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about the legal obligation
Since April 2024, a wide range of vehicles and machinery that were previously excluded have been brought within the scope of ‘compulsory motor vehicle liability insurance’. These include forklift trucks, internal transport vehicles, construction machinery and electric vehicles that are used solely on private property. This also applies to electric bicycles or scooters that travel at speeds exceeding 25 km/h. Many businesses and private individuals are unaware of this change, putting them at risk of uninsured damage, fines or even seizure.
WHAT EXACTLY IS CHANGING?
Compulsory third-party liability insurance
Vehicles and machinery that could previously be insured under third-party liability insurance for business operations (such as forklift trucks, construction site machinery or internal transport vehicles) are now covered by compulsory third-party liability insurance for motor vehicles and must therefore be insured (possibly supplemented by third-party liability car insurance). This applies regardless of where they are used: on private property, company premises, a construction site or public roads. Furthermore, each vehicle must be individually identified, usually via the chassis number.
Revised definition of ‘Participation in traffic’
This definition has been tightened. Vehicles that are driven solely on private property are no longer automatically exempt. Only vehicles that are not legally permitted to be driven on public roads and are used exclusively on private property remain exempt from the insurance obligation.
For ‘light electric vehicles’, the following applies:
- ‘Exempt’: these are only very light and slow vehicles with strict and limited weight-speed combinations and motorised wheelchairs.
- ‘Not exempt’: these include fast e-bikes, souped-up scooters and functional vehicles such as forklift trucks, tractors and bulldozers.
