Basic cover
- Fire & lightning strike
- Storm
- Possessions away from home
- Water damage
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.
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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.
We compare your contents insurance across dozens of insurers, explain where the real differences lie, and arrange the switch from start to finish — without you having to chase it yourself.
Contents insurance
Compare
Get coveredThe structure of the cover in three parts, with an overview per situation below.
The basic cover insures the core of your student home contents insurance. We show what Nationale-Nederlanden and other insurers offer within it.
As well as fire and storm, also water damage, belongings outside the home and, with comprehensive cover, your own accidents.
The most complete cover. We compare Nationale-Nederlanden's extended version with the market.
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.
Insurers weigh these details differently. That is where your saving is.
We look at the terms as well as the premium, and stay your point of contact when there is a claim.
We are not tied to one insurer and compare on the basis of an objective analysis of several companies.
You call or email someone who knows your file. No menu options, no changing call centres.
We cancel your old policy and align the start date, so you are never a day without cover.
We report the claim and monitor how it is handled. In urgent cases you can reach us on the emergency line.
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.
Four points that make the difference between a policy that pays out and one that does not.
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.
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.
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.
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.
This is what people ask us most.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Every situation is different. For these situations we have a separate page.
Request a quote without obligation. We will look at which insurer best matches your activities and your risk.
Prefer to call? 072 - 509 24 56, weekdays 09:00–17:00.
Claim on the road? Emergency line 06 - 55 20 40 72.
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.
You will find our licence, KvK and Kifid details and our complaints procedure at the foot of every page.
This page was compiled by Finass Verzekert (LinkedIn). Last updated on .
The information on this page is general in nature and is not personal advice.
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