It happens every now and then: the Netherlands is the insurance champion. Although that statement requires some nuance, many Dutch people pay too much money because they are overinsured. What exactly is that and how do you find out if this applies to you?
What is over-insurance?
“You are then insured for a risk that you do not run,” says insurance expert Michel Ypma of Independer. A good example, he says, is a couple with older children. “The more children they have, the more premium they pay for their home contents insurance. But if the children have already left home and the couple still has the same insurance, then they are ‘too well’ insured and therefore pay too much money.”
How can you be over-insured?
Some people have double insurance: for example, this sometimes applies to partners who move in together and both – unnecessarily – keep their own insurance policies. In addition, there may also be overlap between insurance policies, says Ypma. “Take travel insurance, for example. Some people are already insured for damage to their belongings on holiday through home insurance with outdoor coverage, but at the same time they also have travel insurance that covers this risk. It is not necessary.”
And sometimes you can easily bear the risk yourself. For example, not everyone needs to insure their phone, because they can easily buy a new one if their phone breaks down.
How can you check whether you are overinsured?
“It is in any case wise to periodically check the conditions of your insurance policies,” says a spokesperson for the Consumers’ Association. For example, are you staying in the Netherlands this year, but do you have travel insurance with worldwide coverage? Then it pays to adjust that insurance. You can also perform such a check on other policies. That can save quite a bit of money every month, although you will have to read through the policy conditions. A call to the insurer can also provide clarity.
With which insurance policies does it often occur?
Ypma mentions travel insurance again: “It often overlaps with home contents insurance coverage and there is also a care component for which people are often already insured.” According to him, car owners are also often overinsured: “People with an older car are often covered for more damage than their car is worth. They probably pay too much premium.”
Is the Netherlands the champion of (over)insurance?
“That is a rather persistent rumor,” says a spokesperson for the Dutch Association of Insurers. “The Netherlands is indeed the country in the European lists in which the most premiums are collected. But that is because we pay our health insurance premiums to health insurers here, while in other countries this is often arranged through taxes. If you take away those health insurance premiums and compare it to our level of prosperity, then we are a fairly average country in the Netherlands.”