Other kinds of Insurance and useful vocabulary

Life insurance 

Known as assurance décès in France, this is a protection-only contract designed to provide financial support to beneficiaries if the insured person dies. It is different to assurance-vie (life assurance), which is primarily a savings and investment product. 

Assurance décès involves the payment of regular premiums in return for a guaranteed payout, usually a lump sum, if death occurs while the policy is active. It is commonly used to protect family members, cover funeral costs or secure loan repayments. Premiums depend on age, health and risk factors, and medical information is often required. The policy has no cash value during the insured’s lifetime.

Garden insurance

Home insurance policies do not cover damage in your garden unless you specifically have ‘garden cover’ (garantie jardin). This is offered as an optional extra and will increase your insurance premium. It covers damage to your garden in such an event.

It may also cover damage caused by storms or weather conditions, but usually only to the natural environment itself (such as trees, plants, bushes etc). Alongside damage to plants and natural features, it may cover destruction of fences and walls by humans, animals, and the weather. Policies generally do not cover objects temporarily placed inside a garden, such as furniture or a vehicle and will often not cover damage to sheds (or items inside).

Swimming pools are not covered under garden insurance and require their own separate cover.

Swimming pool insurance 

Where in the US it would largely be considered essential, swimming pool insurance in France (l’assurance piscine) is not obligatory. It covers only the swimming pool itself, not swimmers, and usually limits claims to strictly defined situations – damage to the pool, or pool house, caused by a storm, fire or theft are usual cases. Claims for accidental breakages are also usually covered.

To cover yourself against claims from people who injure themselves using your pool, or from the relatives of people who drowned in the pool, you need what is called a garantie responsabilité civile du propriétaire civile, which is almost certainly included in your household insurance contract.

Ski insurance 

While medical treatment and hospital stays are reimbursed for people covered by the French healthcare system, a ski accident can generate significant additional costs. These may include mountain search and rescue operations, transport, upgraded hospital accommodation, damage to equipment, and compensation claims from other skiers.

Before purchasing ski insurance, it is advisable to review existing cover. Home insurance policies often include responsabilité civile (third-party liability), which covers damage caused to others, but not injuries or losses suffered by the policyholder.

Winter sports coverage, known as assurance ski, may be included with bank cards, supplemental health insurance, or home insurance, or purchased separately. It typically covers rescue costs, equipment damage, and vehicle repatriation if the insured cannot drive.

Note that most policies exclude off-piste skiing - dedicated coverage is required, often subject to specific conditions.

Q&A

Reader Question: I receive a lot of cold calls about protection juridique. What is this and do most people have it?

Protection juridique is an insurance that grants access to support in the case of legal problems, including disputes between neighbours or with a business or, for example, if you are facing a divorce.

It provides help from a specialist legal service, either by telephone, email or post, as well as payment of costs, such as lawyers’ fees, a bailiff’s report and court costs.

It is not mandatory - while it often exists as part of a package (it is included in many home and car insurance policies, for example), you can also take out a standalone protection juridique policy which, depending on the contract, might offer a wider range of cover.

Useful vocabulary

assurance (f.) – insurance

assureur (m.) – insurer

assuré(e) – insured person / policyholder

un contrat d’assurance – an insurance policy

une prime d’assurance – an insurance premium

une cotisation – a contribution / premium payment

une garantie – cover / guarantee

une franchise – deductible / excess

une indemnisation – compensation / payout

un sinistre – a claim / loss event

une déclaration de sinistre – a claim notification

responsabilité civile (f.) – third-party liability

plafond de garantie (m.) – coverage limit

exclusion de garantie (f.) – policy exclusion

bénéficiaire (m.) – beneficiary

capital assure (m.) – insured sum

valeur à neuf (f.) – replacement value (new-for-old)

vétusté (f.) – wear and tear / depreciation

rachat (m.) – policy surrender / withdrawal

attestation d’assurance (f.) – insurance certificate

résiliation (f.) – policy cancellation