Home contents insurance (inboedelverzekering) for students
When you live in student accommodation, the first question is not which policy you need, but whether you are still included on your parents' insurance.
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.
Work out for yourself what it would cost.
Enter your details; you will receive a proposal within one working day.
We compare the offerings of several insurers
An adviser checks whether the cover suits your situation
A premium indication, not personal advice. Prefer to talk it through? Call 072 - 509 24 56.
In brief
Many home contents insurance policies include student children living away from home, up to a separate maximum and subject to conditions about age and enrolment on a course. Anyone who checks in advance often does not need to take out anything. Anyone who does not check finds out after a burglary.
If there is no such inclusion, or the maximum is too low for your laptop, bicycle and instruments, you take out your own policy. Then watch one point above all: in a shared student house with a communal front door it is difficult to show signs of forced entry, and that is exactly what theft cover depends on.
If you live in a flat within a divided building rather than a room, owner's improvements also come into play; see home contents insurance for a flat.
The structure of the cover in three parts, with an overview per situation below.
The standard
Extended
The named perils: fire, water, burglary, storm.
Fire and smoke
Burglary and theft
Storm and rainfall
Most chosen
Comprehensive
Also your own accidents in the home.
A television that has fallen over
A stain on the sofa
Damage while doing DIY
Where things go wrong
Sub-limits
A separate limit for each category, apart from your total sum insured.
Jewellery and watches
Audiovisual equipment
Possessions away from home
What is covered
Situation
Extended
Comprehensive
Fire or water damage in the home
Yes
Yes
Burglary with signs of forced entry
Yes
Yes
A bicycle from a locked shed
Sometimes
Sometimes
A phone dropped from your hands onto the tiles
No
Yes
A laptop from the car without signs of forced entry
No
No
Wear and gradual damage
No
No
This overview is general in nature and is not personal advice. What is actually covered, including exclusions, limits and the excess, is set out in the policy conditions and the insurance card (verzekeringskaart) of the insurer; you receive both before you take out cover. Taking out cover without advice? Then read what execution only means for you.
Where things go wrong in practice
Four points that make the difference between a policy that pays out and one that does not.
Check first, take out cover afterwards
Ask your parents for the policy schedule and see whether student children living away from home are included and up to what amount. Note the conditions: there is often an age limit, you have to be enrolled at an educational institution, and only self-contained rooms or student housing may count. Have the insurer confirm this in writing. If you stop studying or move in with a partner, that inclusion usually ends immediately.
Signs of forced entry to your own room door
Theft is only covered where forced entry can be shown. In a student house the front door is communal and often left open, and the room door has a simple lock. If a laptop then disappears without any damage, that is misappropriation and not burglary. So fit a proper lock on your own door, and report every theft to the police so that there is a police report.
Laptop, phone and bicycle
Electronics fall under a sub-limit that can be lower than the value of a single laptop. Away from the room, in the lecture hall, the library or a pannier, the cover is limited or absent; comprehensive cover too mainly covers your own mishaps indoors. Bicycles have their own section and have to be locked in an enclosed space. For an expensive laptop, separate electronics cover is often more realistic.
What your policy does not cover
Belongings of housemates or of a partner who is not named on the policy fall outside it, as does loss without theft: a phone left on the train is not a covered event. Deliberate damage by visitors during a party, damage to the building itself and the landlord's neglected maintenance are also not your cover. Damage you cause to the room falls under liability, not under contents.
Theft outside the home
Away from the home the cover is limited and requirements often apply to how items are locked away.
Underinsurance is calculated proportionately, even for small claims
If your home contents are insured for half their actual value, you will be paid only half even on a claim of a thousand euros. Use the insurer's contents value calculator; completed correctly, it usually gives a guarantee against underinsurance. Your policy schedule states whether you have one.
Customers rate our service on four aspects: personal service, service delivery, availability and the outcome. The reviews are collected and published by NH1816 and come from customers who have actually taken out a policy with Finass Advies B.V. or reported a claim.
You may be, but it is not automatic. Many insurers include student children living away from home up to a separate maximum, subject to conditions about age and enrolment on a course. Ask for the policy schedule and have the cover confirmed in writing. If the maximum is lower than the value of your laptop and bicycle together, your own policy is still worthwhile.
What if there are no signs of forced entry?
The insurer will then usually call it misappropriation rather than burglary, and refuse the claim. In a student house with a communal front door that is the most common reason for a rejected claim. A proper lock of your own on the room door is the only practical measure. Always report it to the police, even without signs of entry. Without a police report you will get nowhere in any case.
Is my laptop covered in the library?
Away from your room the cover is limited and often absent. Theft from a bag or off a table without forced entry is rarely paid, and comprehensive cover usually covers your own mishaps only inside the home. If you take the laptop with you every day, consider separate electronics insurance that also gives cover away from home and for drops.
Are my housemate's belongings covered?
No. A contents policy covers the belongings of the policyholder and of the people named as insured in the policy conditions. A housemate with their own tenancy agreement is not among them and has to make their own arrangements. If you share equipment, record who owns what. When you claim the insurer asks for proof of purchase in your name.
Finass Verzekert is a trading name of Finass Advies B.V. We advise on and arrange non-life insurance on the basis of an objective analysis of several insurers, and receive commission for this from the insurer, which is included in the premium. You pay no separate advice fee. Before you take out cover, we establish your wishes and needs.
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