Nationale · compared independently · advice from Finass
Home contents insurance for students through Nationale-Nederlanden
In student accommodation the question shifts from what is in the house to who the occupant is: living away from home or at home decides whether your parents' policy still does anything.
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
As long as a student is registered at the parents' address and has their main residence there, their contents usually fall under the family policy, even if they sleep elsewhere during the week. As soon as they live away from home and register at the address of their room, that cover stops or falls back to a small amount for contents temporarily housed elsewhere. That moment is the hardest part of the whole file, because no letter arrives about it.
A student room policy also looks at a different kind of home. In a room with a shared front door there is rarely any need to force the room door itself to get in, whereas forced entry is precisely the condition on which theft is paid. If a laptop disappears from a communal kitchen or from an unlocked room, under most policy conditions that is not covered theft but a disappearance.
On top of that, for students the value sits in a few items: a laptop, a phone, a bicycle, sometimes an instrument. Each of those is vulnerable to theft away from home and is partly subject to separate rules. We look at whether a room policy of your own is needed or whether an extension to the parents' policy is enough.
Through Finass or direct with Nationale-Nederlanden?
The structure of the cover in three parts, with an overview per situation below.
Basic cover
The basic cover insures the core of your student home contents insurance. We show what Nationale-Nederlanden and other insurers offer within it.
Fire & lightning strike
Storm
Possessions away from home
Water damage
Extended cover
As well as fire and storm, also water damage, belongings outside the home and, with comprehensive cover, your own accidents.
Burglary, theft & vandalism
Jewellery & valuables (limited)
Machinery & equipment
Comprehensive cover
The most complete cover. We compare Nationale-Nederlanden's extended version with the market.
Garden & garden furniture
Jewellery & valuables (limited)
Glass breakage
Higher cover for valuables
What is covered
Situation
Extended
Comprehensive
Fire, smoke and water damage in the home
Yes
Yes
Theft after forced entry
Yes
Yes
Knocks and falls at home
No
Yes
Loss or theft away from home
Provided that
Provided that
Damage during transport, repair or exhibition
Provided that
Provided that
Wear, shrinkage, damp and insect damage
No
No
A home contents policy has sub-limits: for jewellery, audiovisual equipment and collections a lower limit applies than for the rest of the contents. If your items exceed that, you insure them separately on a valuables policy, usually on the basis of a valuation (7:960 DCC). Underinsurance leads to a proportionately lower payout.
What we do
What we do
At Finass
Direct with Nationale
Comparison across several insurers
Yes
No
Advice based on your own situation
Yes
Sometimes
One point of contact for claims
Yes
Sometimes
Cancellation with your current insurer arranged
Yes
No
We determine whether Nationale is the best choice
Yes
No
Advice fees for you as a customer
No
No
This overview concerns our service, not the cover. What is actually covered is set out in the policy conditions and on the insurer's insurance card (verzekeringskaart); you receive both before you take out cover.
Where things go wrong in practice
Four points that make the difference between a policy that pays out and one that does not.
Living away from home is the pivot
The family policy insures the contents at the risk address. If your child registers at the address of their room, that is a change in risk which you must report. If that notification is not given, an insurer can fall back at claim stage on what actually applied. Some policies include limited cover for the contents of children living away from home, but the amount is small and the cover is often restricted to fire and burglary with forced entry.
Signs of forced entry to the room door
Theft is paid after demonstrable forced entry. In a student house an intruder often gets in through an open front door or with a key that circulates, and then there are no signs. If a laptop then disappears, in insurance terms that is not a burglary. A room door with a proper lock, and using it, is therefore not only practical but literally determines whether anything is paid.
Bicycle, laptop and phone away from home
Precisely the items that go out every day are subject to the tightest restrictions. For the bicycle, the rule is usually that a contents policy does not cover it away from home and that separate bicycle insurance is needed. A phone snatched in the street does not count as burglary, and neither does a laptop that disappears from a bag without forced entry. Loss without an identifiable event is always excluded.
Tenant's improvements to the room
Whatever a student changes in the room, from a floor they laid to shelves and a lamp they fitted, falls under tenant's improvements and not automatically under contents. If they damage something belonging to the landlord, that is not a contents claim but liability, and on a liability insurance the care, custody and control provision applies to it. So two losses in one room can fall under two different policies, or under neither.
Value & stock
Machinery & installations
What does your premium depend on?
Living away from home or at home. Registration at the address of the room determines which policy actually carries the risk.
Type of home. A self-contained studio with its own front door is a different risk from a room in a building with shared access.
Number of co-residents. The more people who have a key and access, the harder forced entry is to demonstrate.
Value of the laptop and equipment. With students almost the whole value sits in a few devices, which quickly makes the sub-limit decisive.
Lock and security of the room door. A room door that can be properly locked is the condition against which theft inside a building is assessed.
A stay abroad. An exchange period temporarily moves the risk address and calls for a separate arrangement.
Insurers weigh these details differently. That is where your saving is.
How we arrange it
You request a quoteWe take stock of your situation, your risk and your wishes.
We compareseveral insurers, on premium as well as conditions.
You receive a proposalWith an explanation of the differences and the exclusions.
We arrange the switchIncluding cancellation, so there is no gap in cover.
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.
Is my child in student accommodation still insured under our policy?
Only if they are still registered at your address and have their main residence there. On registering at the address of the room they become a student living away from home and under most policy conditions the contents fall outside the cover, or are covered only up to a small amount for limited perils. Always report the move. It is a change of risk that directly affects the cover.
My laptop has disappeared from the student house. Is that covered?
That depends on the signs of forced entry. If entry was forced to the building or to the room door, it is theft and usually covered up to the sub-limit for equipment. If there are no signs, for instance because the front door was open or the room was not locked, the policy conditions speak of a disappearance and there is no cover. Reporting it to the police is necessary in both cases.
Is the bicycle included?
Away from home, almost never. A home contents insurance covers the bicycle at most in a locked store or shed at the house, and then only after forced entry. For theft in the street, at the station or on campus, separate bicycle insurance is needed, with the original keys and the lock required when you report the claim.
And during a period of study abroad?
A home contents insurance is tied to a Dutch risk address. If your child moves abroad for a semester, the cover does not move with them and a travel insurance offers at most cover for luggage for a limited length of trip. We discuss in advance which solution fits the length of stay, because there is a big difference between a short trip and a move.
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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