Liability insurance for a self-employed delivery rider
As a self-employed delivery rider you ride at your own expense and risk. Which vehicle you choose determines whether the road element falls on this policy or on a compulsory third-party cover.
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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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A premium indication, not personal advice. Prefer to talk it through? Call 072 - 509 24 56.
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- Help with claims
In brief
If you deliver on an ordinary bicycle or cargo bike without motor assistance above the moped threshold, you are not the driver of a motor vehicle and your liability on the road continues to be assessed under Article 6:162 of the Dutch Civil Code. If you ride a scooter or a speed pedelec, you are: those fall under the insurance requirement in Article 2 of the Dutch Motor Insurance Liability Act (WAM) and therefore under the motor vehicle exclusion in the liability policy. You then need moped insurance or a insurance for the speed pedelec, with business use declared.
The second point is the consignment itself. As long as the order is in your bag or box, you have it in your in your care. A meal that tips over, a soaked parcel or a phone that falls out of the bag is therefore not an insured loss on this policy. What can be covered is the consequential loss at the recipient's premises: the sofa the soup goes over, the laptop you knock off the table, the mirror of a parked car you hit with the box while not riding.
Finally: this insurance only pays for other people's losses. If you come off yourself, it pays nothing for your bicycle, your phone or the weeks in which you cannot work. For the latter there is disability insurance. For a delivery rider with no staff that is often the weightier of the two risks.
This page deals with one situation. The full overview is on Compare public and employers' liability insurance (AVB).
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We look at the terms as well as the premium, and stay your point of contact when there is a claim.
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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 whether a claim is paid for a self-employed delivery rider.
Your vehicle determines the regime
An e-bike with pedal assistance up to 25 kilometres per hour is legally a bicycle. A speed pedelec and a delivery scooter are mopeds and therefore motor vehicles. For the latter an insurance requirement applies and an exclusion on the AVB. If you change vehicle, declare it, because an undeclared change can affect the payout under Articles 7:928 and 7:930 of the Dutch Civil Code.
What you deliver is not insured
The order is an item you are carrying and therefore an item in your care. Insurers exclude it, even for a small amount. Platforms also often set lost or damaged orders directly against your fee. That is a contractual arrangement and not an insured loss.
Fines and contractual arrangements
Traffic fines, fines for not checking age when delivering alcohol and a platform's contractual sanctions always remain at your expense. Administrative fines are punishments and are for that reason uninsurable. Damage you cause deliberately is likewise excluded under Article 7:952 of the Dutch Civil Code.
What clients ask of you
Delivery hubs, supermarket chains and platforms often include in their conditions that you hold liability insurance and can produce a policy schedule. Watch the description of the insured capacity: it has to name delivery as the main activity. If it only has a general description such as services, a claim can founder on that.
What does your premium depend on?
- Annual turnover: the usual measure where there is no wage bill
- Vehicle: bicycle, e-bike, scooter or van
- Type of delivery: meals, groceries, parcels or pharmacy deliveries
- Working area and number of stops: inner-city work involves more contact leading to damage
- Sum insured and excess: per claim and per insurance year
- Use of stand-ins: a stand-in riding on your account changes the group of insured persons
Insurers weigh these details differently. That is where your saving is.
What is covered
| Situation | AVB | Moped insurance |
|---|---|---|
| You hit the mirror of a parked car with the cargo bike | Yes | No |
| The soup leaks out of your bag over the customer's sofa | Yes | No |
| You hit a cyclist crossing the road with the delivery scooter | No | Yes |
| The meal itself arrives unusable and is deducted from your fee | No | No |
| You come off on a tram rail and cannot deliver for a month | No | No |
| A stand-in rides on your account and damages a customer's door | Provided that | No |
If you ride something with a registration number, the road risk shifts to that vehicle's insurance.
Frequently asked questions
This is what people ask us most.
I deliver on an ordinary bicycle. Do I need this then?
The insurance is not compulsory, but on a bicycle you cause damage more easily than you think: a mirror clipped, a pedestrian knocked down, a display stand knocked over in a shop. For injury the amounts can run high and as a sole trader you are liable with your private assets. A personal liability insurance (AVP) specifically does not cover work for your own account.
Is a collision on my delivery scooter covered?
Not on this policy. A scooter is a motor vehicle, for which Article 2 WAM requires a compulsory insurance of its own; public and employers' liability insurance excludes that risk. Do declare to the scooter insurer that you deliver for business. If you do not, cover can still be called into question after a loss.
The customer says the order arrived unusable. What now?
The order itself is an item in your care and is excluded, so you or the platform bear that cost. It is different where there is consequential loss at the recipient's premises, for example a carpet or an appliance damaged by leaking contents. Report that as a separate loss and keep photographs of the situation on site.
I fall and cannot work for a month. Does this policy pay for that?
No. A liability insurance only pays for third parties' losses. Your own injury, your bicycle and your lost earnings fall outside it. For income during long-term absence you take out disability insurance (AOV), a broodfonds (a Dutch mutual sick pay scheme) or a similar arrangement. If someone else is at fault for the accident, you can recover your loss from that party.
Every situation is different. For these situations we have a separate page.
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