This post is inspired by my recent experience with Generali insurance handling my roadside assistance claim. We will look at what happened, how it was handled and why I will never in my life buy another thing from Generali, while also advising everyone to not buy from them.

I am aware this might be an outlier, but the situation was handled so horribly that it left a lot of lingering emotions, so this post is also a way for me to vent and put this behind me.

The beginning

My family and I (wife, 9-year-old child, 3-year-old child) had planned and booked an extended weekend (Saturday, 3.10.2026 - Monday, 5.10.2026) holiday to Germany to meet up with the Grandparents coming from Slovenia and go see the castles Hohenschwangau and Neuschwanstein.

It was supposed to be an easy 3 hour drive (at least compared to our 8-10 hour drives to Slovenia that we usually do), and it was all going well until roughly an hour into our drive right before the highway in Austria. The car showed the EPC and check engine lights

and once I tried accelerating on the highway the car was sputtering and didn’t develop any real power. I carefully accelerated and tried driving, but the car didn’t have the proper power, so we were driving slowly. Soon after we also ran into a traffic jam, so we drove off the highway and stopped at the first petrol station. There we waited for 15 minutes to see if the issue would be resolved, because we searched online for suggestions and that was one of them. After starting the car and driving a bit, everything seemed normal again, so we went back to the highway and continued on our way, but as soon as we crossed the border to Germany and the car had to accelerate on a minor slope upwards, the EPC light came back on and the car started sputtering even more, so we ended up driving 70 km/h on the German highway, which felt very unsafe.

So we made the decision to stop and call for roadside assistance, thinking that we would get some real help, and that is when the problems started.

The call for help

We are insured with Generali and have been since we came to Switzerland 8 years ago. So we called them for help on Saturday at 14:22 and they said they will organize the towing service and asked about my location. They briefly asked what happened and then said the towing service will get in touch with me in about 30mins. That didn’t happen, so I called them back at 15:11 and in the meantime we also wondered how we will continue the journey, so I asked them about what happens now. I got told that since it’s the weekend the car will stay at a depot, and for us they pay for a taxi either the way to our destination (Schwangau) or back home (Zurich), but that we are NOT entitled to a replacement vehicle. So I was to call them when we are at the depot for them to organize the taxi. At this point I was agreeable, just wanting to get the car towed and continuing our journey, because I failed to consider all the factors (4 people, 3 carry-on suitcases, a cooler box, 4 backpacks, two large shopping bags of food, a big shopping bag of shoes), so I was assuming if we could only get to the destination we could all figure something out with the Grandparents and their car.

The towing service (Kay´s Pannen- & Abschleppdienst) got in touch at 15:41 and was there shortly after. Patrick was extremely helpful and positive, which was the only bright spot of the day. He took us to his depot and unloaded the car. He also told us most (if not all) of the roadside assistance cases were entitled to a replacement car. His wife got in contact with the German counterpart of the assistance case (Europ), therefore we settled in for a wait, thinking we were going to get a replacement rental car so we were tired but optimistic. After one more hour (17:00, almost three hours after the first contact with Generali) I tried calling them again. I waited for 48 minutes on the line and got no answer. Then the German Europ assistance called me and told me that they almost have a rental car lined up, but they don’t have the cost approval from Generali Switzerland, so I should clear that up with them.

Which means I went back to the phone trying to get Generali on the line and after about 10 minutes I was able to speak to someone and I told them that the German side just needs a cost approval and they will jump to get us a car. I got told they will check and call me back.

After waiting for 10 minutes I got another call from the German assistance, advising me to verify what the situation is for a stay in the hotel as it was getting late (18:15 at this point, still Saturday) because the car rental agencies will close soon or are already closed.

So I go back to calling Generali Switzerland to follow up and I waited another 30 minutes to get someone on the phone. The person then proceeded to tell me that I am not entitled to a replacement car, they will only pay the way back or forward. I challenged that, but had difficulty wording my argument in German, so I didn’t get far. At some point even Patrick from the towing company tried to help and get a clear answer, but still we didn’t progress. After that the person said they will speak to their manager to check if they can make an exception in our case as we told the situation - 2 adults, 2 kids, a full trunk of holiday luggage, 2 nights stay booked and therefore only need the car for around 50 hours.

This time I actually got a call back after around 10 minutes and they said that the manager didn’t approve of an exception and that they will follow the contract. We challenged that again and didn’t get anywhere beside the answer “You are not entitled to a car, we will only pay for your way to the destination or back home”. So in the end I asked clearly if we get to the destination on our own, if they will pay for the rental car so we can get back home, to which I got a positive answer that they will pay for that and that I should call them the next morning so we can organize that. This was at 19:45, so 5.5 hours after the first call.

Luckily we saw where this was headed so at around 18:30 we asked Grandpa to come and pick us up. This was the best decision as Generali in the end did nothing on Saturday after contacting the towing service. Grandpa arrived roughly around 21:00 and we drove another 1hr45min to get to Schwangau.

The way home

The next morning, my calling marathon began. At 9:42 I called the first time, explaining what has happened and what was agreed but that we need the car not from Monday evening (as I had mistakenly told the person the night before) but from Sunday evening, so we can put our luggage into the car as we had to leave the apartment and visit the castles on Monday. I shared that I am also willing to drive 1 hour anywhere to get a car, just to help out and ease the organization. I was told they will find a car and call me back.

We went on a hike, and after 2 hours I called again (11:22). Again I had to explain what/where/who/why and was told I would be called back once they have something organized. That they need to send the requests to the agencies and get a response about which cars are available.

At 12:56 I called again, as I had not been called back. Only to do the dance again - explained what/where/who/why and got the answer they will call me back.

At 15:30 I got called from the German side asking me where we are and telling me they will organize a car, that I will soon be contacted by a rental car agency to finalize how I will take over the car.

And then nothing again…

After 6h30 since the first call of the day I had enough and simply booked the rental car myself (in 5 minutes), then called them to tell them how incompetently they have handled this and that I had booked a car myself. Which they said they will cover. And so in the evening Grandpa drove me 1hr to Memmingen to pick up the car and we were able to put our luggage in the car the next day and drive back home to Zurich.

The frustrating part is that we had already driven past Memmingen on Saturday night on our way to Schwangau. If the rental car had been sorted out on Saturday, we wouldn’t have needed this trip at all. Instead we lost more than 3 hours of driving for no reason: 1hr for Grandpa and me to get there, then 1hr back for me in the rental car and 1hr back for Grandpa.

The car was transported back to Zurich that Friday (9.10.2026), six days after it broke down, after more calls from me on Tuesday and Wednesday to make sure this got done as well. The garage then let me know that the problem was the ignition coil (Zündspule).

The result

The final result of this whole ordeal was:

• 24+ hours of total resolution time (with them not even resolving it in the end)
• 2 hours spent on phone calls (not counting the wait times)
• 947 CHF refunded for the rental car
• 0 empathy shown

Aftermath

In the days following our return, I looked up the actual policy that I have and was very surprised to see what is in there.

The full general terms are available here.

It says there are two main branches and then two sub-branches:

1. Car is not available up to 48h
   1. Hotel for up to two nights
   2. Rental car for up to 48 hours
2. Car is not available more than 48h
   1. Hotel for up to 5 nights
   2. Rental car for up to 5 days

And if you can’t wait for the repair, the over-48-hours case lets you continue to your destination or home with:

1. A train or plane ticket depending on the length of the train ride
2. Rental car for up to 48h

The policy has conditions. Two of these options assume you wait where the car broke down, and in the third Europ Assistance chooses between train and rental car, so “destination or back home” wasn’t invented. But Article 67 says you can rent a replacement car and that the insurance pays to restore your mobility. The breakdown clauses never offer a taxi, and at 19:45 they agreed to pay for a rental car anyway.

That is a long way from the flat “You are not entitled to a car” I got on the phone. From what I see there is a rental car for at least up to 48h in every branch, and 48 hours would have covered almost our whole trip.

The two sides

I really don’t understand how this can happen and why Generali doesn’t put some more effort in this area, as to me it seems a very obvious choice to help the people out, because it seems like a very good opportunity to build a really good reputation and get customers for life. I can understand the initial thought process of “Let’s try to save money and avoid paying for anything that we don’t need to”, but in my opinion it doesn’t work at all.

I think it comes down to 2 main arguments:

The money side

The LTV math

As mentioned I have been a customer with Generali for 8 years, paying 1500-1700CHF per year for the car insurance. In this time I had:

1. 1 wildlife accident claim (around 2500 CHF repair)
2. 1 phone call to their support when an animal ate through the hydraulic pipes (which was repaired for free)

So before this roadside assistance call Generali had premiums minus claims of roughly 10k CHF on my account. So if we assume the 2k limit on the towing stated in the contract and we assume another 2k for returning the car to my base garage, there is 6k left to cover the rental car, which we saw was 1k. So even in the worst case scenario I think there should be plenty of leeway there to cover everything and still be positive on my account to fund other customer claims and costs.

The cost reduction argument

What they were offering was a one-way taxi from Waldburg, Germany to either:

• Schwangau, Germany which is 138km
• Zurich, Switzerland which is 162km

For a family of 4 with a ton of luggage, this would have needed a bigger taxi, so AI estimates this at roughly 300€ for Schwangau and at roughly 400€ for Zurich.

I was immediately looking at rental options when our car broke down and found some options at 700€, so the cost argument would be that by paying the taxi and not the rental car they save around 400€ (and as a side effect, they dump the problem of getting back from our vacation on us).

The main cost of the rental car was the one-way rental and premium location (450€ + 200€), each extra day was only around 70-80€ (the 26-hour rental itself was 188€ before tax).

In the end they ended up paying 947 CHF anyway (they didn’t cover protection and fuel), so even with what seemed like all their efforts to block me and not help me and try to reduce the amount they pay, it was still significant. Plus they burned all bridges in the meantime. So I am leaving Generali, which costs them 1700 CHF a year in revenue.

The people side

We are a family of 4 with two kids, travelling to an extended weekend getaway. And our car broke down on a supposed 3-hour drive. Hearing this I would hope there would be some effort made to save our holidays and help us have a nice time. We were offering to meet them halfway (like driving somewhere to pick the car up, paying the extra days) just to get something resolved and reduce the stress and friction from our holidays.

Imagine the scenario:

1. I call them regarding the car
2. Generali organizes the towing service
3. Generali asks me about how long I need the car, if I am willing to pay the extra day to get a car for 72h (of course!)
4. The car and we get towed and I go pick up the car
5. We continue our journey in a reasonable time (having lost 3-4 hours)
6. I don’t need to spend a whole day waiting and calling and thinking about this

In this case, they would have paid about the same or less, and kept a customer.

Instead, they completely pissed me off by the way this was handled and here I am writing a blog post about how badly they have handled this and giving everyone online advice to NOT consider them for their insurance needs.

Conclusion

All together, the car breaking down was a bad experience for us which was made worse by every interaction with Generali and their roadside assistance. It was not only that they were not helpful, it felt like they were actively blocking me from resolving the problems in a timely manner.

Therefore I would not recommend Generali for car insurance specifically or any other insurance as well.

Some take-away advice from me going through this that might help you, if you ever have this experience:

• Read the policy, so you can challenge their decisions
• Follow up, follow up, follow up, don’t wait for them to call you back
• Assume they are there to save money and get rid of you, not to help you in a pinch
• Escalate sooner rather than later

TL;DR

Our car broke down on a family trip. Generali told us we weren’t entitled to a rental car, we lost a whole day chasing them, I booked one myself, and they refunded 947 CHF anyway.

This is it for my post complaining about Generali. Thank you for reading through, I hope it was an interesting read and that you might have gotten some nugget of advice out of it, so you are better prepared to deal with this than I was.