A useful car insurance comparison starts with what the law requires. In Switzerland, only motor liability is compulsory. Casco is a choice. There is no single official premium, as there is for health insurance. In its 2025 insurance market report, FINMA records CHF 4.082 billion in land-vehicle casco premiums, up 5.6%, and CHF 2.687 billion in land-vehicle liability premiums, up 2.5%. Those totals describe the market. They are not your premium.
A comparison then lines up profiles. The car, the drivers, the place, the deductible and claims already reported all change the price. A satisfaction score says how policyholders rate their company. It does not say what you will pay in Geneva or Lausanne. The car insurance page remains the advice page. This article is the method, the legal caps and the surveys published in 2026.
What the law makes compulsory
Article 3 of the Vehicle Insurance Ordinance sets the minimum cover. Insurance must meet the injured party’s rights up to CHF 5 million per event, for bodily injury and property damage together. That floor has applied since 1 January 2005. It rises to CHF 10 million if the vehicle carries 10 to 50 people, and to CHF 20 million above 50 seats.
The Swiss National Insurance Bureau says the great majority of Swiss policies go much further, in general at least CHF 100 million, according to the Federal Roads Office. A policy at the legal minimum and a policy at CHF 100 million are two different scopes. For a private car, the gap rarely shows in ordinary use. It matters if a claim exceeds the sum written in the contract.
Without an insurance certificate, the motor-vehicle office will not register the car. If the premium stays unpaid, the insurer can suspend cover and report it. The circulation permit can then be withdrawn. Liability pays for damage to other people, other vehicles and property. It does not repair your own car, and it does not pay your own injuries when you are at fault.
The Swiss Insurance Association noted on 12 September 2025 that more than 6.5 million vehicles are registered in Switzerland. The premium is calculated on the risk. An insurer may use a criterion when it has a statistical basis: the vehicle, the driver, the place, the use, the claims history. There is no single federal bonus-malus scale. A claim-free record with one company does not travel automatically, at the same percentage, to another. The new certificate shows how that record is read.
Partial casco and full casco
Casco covers the insured vehicle. The ordinance does not require it. Partial casco usually targets damage the driver did not cause: theft, fire, natural events, a collision with an animal, broken glass. That list is not federal. The contract names the risks included and the deductible for each. Glass is set out on the windscreen page.
Full casco adds collision, including when the insured driver is at fault, and often parking damage. A lease or a loan can require this casco. The requirement then comes from the lender, not from the law. On a recent car, the repair bill weighs more than one year’s premium. On an older car, the residual value can make collision casco of little use. The comparison is on the insured value and the deductible, not on the label alone.
Other lines are sold alongside, and they do not stand in for each other. Breakdown assistance repairs, tows and helps you continue the journey. It does not pay liability towards a third party. Traffic legal protection handles a dispute: a challenge, a licence withdrawal, a purchase or a repair. Occupant insurance, where it exists, covers injuries to people carried, on its own terms. Temporary insurance covers a short period. It does not replace the annual policy this article compares.
What FINMA measured for 2025
The two lines together are 20% of Swiss non-life insurance. Casco is 12.1% of gross premiums, motor liability 7.9%. FINMA notes that, according to the Federal Statistical Office, the number of vehicles put into circulation fell by 2% between 2024 and 2025. The premium rise is therefore not explained by a larger fleet. The report draws a reading from that: the insured value per vehicle rose, and higher rates could be applied.
The claims ratio tells the other half. In casco it moved from 81.7% in 2024 to 76.5% in 2025, 5.2 points lower. FINMA explains this by a lighter weather-claims burden, despite the Blatten landslide. In motor liability the ratio rose from 39.8% to 47.9%, 8.1 points higher. At the same time, electronic components make repairs more expensive, and premium adjustments followed.
The Swiss Insurance Association describes the same movement from the workshop side. Driver-assistance systems reduce some serious accidents, and they make a minor impact more expensive: a mirror with sensors is not replaced at the price of an older mirror. Inflation in parts and wages adds to that. 2024 had already been a heavy claims year. These points explain a trend. They do not set the percentage your insurer will apply to your policy.
Who saw a premium increase
On 16 June 2026, bonus.ch published a survey of more than 1,600 motor policyholders. The Mobiliar result page for the same June 2026 wave specifies 1,683 participants. Over two years, 69% say their premium rose: 41% call the rise slight, 28% call it sharp. 31% noticed nothing.
The regional gap is clear. Italian-speaking Switzerland reports increases for 78%, of which 35% are judged sharp. French-speaking Switzerland is at 70%. German-speaking Switzerland is at 65%. People aged 30 to 39 are the most affected, at 77%. People aged 60 to 69 are less so, at 64%, while still a majority. Among Mobiliar respondents, 48% report an increase. Among Zurich respondents, 86%. These are statements by policyholders, not those companies’ official tariff.
Few people moved. 12% changed insurer during the past year, and 88% stayed. Service quality is the first reason for staying, cited by 41%, ahead of the premium (32%) and the benefits (19%). A missed cancellation deadline concerns only 8%. Among those who left, the premium became the main reason: 53% in 2026, against 40% in 2025. A competitor’s offer falls, from 18% to 11%. Buying a vehicle does too, from 22% to 18%.
Insurers’ explanations land poorly. 13% of respondents say they understand them fully, 45% in part, and 42% little or not at all. In French-speaking Switzerland, 45% are in that last group. Even so, 62% consider that their premium still matches their profile (23% “yes”, 39% “rather yes”). 38% think otherwise. People aged 30 to 39 are the most critical: 49% find their premium barely or not justified. By contrast, 75% of those aged 80 and over find it justified or rather justified.
Asked which criteria should weigh most, policyholders put the claims history first (37%), then driving behaviour (28%) and the driver profile (21%). Vehicle type comes next (13%). Place of residence is almost ignored (2%), although it often enters the real tariff. What respondents want and what the insurer’s grid uses do not match.
Three satisfaction surveys, three rankings
The same bonus.ch release gives a satisfaction score out of 6. The Swiss average is 5.2, rated “good”. The stated gap between providers is 0.4 points. Mobiliar is at 5.5, rated “very good”, and bonus.ch says it holds first place in its ranking for the 15th year in a row. Elvia, TCS and Vaudoise are at 5.3. Allianz, AXA and Smile are at 5.2. The release does not publish a score for every company beyond this group. The full table is on bonus.ch.
| Insurer | bonus.ch score 2026 |
|---|---|
| Mobiliar | 5.5 |
| Elvia | 5.3 |
| TCS | 5.3 |
| Vaudoise | 5.3 |
| Allianz | 5.2 |
| AXA | 5.2 |
| Smile | 5.2 |
The average is 5.3 in German-speaking Switzerland, 5.2 in French-speaking Switzerland and 5.0 in Italian-speaking Switzerland. Among the ten most populous cantons, Lucerne is at 5.5 and Ticino at 5.0. People under 30 give 5.1. People in their forties give 5.4. Women are at 5.3, men at 5.2. The scale runs from 1 to 6. From 5.5 to 6, the rating is “very good”. From 5.0 to 5.4, it is “good”.
On 2 July 2026, Comparis published another survey, carried out by Innofact in May 2026 among 4,500 people. The scale is also 1 to 6. Silver starts at 5.0, gold runs from 5.2 to 5.4, and platinum starts at 5.5. No company received platinum in 2026. Thirteen motor insurers were scored, from 4.9 (Elvia) to 5.3 (Mobiliar). Mobiliar leads on each of the four criteria taken separately: value for money, quality and service, information and transparency, and points of contact. The score is a weighted average of those criteria and of overall satisfaction.
| Insurer | Comparis score 2026 | Previous year |
|---|---|---|
| Mobiliar | 5.3 | 5.3 |
| TCS | 5.2 | 5.1 |
| Vaudoise | 5.2 | 5.2 |
| AXA | 5.1 | 5.1 |
| Baloise | 5.1 | 5.1 |
| Zurich | 5.1 | 5.1 |
| Smile | 5.1 | 5.2 |
| Elvia | 4.9 | not stated in the detail |
On 9 April 2026, moneyland.ch published a third survey, carried out by Ipsos in early 2026. 1,500 people aged 18 to 74, in German-speaking and French-speaking Switzerland, rated their insurer from 1 to 10. The average is 7.8, rated “good”, against 7.5 the year before. Women are at 8.0, men at 7.6. Ages 50 to 74 are at 8.2, ages 26 to 49 at 7.6, and ages 18 to 24 at 7.1. TCS is at 8.3. Smile and Mobiliar are at 8.2. Zurich is at 8.0. From 8, the rating is “very good”. Ticino is not in this sample. Another moneyland survey, in June 2026, covers property insurance in general. That is not the motor ranking above.
The three texts do not tell the same story in the middle of the table. bonus.ch places Elvia at 5.3, in the leading group. Comparis places Elvia at 4.9, at the bottom of the range it publishes. moneyland places TCS ahead of Mobiliar. The questions, the dates and the samples differ. A tenth of a point does not say which premium will come out for your plate, your deductible and your drivers. Finwise does not republish these scores as a league table of policies.
When an increase opens a right to cancel
The Fédération romande des consommateurs recalled this on 16 January 2026. A general premium increase, announced in advance, in principle opens an extraordinary right to cancel, provided it does not come from a personal claim. The deadline is the one in the general conditions. It is often 30 days from the notice. The letter must arrive before the end of that period. After that, the new conditions are treated as accepted.
If the increase follows an accident, that extraordinary right does not open. The ordinary right remains. Since the revision of the Insurance Contract Act, in force on 1 January 2022, the contract can be cancelled at the end of the third year, and then every year, with three months’ notice. The date of receipt is the one that counts. The cases are set out on the vehicle insurance cancellation page.
The new liability cover must be in place before the old one ends. A vehicle without a certificate cannot stay on the road. Cancelling first, and looking afterwards, leaves a gap during which the plates can be withdrawn.
What to hold constant
A car insurance comparison is read line by line. Six points are enough to see whether two offers describe the same risk.
- Liability first: sum insured, named drivers, use of the vehicle, where it is parked.
- Casco next: named risks, insured value, collision deductible, glass deductible, parking damage.
- The claims file: ask how the new company takes it over, because the bonus is not a federal scale.
- The side lines: assistance, legal protection, occupants. Take them out of the total before comparing the motor premium alone.
- The date: an April offer and an October offer do not describe the same price if the company adjusted its premiums in between.
- The exit: if the increase is not linked to a claim, the deadline in the general conditions, often 30 days, and the new certificate before you cancel.
Finwise, a brokerage firm in Geneva, can ask these questions against the vehicle, the drivers and the policy in force. Basic advice is free of charge. A survey score says how other policyholders were served. The fitting premium is the one that covers the risk you actually have, at the limit and the deductible you have read.
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Sources
- FINMA, 2025 insurance market report: casco and motor-liability premiums, claims ratios, and a 2% fall in vehicles put into circulation according to the FSO.
- Vehicle Insurance Ordinance, article 3. Swiss National Insurance Bureau, minimum sums.
- Swiss Insurance Association, trends and tariffs, 12 September 2025.
- bonus.ch, release of 16 June 2026. Comparis, Innofact survey of May 2026, release of 2 July 2026. moneyland.ch and Ipsos, survey of 9 April 2026.
- Fédération romande des consommateurs, cancellation after a premium increase, 16 January 2026.