Mon, 28 May 2012
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Third-party liability insurance for individuals - which covers you if you're sued for damaging property or injuring someone - is very popular in the Netherlands.
"Suing people is not common in the Netherlands," says Willem Lobbes, director of Lobbes Insurance in Amsterdam. Still, in many parts of the country people live so pressed together that broken windowpanes and dog bites are, as they say, accidents waiting to happen.
"I think the Dutch don't want to get into discussions or arguments with a friend if they break something," says Robert de Haast, director of Overseas Insurance in Hoofddorp, which specialises in expatriate clients. "The insurance company immediately says, 'Whose fault is it?' If it's a friend's fault, the insurance company sues the friend."
If that friend has third-party liability insurance, her insurance company will deal with the claim for her. All for about NLG 80 to 115 a year. "One insurance company's chasing another" without involving the friends further in the dispute, says De Haast.
But if you're not insured when you cause damage - cracking a bank's glass revolving door, say - watch out, De Haast says. "The bank's insurance company might still sue you and you'd have to pay."
Even though more than 90 percent of Dutch people have third-party liability insurance, only about 50 percent of foreigners buy it, says De Haast. "Expatriates don't seem to think it's worthwhile, in my experience."
It's true that lawsuits don't happen often - "otherwise, the premiums would be higher," says De Haast - and most claims are small. NLG 100 or 200 for a crystal glass or the treatment of a dog bite is typical. Automobile third-party liability insurance is sold separately.
Most people in the Netherlands get third-party liability insurance "to not have the hassle of if you're responsible or not," says De Haast. "You tell them, 'I'm insured - contact my insurance company. Then it's a discussion between the two insurance companies."
One policy covers a whole family, including relatives, pets and houseguests, worldwide, De Haast says. "Most people who have dogs take it out."
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