not to discuss or think about.
Similar to life insurance, funeral insurance is pre-emptive in the sense that you are considering financial aspects that would fall to your family and friends in the event of your demise. Only here, what you are covering specifically, is the cost of your funeral. It is well known that over the years, the costs associated with funerals have increased, both due to inflation and due to aspects relating to land plots for graves and memorial headstones and so forth. On average, a funeral can cost upwards of €3000, a financial burden for your friends and family that you can plan ahead for while you are young
Naturally, should you wish to insure both your life and your funeral separately, this is always an option, as this serves to remove even more financial strain from those you leave behind.
What if you want to return to your home country to be put to rest after your demise? Well, we have special policies just for that, including repatriation which would make an otherwise already expensive process even more costly and stressful, something we naturally would not want to put our friends and relatives through in this already difficult time for them.
When running a business here, you should always find out what kind of insurances you should have based on your activities. While it is not always legally required for business owners to have insurance, depending on the business of course, it’s certainly something that most should have.
When talking about business insurance as a whole, it relates to cover for your activities, your products, your offices, warehouses, workshops, whatever it may be. With this in mind, it is always best to have someone like us asses your business, to determine what covers may suit your needs, as the variety of jobs that exist and covers to go with it is far too large for us to list.
No matter what you do, be that mechanics, online sales and marketing, property agencies, the list goes on, you need to be adequately insured both for yourself, and the people you do business with, to cover the liabilities you may incur as a result of a mistake or an accident, as well as to cover your property and your product, should that apply to you.
This is an insurance that can sometimes be confusing, as it is often included in other policies such as vehicle and business insurances. Nonetheless it is actually a policy that can be taken out independently on an individual basis to cover you in the event or legal suits or claims for damages in events not covered by your other insurances.
A typical use-case for this type of insurance is for self-employed individuals who do not otherwise have a business location, thus not usually needing a specific business insurance. Nonetheless, a third-party may seek damages for negligence, which will imply legal costs for yourself, as well as loss of business due to the engagements, not to mention compensation, should it apply. This is where civil liability insurance comes into play, to cover the damages and costs associated with the above.
Naturally that is not the only scenario where this kind of cover can be useful, but it is a very good example.
And much much more…
There are many different insurances that we can provide with different options within them, above and beyond the above listed. If you can’t find the kind of insurance you are looking for on our product pages, just get in touch with us with your query and we’ll happily advise you on how we can help.
Your Legal Obligations to Have Insurance
In Spain, there are certain instances where you are legally required to have insurance, we touch on this a little during our breakdown of the products we offer.
Some instances in which you are legally obliged to have insurance:
Vehicle insurance: You are legally required to have at least third-party insurance to drive any motor vehicle in Spain. Third-party signifies that the damages, both personal and to vehicles, is covered by your insurance. Additionally, things like civil liability must be included in this policy, but that always is in this level of cover.
Home insurance: If you are a homeowner with your property linked to a mortgage, the law in Spain dictates that the property must be insured for the value of the property itself. Content and other additional modalities are not mandatory in this instance.
Dangerous dog insurance: In Spain, if you have a dog clarified as potentially dangerous, you need to be insured for the liability of your dog, as well as being in possession of the correct paperwork for the dog and licenses to own them. This essentially falls into the civil liability sector of insurance but there is a specific policy for these instances, which we can set you up with, should you require it.
In most other cases, while insurance is not mandatory, it is certainly recommended for the simple reason of covering costs in the event of damages, liability, legal action, permanent disability, or death etc.
Our Provider – Caser Seguros
Our insurance policies are provided by Caser Seguros, while being issued and managed by us. That means that your insurance company as our client would be Caser however, as your agent, you could choose to contact us or them directly with queries.
Caser Seguros was founded in 1942 in Madrid and has been a leading insurance provider in Spain for decades now, with more than 2 million clients, over 1600 staff and 2300 affiliates and a wide array of exclusive centres as well as other Caser branded services such as health & dental clinics, elderly care centres and even financial services.
We trust their products, that’s why you can put your trust in us. Both Insurance Cover Spain and Caser are there for you, when you need us most. With friendly sales, customer service and claims departments, that speak your language.