Personal liability insurance for damage to someone else

It has happened to every parent with young children at some point: ‘Dad! I accidentally kicked a ball through the neighbour’s window!’ That means calling on the insurance. Fortunately, that is what personal liability insurance is for. And what about Dad himself, who in a clumsy moment accidentally knocks over an expensive vase in a restaurant? Here are a number of things policyholders need to know about personal liability insurance for when damage is caused to someone else. This page describes the situation in the Netherlands.

For when you are liable

If you are liable, you are held responsible for the damage you cause to someone else. In that case, you are obliged to bear the consequences of that act. With personal liability insurance (AVP) that is no problem at all. The damage is covered by the insurance.

A good example of this: you go to a festival with some friends. For a laugh, you jump on a friend’s back. It seemed so funny, but he loses his balance and falls badly. At the hospital it turns out that both his legs are broken, and your friend cannot work for a while. That leads to a damage claim. Fortunately, the AVP covers that kind of damage.

Not a compulsory insurance

In the Netherlands, personal liability insurance is not compulsory. Third-party liability insurance (WA) is. These two types of insurance should not be confused with each other. The AVP is for private individuals, WA insurance is for people insuring motor vehicles. They are two different groups.

Even so, it can be very useful to have personal liability insurance. In the Netherlands, around 6 million people had such a policy in 2016. With it, you protect not only your own wallet, but also that of the person who suffers the damage. High damage claims are not easy to pay, and nobody wants legal proceedings.

Why an AVP can be very useful

Back to that example of the broken legs for a moment: those are healthcare costs. Most of them fall under the victim’s basic health insurance. Unfortunately, not all amounts can be reimbursed. After all, there is an excess and perhaps even a personal contribution. Those have to be recovered from the person who caused the harm. The health insurer can also go to the liability insurer of the person at fault to recover the costs.

In general, personal liability insurance is quite an affordable insurance. The premium varies by insurer and depends, among other things, on the composition of the household. Children living away from home in student rooms, guests staying over and pets are also covered.

Exceptions

A number of things are not covered. Think, for example, of incidents involving motor vehicles, or liability between people insured on the same policy. By this we mean family members who hold each other liable. The only exception to this is injury.

Intent, gross negligence, vandalism and being under the influence of alcohol or drugs are not covered by the insurance. Damage caused intentionally by a child aged 14 or younger is covered. It is always a good idea to read the policy conditions carefully before taking out an insurance policy.

The right claim in the right place

Anyone who wants to submit a claim would do well to first find out carefully where the claim should be submitted. As standard, the AVP pays out at most the current value (the value at the time of the damage). With an expensive vase that is knocked over, or a laptop that has coffee spilled over it, the injured party therefore often receives less than the new price. The home contents insurance of the person who caused the damage offers no solution for this: it is intended for the insured person's own belongings, not for someone else's.

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