Liability insurance for a self-employed driving instructor
Almost everything that goes wrong during a driving lesson is settled on the insurance of the tuition car and not on your liability insurance. That is precisely why it is worth knowing what is left over.
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The calculator and the quote form below are in Dutch. Prefer to do this in English? Email info@finassverzekert.nl or call 072 - 509 24 56 and we will take it from there.
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In brief
Every motor vehicle must be insured under Article 2 of the Dutch Motor Insurance Liability Act (WAM), and, as the mirror image of this, public and employers' liability insurance excludes damage caused with or by a motor vehicle. If your pupil has a collision, the motor insurer of the tuition car pays the other party's damage and the injury to the occupants. The fact that with dual controls you are in effect a co-driver mainly affects the question of fault and your premium, not which policy pays.
What is left for the AVB? Everything outside the vehicle. A pupil who trips at your theory venue, damage to the room you hire for theory evenings, a tuition motorcycle or a crowd barrier you knock over on a practice ground, and equipment you leave behind at a client. Few in number, but you are personally liable for them, and as a sole trader that means liability with your private assets.
If you drive a car belonging to a driving school you work for, that is the point to settle in advance. That car is in your in your care, so the care, custody and control exclusion applies, and many driving schools place the excess on own damage with the instructor by contract. Record in writing who carries which part, because this is precisely the gap between two policies.
This page deals with one situation. The full overview is on Compare public and employers' liability insurance (AVB).
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Business liability insurance (AVB)
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Get coveredWhy arrange it through Finass Verzekert?
We look at the terms as well as the premium, and stay your point of contact when there is a claim.
Independent
We are not tied to one insurer and compare on the basis of an objective analysis of several companies.
One fixed adviser
You call or email someone who knows your file. No menu options, no changing call centres.
Switching without hassle
We cancel your old policy and align the start date, so you are never a day without cover.
Help with claims
We report the claim and monitor how it is handled. In urgent cases you can reach us on the emergency line.
What to look out for
Four points that determine which policy a loss during driving tuition ends up on.
The tuition car and the dual controls
As an instructor you can intervene with the pedals and the wheel. If you do not intervene, or do so too late, in the face of a foreseeable error, that works through into the apportionment of fault and into the no-claims position on the motor policy. If a pupil takes extra lessons in his own car, check whether that insurance permits tuition and whether you are covered as a passenger.
Authorisation, certificate and practical supervision
Driving tuition may only be given with a valid instructor's certificate under the Wet rijonderricht motorrijtuigen (the Dutch driving instruction act), with periodic practical supervision. If your authorisation has expired, you are teaching without authority. An injured third party remains protected through the WAM, but towards your own insurers it affects the duty of disclosure under 7:928 and 7:930 DCC and with it the payout.
What falls outside the cover
Excluded are damage with or by a motor vehicle (Article 2 of the Dutch Motor Insurance Liability Act (WAM)), damage to the car in your own keeping, reclaimed prepaid lesson and test fees as pure financial loss, traffic fines and administrative fines, and intent or deliberate recklessness under Article 7:952 of the Dutch Civil Code.
Advice about tests and packages
A pupil who says you put him in for the test too early or had him take unnecessary lessons will claim money back. Such a complaint concerns your professional judgement and not your conduct as a road user. That is financial loss and falls outside the AVB; work, therefore, with a written lesson plan and a reasoned test recommendation that you can produce.
What does your premium depend on?
- Annual turnover: the basis for a sole trader
- Your own tuition car or not: determines how much risk sits with the motor policy
- Vehicle categories: car, motorcycle, trailer, lorry or bus
- Theory venue: your own room, a hired hall or lessons at the pupil's home
- Additional work: driver skills training or company courses weigh differently
- Sum insured and excess: per claim and per insurance year
Insurers weigh these details differently. That is where your saving is.
What is covered
| Situation | AVB | BAV |
|---|---|---|
| Your pupil hits a parked car during the lesson | No | No |
| A course participant trips over your extension lead in the theory room you hire | Yes | No |
| While unloading cones you damage the barrier at the practice ground | Yes | No |
| You complete the test application incorrectly and the pupil loses his booking fee | No | Yes |
| A pupil falls from the tuition motorcycle during an exercise on the closed practice ground | No | No |
| You return the driving school's tuition car with a dent in the door | No | No |
Everything that happens with or through the vehicle runs via the WAM policy. The AVB starts only once you are out of the vehicle.
Frequently asked questions
This is what people ask us most.
Who pays the damage in a collision during the lesson?
The insurer of the tuition car. Under Article 2 of the Dutch Motor Insurance Liability Act (WAM) every motor vehicle must be insured for the damage caused with it, and that cover takes precedence. Public and employers' liability insurance specifically excludes motor damage, to prevent double cover. Damage to the tuition car itself is only covered if own-damage cover has been taken out on that car.
Is my pupil insured as a passenger?
Yes. The WAM cover on the motor vehicle applies to injured parties, and a passenger who is not the driver falls within that. The pupil's injury is therefore paid by the insurer of the tuition car, even if the pupil made the mistake himself. Anyone sitting behind the wheel as driver depends, for his own injury, on separate personal accident or occupants' insurance.
Am I covered under the policy of the driving school I drive for?
For the vehicle, usually yes. For your own liability as a business, no. The driving school's liability policy insures that business and its staff; as a self-employed professional with your own Chamber of Commerce registration you are neither. Driving schools therefore almost always ask for your own policy and for a record of who carries the excess on own damage.
What happens if my instructor's certificate has expired?
You are then giving driving tuition without authority. A victim can still recover his loss through the WAM, but the insurer can recover that payment from the policyholder because a statutory requirement has not been met. For your business liability, it means you have failed to disclose a circumstance that increases the risk, with the consequences Articles 7:928 and 7:930 of the Dutch Civil Code attach to that.
Every situation is different. For these situations we have a separate page.
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