A Look at Required Insurance in Bulgaria for Expatriates

If you are planning on moving abroad to live in Bulgaria then you will want to know what types of insurance you are required to have by law. There are a number of different types of insurance in Bulgaria from building insurance to car insurance. However expatriates are not required to have all of the different kinds of insurance while living in Bulgaria. Instead there is just one types of insurance that is required by law for expats to have if they are living in Bulgaria.

If you are an expat living in Bulgaria on a permanent basis then third party liability car insurance is the only compulsory insurance that you have to carry. While that is all the insurance that you are required to carry it is not a bad idea to have other types of insurance coverage. For instance, if you have some property that you are renting out to some tenants then you will probably want to have some property or building insurance as well as some public liability insurance. These are of course policies that will cover you and your property. Now, if you have a Bulgarian mortgage you may be required to have a life insurance policy on your self. This of course depends on the amount of the mortgage and is usually reserved for high dollar mortgages only.

There are also few other voluntary personal types of insurance that you might be interested in getting for your self and your family. You may want to look into getting some good private health insurance as well as travel insurance and household insurance to cover your belongings and other contents inside your home. This also applies if you are simply renting out a place to live for now.

Building insurance in Bulgaria is rather inexpensive. For instance, you can get coverage for a small house for around 500 Euros per year. Just remember to insure your property for the cost of rebuilding the building. Building insurance in Bulgaria is actually based on the cost of rebuilding the home based on the declared value. For this reason alone you should never under declare the value of your home to try to evade some taxes as it could come back to get you if you have to rebuild. You should make sure that your policy covers flooding as it is common in some of the areas of Bulgaria.

If you find that you need to make any sort of insurance claim in Bulgaria you will have to do it by writing with a registered letter. You will need to do so within three to five days of whatever incident it is unless it is theft, which must be done within 24 hours. Thefts also have to be reported to the local police and you have to give a copy of the police statement with your claim to the insurance company.