Insurance in France: the expat’s map

France is a heavily insured country with its own logic. Here is the map before the details.

Legally mandatory

Motor liability for any vehicle, even parked (car, motorcycle, scooter, even e-scooters). Home insurance for tenants — the landlord checks the certificate yearly (details). Décennale ten-year liability for construction professionals. Employers must provide employees a part-funded mutuelle (health top-up). School insurance is required for optional school activities only.

Not mandatory but structural

The mutuelle for non-employees; mortgage insurance — contractually required by every bank (assurance emprunteur); personal liability, included in home policies; and for the self-employed, RC Pro, demanded by clients.

Three French oddities worth learning

First, the regulated no-claims bonus-malus in motor insurance: identical rules across insurers, following the driver. Second, cancellation rights: after one year, most personal contracts terminate at any time with one month’s notice (Hamon law), the new insurer handling the paperwork; mortgage insurance switches at any time from day one (Lemoine law). Third, the natural-disaster regime: a state-backed solidarity system triggered by ministerial decree, financed by a uniform surcharge on every property policy — with a legal deductible no contract can waive.

How to buy

Direct insurers and neo-brokers sell fully online, in French; mutuelles and agent networks add face-to-face service. Certificates (attestations) rule daily life in France: landlord, school, employer, marina — download them from the insurer’s app. Keep every contract’s « conditions particulières » ; disputes go first to the insurer’s complaints service, then to the free Médiation de l’Assurance.

More expat guides: Car insurance in France: the expat mechanics · Home insurance in France: tenant duty, owner wisdom · Health cover in France: sécu + mutuelle, decoded · Pet insurance in France: how the market works.