FAQ – Frequently asked questions

esurance is a Swiss InsurTech company headquartered in Zurich. esurance was founded in 2013 and is a successful scale-up. Several thousand SMEs have already purchased business insurance through the esurance platform. More About Us.

Who is esurance addressing? As a platform, esurance addresses insurance providers, brokers and business software providers who use the platform for insurance distribution, as well as small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) who can conclude and manage insurance policies via the platform.

Yes. esurance holds a broker license and is a FINMA-approved broker. A broker license is required to offer insurance through the distribution platform, as our role as a platform is to act as an intermediary for insurance.

esurance also uses its broker expertise to negotiate industry-specific insurance solutions in cooperation with associations.

In 2013, esurance launched as a digital broker and has built a client portfolio as a broker. Our experienced experts continue to operate this line of business professionally and with great commitment. Thanks to this expertise, as an InsurTech we are close to current market developments and have in-depth expertise that is essential for the digitalization of insurance offerings. However, because we do not want to appear as a competitor to our insurance and broker partners, we refrain from actively advertising this field of activity.

You can digitalize your insurance solutions via the distribution platform, both for online direct sales and as a supporting tool in hybrid sales.

Offers from various insurance partners are already distributed via esurance.ch or via white label solutions. More about our solutions.

As an insurer, you want to digitize your own products? Contact us to learn more about the possibilities of a white-label distribution platform.

Yes, and several at once:

Digital insurance underwriting with automated underwriting enables efficient sales processes. Manual, non-value-added processes are eliminated.

The platform’s integration options open up access to ecosystems and opportunities for cross-selling and upselling via flexible distribution partnerships.

For end customers and distributors, administration is facilitated via a central digital repository.

The esurance team is readily available for support requests.

The digitization of products and processes via the esurance platform is done on a project basis. License fees are charged for products that are distributed via the esurance platform. We would be happy to discuss your project and possible approaches in person (contact).

Using the esurance distribution platform, you can calculate premiums digitally for your SME customers and conclude binding insurance policies paperless. All you need is a cooperation agreement with esurance.

The insurances are offered by esurance in cooperation with insurance partners and industry associations. So far available are insurances for gastronomy and IT businesses.

Would you like to digitize your own framework contracts? Contact us to learn more about the possibilities of the sales platform.

Yes, and several at once:

The distribution platform offers brokers access to exclusive framework agreements thanks to cooperation with associations. Premiums can be calculated online on the esurance platform and insurance policies can be concluded immediately and bindingly for new start-ups. For customers with existing insurance policies, the process is considered an application and is checked by the insurer.

Brokers retain their mandate relationship and receive their usual brokerage fees from the insurance companies.

For brokers, the use of the distribution platform is free of charge. They enter into a cooperation with us and continue to receive the usual brokerage fees directly from the insurance companies. Our insurance partners compensate esurance for the efficiency gains achieved as part of the digitization service provided.

Contact us for a cooperation agreement with esurance.

As an industry association, you can use esurance’s distribution platform to work with insurance and distribution partners to offer insurance solutions tailored to the needs of your industry. Through your collective purchasing power, special terms can be negotiated.

In collaboration with partners, esurance has already digitized industry solutions for hospitality and IT businesses through the platform. If you are interested in your own digital industry solution, please contact us.

Yes, and several at once:

esurance’s sales platform offers your members uncomplicated online access to industry-specific business insurance with special conditions – thanks to collective purchasing power via association membership.

The insurance cockpit of esurance serves your members as a central repository and facilitates the administration of SME insurances.

The esurance team as well as our sales partners are available to your members in an uncomplicated manner for support inquiries.

Different cooperation models are possible. Contact us to discuss your individual starting situation and possible approaches.

As a business software provider, you can integrate esurance’s technology into existing workflows and thus extend the functionality of your software to include the relevant topic of business insurance. As an InsurTech company with its own platform, esurance can bridge the gap between your core system and the systems of insurance companies.

Yes, and there are several:

You can extend the functionality of your software to include insurance, further increasing your revenue.

You offer added value for your customers at the right moment by integrating the insurance topic at the relevant time and into existing processes.

The platform modules can be flexibly integrated into different technical environments (e.g. via API or iFrame).

The conclusion and administration of insurance policies via the platform is simple and secure for your customers.

Support is provided by our sales partners and the esurance team. Insurances are easily available to your customers, we take care of everything else.

Different cooperation models are possible. Contact us to discuss your individual starting situation and possible approaches.

Via the esurance distribution platform, SMEs and self-employed persons can calculate insurance solutions digitally and conclude them paperless.

The insurances are offered in cooperation with insurance partners and industry associations and offer an optimal price-performance ratio thanks to collective purchasing power. Insurances for gastronomy and IT businesses are available so far. Further insurances will follow in the future.

In addition, esurance’s technology is also used by insurance partners to offer insurance to small businesses in all industries.

Insurance solutions available through the platform can be found at esurance.ch/kmu.

Yes, and there are several:

The insurance solutions include special coverages for the industry and have a convincing price-performance ratio thanks to the collective purchasing power of the associations.

You can use the platform to calculate premiums immediately and take out binding insurance policies paperlessly.

Our insurance cockpit provides an overview of concluded insurance policies at any time and directs you directly to the responsible office in the event of a claim.

The esurance team and our sales partners are available to answer any questions you may have.

The use of the platform is free of charge for SME customers. Our insurance and distribution partners compensate esurance within the scope of the digitization service provided and for the sales support provided by esurance.

For our existing customer portfolio, which we manage as a broker, we work on a mandate basis. Our mandate is free of charge, unless we have agreed on individually deviating solutions. Please contact our experts if you have any questions regarding our broker services and related fees.

If you take out an insurance product via the esurance platform, you are bound to the contract period of the product. You receive a login to the esurance insurance cockpit and can use it as a digital insurance folder. There are no costs for this.

If you use esurance’s broker services, you sign a mandate agreement. This enables esurance to represent your interests with the insurance companies, obtain quotes, have benefits adjusted or obtain billing information.

Contact our experts without obligation to discuss the appropriate procedure.

You are only bound to the insurance contracts you have concluded. You can terminate these in due time. You can terminate the use of the insurance cockpit at any time. Please note that you will lose preferential conditions that are exclusively available via esurance if you terminate your contract.

If you use the broker services of esurance with a mandate contract, an e-mail with the request to cancel the cooperation or the mandate is sufficient. The only thing you have to keep in mind is that you are still bound to the concluded insurance contracts and may lose preferential conditions that are exclusively available to esurance in this case as well.

The insurance solutions are aimed at all businesses that offer a hospitality service in Switzerland or the Principality of Liechtenstein. The products are designed in such a way that it does not matter whether it is a restaurant business or an accommodation business. Thanks to industry-specific additional cover, risks can easily be included or excluded (e.g. additional cover against bed bug infestation makes little sense for a restaurant).

The following types of restaurant and accommodation can benefit from protection:

– Restaurant with service
– Fast food restaurant
– Café, tea room, bistro
– Bar
– Catering / party service
– Self-service restaurant
– Snack bar / take-away
– Meal service, meal courier
– Restaurant / food stand at events
– Restaurant in sports facility (fitness, swimming pool, etc.)
– Pub
– Disco / Club / Dancing
– Night Club / Cabaret
– Canteen / cafeteria in companies / school / hospital / off. Administrations
– Kitchen off. Administrations
– Fast Casual
– Participation in Street Food Festivals
– Food Truck
– Hotel
– Motel
– Youth Hostel
– Inn
– Spa house
– Thermal spa (with hotel main activity)
– Pension (guesthouse, private pension)
– Camping site

All GastroSuisse members can benefit from the special conditions. It should be noted that all GastroSuisse members are obliged to join the GastroSocial AHV compensation fund.

If a catering business does not wish to take out GastroSuisse membership, it can still take out the personal insurance products accident insurance and daily sickness benefits from SWICA via the esurance platform. However, it is not possible to join GastroSocial (AHV & BVG) or to take out Baloise property and liability products without membership.

In short: because of the collective purchasing power of the association.

Depending on whether you take out an insurance solution or apply for GastroSuisse membership, you have different contractual partners.

Contractual partner when taking out GastroVersicherung:

– esurance AG (cooperation agreement), operator of the personal insurance cockpit and the online platform gastroversicherungen.ch.

– Insurance company (e.g. SWICA Krankenversicherung AG, Gastrosocial or Basler Versicherungen) on the basis of the policy physically delivered to you and stored in the insurance cockpit as well as the associated GCI.

Contractual partner when applying for GastroSuisse membership:

– The association “GastroSuisse”, which is managed as an association within the meaning of Art. 60 ff of the Swiss Civil Code. Membership of “GastroSuisse” is a mandatory requirement for taking out insurance on gastroversicherungen.ch (GastroSuisse Articles of Association).

GastroSuisse has commissioned the independent insurance experts from esurance to digitise sector-specific insurance policies on a distribution platform. Renowned Swiss insurance companies (SWICA, Basler Versicherungen, Gastrosocial) stand behind the respective products as insurance carriers. After an extensive tendering process, the best insurance company was awarded the contract in each case. The offer with the best price-performance ratio was taken into account. The validity of the offer is reviewed annually.

GastroSuisse, GastroSocial and SWICA have maintained a close partnership for over 50 years. The industry-specific offering of GastroSocial and SWICA is focused on the topics of “pension provision” and “health”. Baloise and esurance have also been part of this cooperation since 2018. Baloise offers the products GastroHaft, GastoInventar, GastroAusfall and GastroGebäude, and esurance has digitalised all offers so that the complete cover can be purchased with just a few clicks on the gastroversicherungen.ch platform. Distribution is ensured by SWICA’s specialised gastro advisors.

SWICA acts as a distribution partner as well as an insurance partner. We work together with SWICA consultants to offer our customers the best possible service. Insurance is taken out either via a SWICA insurance consultant or directly online on the esurance sales platform. Claims, changes and other concerns are handled directly by the insurance company. esurance is of course available at all times during working hours to provide support.

The insurance solutions for GastroSuisse members are offered exclusively via the digital esurance platform. If you do not yet have an esurance account, a free esurance account will be created for you automatically as part of the registration process.

To complete the registration, the following questions must be answered:

– E-mail, first name, last name
– Company name, street, house number and postcode
– Mobile number (used to verify your login with an SMS code)
– Company location (main location)
– Any correspondence address
– Start of contract
– Has your business suffered any losses under the insurance cover applied for in the last 3 years? If yes, how many?

The insurance platform is designed in such a way that you can conclude the insurance solutions digitally. This eliminates the traditional application process, which is tied to a physical quote and signature. If you accept the cooperation agreement and the privacy policy at check-out, the contract is concluded.

The original policy is filed in your esurance digital insurance folder within 48h after conclusion. In addition, the original policy will be physically delivered by post together with the invoice.

You receive all insurance policies from the partners physically by post. In addition, Baloise policies and SWICA cover confirmations can be viewed in your digital insurance folder.

There are the following contractual relationships

– Insurance contracts according to policies and GCI: Regulation of insurance benefits
– esurance AG cooperation agreement (ZV): regulation of platform use and support
– Membership of GastroSuisse: Admission to the association is in accordance with the association’s statutes and requires written confirmation.

In our partner app, you as a distribution partner will find customer lists and an overview of all deals and access to deposited policies. You have the opportunity for seamless up- and cross-selling, starting with each customer. As a sales partner, you have access to the customer cockpit for joint meetings (if you wish) and to success dashboards for sales management.

esurance supports you in lead generation and processing with specific features such as consultant search and an inbox system that merges inquiries across different environments. Analogous to the insurance cockpit for customers, you thus have access to your consultant cockpit.

Yes. At least for purchasing the insurance solutions for IT companies (esurance.ch/it) and catering businesses (esurance.ch/gastro). These are offered in cooperation with industry associations and offer special conditions thanks to the collective purchasing power. In order for insurance companies to be allowed to offer special conditions to individual industries, so-called homogeneous risk groups must exist. These must be clearly assignable in accordance with FINMA (financial market regulation) requirements. This is the case if all customers are affiliated with the same association.

Yes. With esurance, contracts are concluded digitally and straightforwardly as far as possible. And this is how it works:

Find out about the various insurance products independently on our website or ask for personal advice.

Place the desired products and any additional coverages in the shopping cart according to your individual needs.

The contract is concluded digitally and without signature.

Once the contract has been accepted, you can conveniently find your contract documents online in your personal insurance cockpit.

The insurance cockpit replaces the insurance folder for the policies managed by esurance and becomes the central, digital contact point for all insurance concerns with these functions:

Overview of your insurance policies and costs

Detailed view of your policies with simple description of insured benefits

Overview of inquiries and tasks related to your insurance needs

Direct contact with your distribution partner or esurance

Ability to report claims for all your insurance policies (see also “What happens in the event of a claim?”)

In the event of a claim, it is usually easiest to record it online in the claims system provided by the insurer. You will find the correct link to this in your insurance cockpit under the respective policy. In the event of more complex claims, disagreements or uncertainties on your part, you can also contact your advisor or esurance at any time.

Log in to your insurance cockpit

1. Select the policy for which you want to file a claim

2. Click on “Report a claim” in the top right corner of the screen

3. Select whether it is a normal claim or an emergency claim

4. In a normal case, we will redirect you to the claims website of the corresponding insurance company, where you can file the claim online.

In case of emergency, we will display the emergency number of the corresponding insurance company, which you can call at any time to receive immediate assistance.

Your data is safe with us. Only information that is relevant to us is stored. We are aware of the sensitivity of data that requires protection and special protection and take the law (DSG/DSGVO) very seriously. Our IT infrastructure is operated in Switzerland and we fully comply with Swiss data protection regulations.

No! Of course not.