Does car insurance cover veterinary costs in Switzerland?

I have had a few close calls with deer and foxes when driving home at night and on one occasion nearly hit a dog on the loose. I don't imagine vet costs in Switzerland are cheap, so I want to know if my Swiss car insurance covers the expenses of treating an animal I hit.

Hi there,

Whether the animal injured or killed by your car is a domestic or wild animal is the key factor in determining if and how you are insured.

Compulsory Swiss liability car insurance covers liability for the cost of injuries or death inflicted on animals by cars when the driver is at fault.

If the owner of a domestic animal is at fault - because they did not exercise due dilligence in protecting their animal - the car's owner and the animal's owner share liability. In most cases, you as the driver are responsible for two-thirds of costs, while the animal's owner is responsible for one-third of costs.

In the case of collisions with wild animals, damages to your car will only be covered if you have semi-comprehensive or fully-comprehensive car insurance.

Semi-comprehensive car insurance generally covers damages caused by collisions with wild animals as long as you provide a wild animal collision damage assessment report issued by the police or a game warden. Contacting the police or game warden when a collision occurs is a legal requirement.

If you manage to avoid an animal but your car incurs damages in the process, those damages will only be covered by fully-comprehensive car insurance (which includes collision insurance) because you will not receive a wild animal collision report.

Best regards from Moneyguru

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