A package for self-employed professionals: what it does and does not include
A package is a folder, not an insurance in its own right. Each section keeps its own conditions, and what is not in it determines how exposed you remain.
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In brief
A package brings separate policies together on one policy schedule, with one collection date, one contract renewal date and usually a package discount that rises with the number of sections. The usual components for a self-employed professional are public and employers' liability, professional indemnity, legal expenses, business contents and goods, tools, business interruption and a cyber cover. The broader business set-up is covered on the page SME insurance package.
The misunderstanding lies in the word package. One policy schedule does not mean one set of conditions: each section has its own exclusions, its own sum insured, its own excess and sometimes its own waiting period. A claim is therefore always assessed against the section it falls under, and not against the package as a whole. The advantage is that no gap opens up between two policies because one runs from 1 January and the other from 1 July.
What is not included as standard is the part that concerns you personally. A disability insurance, your health insurance and your pension are separate contracts with an acceptance process of their own, including medical questions. For a self-employed person without staff that is often the biggest risk, while the package mainly deals with damage you cause to other people or to your own things.
This page deals with one situation. The full overview is on SME insurance package.
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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 are not tied to one insurer and compare on the basis of an objective analysis of several companies.
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You call or email someone who knows your file. No menu options, no changing call centres.
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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 the package does what you expect of it.
The business activity applies to all sections at once
At the top of the policy schedule is a single description of what you do. That sentence determines whether a claim falls inside or outside the cover, in every section. If you branch out — a joiner who takes on roofing work, a copywriter who starts building websites: report it. Article 7:928 of the Dutch Civil Code requires you to declare correctly; Article 7:930 of the Dutch Civil Code governs what happens if that is not accurate.
Liability is two insurances, not one
Public and employers' liability insurance covers injury and property damage: someone falls, something gets broken. Professional indemnity insurance covers pure financial loss: an error in advice, design or calculation that costs your client money without anything being broken. Anyone who has only the first and does advisory work is left empty-handed when the most common claim in their field comes along.
Starter, complete or put together yourself
A starter package keeps to the basics; a complete package adds business interruption and cyber cover. There are also sector versions for construction, the IT and the healthcare. Do not compare the package name, but the sections underneath it.
What is in no section at all
First, there is redoing your own work: the cost of putting defective work right is not an insured loss, although the consequential loss sometimes is. Second, there are fines and penalty payments, because those are punishments and not compensation. Third, damage caused by intent or recklessness, which is excluded under Article 7:952 of the Dutch Civil Code. Guarantees that you stretch further by contract than the law requires also remain at your own expense.
What does your premium depend on?
- Number of sections chosen: determines the premium and the size of the package discount
- Turnover and nature of the work: the usual measure for the liability sections
- Sums insured per section: set separately per claim and per insurance year
- Excess per section: a higher excess on property damage brings the premium down
- Working area: the Netherlands, Europe or worldwide, usually excluding North America
- Claims history and hired-in workers: earlier claims and hiring in colleagues both count
Insurers weigh these details differently. That is where your saving is.
What is covered in the package
| Situation | Basic | Extended |
|---|---|---|
| A client trips over your extension lead and breaks a wrist | Yes | Yes |
| You damage the client's parquet floor while working there | No | Provided that |
| Your van is emptied on the building site | No | Provided that |
| A client leaves your invoices unpaid and stops responding altogether | No | Yes |
| Your client goes bankrupt and the outstanding invoice stays unpaid | No | No |
| You redo work free of charge because the client is unhappy with the result | No | No |
What you did wrong yourself and then put right is a business risk, not an insured loss.
Frequently asked questions
This is what people ask us most.
Do I need a package at all as a self-employed person without staff?
Not necessarily. If you work purely digitally and never set foot at a client's premises, two separate policies may be enough. As soon as you work on site, have clients' property in your care, or work with your own tools and stock, those sections mount up quickly and bundling becomes more practical: one renewal date, one point of contact and one change to make when you move.
Is disability insurance part of the package?
No. An AOV is a personal insurance with its own application, a health declaration and sometimes a medical examination. It falls outside the general insurance in the package. The same goes for personal accident insurance, which you can often take out alongside the package. Both are about your own income, not about damage to others.
What happens to the whole package after a single claim?
The claim is settled within the section concerned and in principle does not affect the other parts. At renewal, though, an insurer looks at the overall claims record of the relationship, and after repeated claims it can adjust the premium, propose a higher excess or cancel a section. The package then continues for the remaining parts.
Can I add or drop sections later?
Yes. Adding is usually possible straight away and takes effect on the date of acceptance. Dropping a section is normally possible at the contract renewal date or, after the first year, on any day at short notice. Bear in mind that the package discount is based on the number of sections, so dropping one part can push up the premium for the rest a little.
Every situation is different. For these situations we have a separate page.
- Insurance packagesThe main page
- A package policy or separate policies as a self-employed professionalSections, renewal, coherence
- Insurance package for self-employed professionals (zzp'ers)AVB, BAV, AOV and business contents
- SME insurance packageAll sections, one policy, package discount
- Insurance package for self-employed professionalsFor sole traders, liability, income
- Insurance package for private individualsOne policy schedule, package discount, separate conditions
- The personal insurance packageOne policy schedule, sections, package discount
- Compare personal insurance packagesOne policy schedule, package discount, one point of contact