Commission-Free Dutch Insurance Advice: Stop Overpaying for Your Coverage

1. How the Commission System Works — and Why It Works Against You

To understand what commission-free insurance delivers, you first need to understand the system that has been charging you for years. When you take out a damage insurance policy through a traditional insurance broker — an advisor, or a comparison website — that party receives a recurring financial reward from the insurer for bringing and managing your business. This reward is called a commission (provisie).

The commission is never billed separately. It is bundled silently into the premium you pay each month. The insurer charges you a consumer premium that already incorporates this margin, then transfers the commission to the intermediary behind the scenes. Your bank statement shows one clean number. It never reads '€18 of which is your advisor's commission'.

This system is entirely legal. It is also decades old. It is precisely why the Dutch government decided in 2013 to ban commissions on complex financial products — mortgages, life insurance, pensions. The reasoning was straightforward: if an advisor earns more on an expensive product, that creates a perverse incentive. Damage insurance was deliberately excluded from that legislation. That has not changed.

2. The Hard Numbers: What Commission Actually Costs You

Commissions are calculated as a percentage of the net premium — the amount the insurer charges for the pure risk, before the mandatory 21% Dutch insurance tax (assurantiebelasting) and any policy fees are added. Standard commission percentages by policy type are:

• Car insurance (WA, WA+, All-Risk): 15% to 20% of the net premium. If the intermediary also acts as an underwriting agent (volmacht) handling claims administration, up to 8% in additional underwriting commission may apply — pushing total margin above 25%.
• Home contents insurance (inboedel): 20% to 25% of the net premium.
• Buildings insurance (opstal): 20% to 25% of the net premium.
• Personal liability (AVP): 20% to 25% of the net premium.
• Annual travel insurance: 20% to 25% of the net premium.
• Legal expenses insurance (rechtsbijstand): 15% to 20% of the net premium.

Let us translate this into a concrete household example with a typical Dutch insurance portfolio. We use net premiums (before insurance tax) and an average 20% commission rate:

• All-Risk car insurance: net annual premium €720 → commission €144 per year
• Buildings insurance: net annual premium €360 → commission €72 per year
• Home contents insurance: net annual premium €216 → commission €43 per year
• Personal liability (AVP): net annual premium €84 → commission €17 per year
• Annual travel insurance: net annual premium €96 → commission €19 per year

Total net annual premium: €1,476. Total commission: €295 per year. Over five years: €1,475 paid to intermediaries in embedded fees. And this is before annual premium increases, which compound the total upward every year.

Including 21% insurance tax, this household pays €1,786 per year in consumer premiums. Switching to commission-free net premiums drops this immediately to €1,429 — a difference of €357 per year, without altering a single line of coverage.

Beyond eliminating hidden commissions, there are other powerful ways to optimize your premiums. For instance, you can prevent double insurance coverage, evaluate whether a package discount is cheaper than single policies, increase your deductibles to assuming part of the risk for a lower base rate, or opt for annual instead of monthly payments to avoid service surcharges.

3. Comparison Websites Are Not Free Either — They Earn Exactly the Same

This is the misconception most consumers hold: 'I signed up directly via Independer or Pricewise, so I have no intermediary and pay no commission.' This is factually incorrect.

Dutch comparison websites are registered with the AFM (financial regulator) as 'execution-only' intermediaries. They are prohibited from giving personalised advice under that licence type, but they collect the exact same ongoing commissions as a traditional broker — for every year your policy remains active. The insurer pays the comparison site; you pay through the embedded margin in your premium.

In other words: you pay the same commission as you would with a traditional advisor, but you receive nothing in return. No guidance on claims, no annual portfolio review, no proactive alert when your circumstances change. The comparison site collects the commission passively, year after year, with zero further involvement.

Dutch consumers take out an estimated €2 billion or more in new damage insurance premiums annually via comparison platforms. This represents hundreds of millions of euros per year in commission payments to parties that perform no further service after the sale.

If you are deciding on the best channel for your situation, check our comparison of buying insurance via a comparison site vs an advisor. For those looking for a transparent, fee-based alternative to Independer and other traditional portals, a commission-free model represents a much cleaner structure.

4. How Commission-Free Advice Actually Works — and Why It Is Widely Available

Commission-free insurance advice is not a new or unproven concept. It has existed for decades as a professional model, historically reserved for large corporate clients who had sufficient bargaining power to negotiate net-net premiums. In recent years, this model has become fully accessible to private individuals.

The mechanics are straightforward. A commission-free advisor has contractual arrangements with major Dutch insurers to place policies at net premium rates — the price the insurer charges for pure risk, stripped of any sales remuneration. The same Centraal Beheer, Aegon, Interpolis, NN, or Allianz policy you hold today, but priced at 100% net.

Instead of receiving compensation from the insurer, the commission-free advisor charges you a transparent fee directly. This is typically a fixed monthly subscription (usually €8 to €15 per month for a full household package), a one-time advice fee, or a combination. The fee is fully visible: it appears as a separate line on your bank statement and you know exactly what you are paying for.

This fee-based structure removes the conflict of interest inherent in commission sales. In our breakdown of commission-free advice vs traditional brokers, you can see exactly how this subscription model pays for itself.

• Availability: Virtually all major Dutch damage insurers cooperate with commission-free advisors. There are no special eligibility requirements for you as a client — any household can access the commission-free model.
• Identical coverage: A commission-free policy is legally and substantively identical to the standard version — same policy terms, same coverage scope, same insurer.
• Immediate effect: From the first premium due date after switching, you pay the net rate. There is no waiting period.
• Existing policies: Most active policies can be transferred to net-rate pricing at the same insurer without a new underwriting assessment or policy cancellation.

5. Traditional vs. Commission-Free: The Complete Side-by-Side

To make the differences concrete, here is a full comparison across every relevant dimension for an average Dutch household (two adults, owned home, one car):

• Premium level — Traditional: consumer premium including 20% commission margin. Commission-free: net premium plus transparent subscription fee. Net difference: €150 to €400 per year depending on portfolio size.
• Transparency — Traditional: commission is invisible and bundled into the premium. Commission-free: advisor compensation is fully itemised and visible on your bank statement.
• Incentive structure — Traditional: advisor earns more from a more expensive policy, which can subtly compromise objectivity. Commission-free: advisor earns the same regardless of premium level, making advice structurally neutral.
• Claims assistance — Traditional: depends entirely on advisor quality; with comparison sites, support is effectively zero. Commission-free: active claims guidance is included in the subscription.
• Portfolio reviews — Traditional: almost never proactive. Commission-free: periodic coverage and premium reviews are part of the service package (for instance, to identify and resolve risks like underinsurance on your home).
• Availability — Traditional: universally available. Commission-free: also universally available to private individuals; no special conditions.

The only scenario where the traditional model is financially preferable is a single, very low-premium policy. If you hold only a personal liability policy costing €60 per year, the embedded commission is approximately €12 — less than most monthly subscription fees. But for two or three policies — the reality for virtually every Dutch household — the commission-free model wins financially on every metric.

6. Which Policies Generate the Biggest Savings?

Not all policies generate the same savings when switching to commission-free. Absolute savings are higher where the premium is larger and the commission percentage is higher. Here is the priority ranking for a typical household:

• Car insurance (All-Risk): By far the largest savings driver. This is particularly relevant when you want to insure a new car smartly or when deciding whether to adjust coverage as the vehicle ages. Use our All-Risk downgrade checklist to evaluate if a car insurance downgrade is appropriate for your car's age. For expats, getting a car insurance without commission is often combined with transferring foreign claim-free years.
• Buildings insurance (opstal): With an average net premium of €300 to €500 per year and 20% to 25% commission, the annual saving is €60 to €125. Switching to a commission-free buildings insurance eliminates this hidden fee.
• Home contents insurance (inboedel): Saving of €40 to €80 per year depending on insured sum and coverage module. To ensure you aren't paying for excess value, check our contents valuation checklist or compare contents insurance without commission.
• Legal expenses insurance (rechtsbijstand): 15% to 20% commission on an average €15 to €25 per month premium yields a saving of €27 to €60 per year. See also our guide on commission-free legal insurance.
• Annual travel insurance: Lower absolute saving (€15 to €30 per year) but trivially easy to include in a combined package via a commission-free travel policy.
• Personal liability (AVP): Lowest absolute saving (€10 to €20 per year) but a cost worth eliminating regardless by choosing liability insurance without commission.

The recommended approach is to convert your entire portfolio in one action. By switching all policies simultaneously, you maximise the total saving and pay only a single subscription fee for the complete household package.

7. How to Switch to Commission-Free: Step by Step

Switching to commission-free insurance advice is simpler than most people expect. You do not need to cancel policies, undergo new underwriting, or wait weeks for the change to take effect. Here is how it works:

8. The Most Common Objections — and Why They Don't Hold Up

We regularly hear hesitations from consumers considering the switch to commission-free advice. Here are the most frequent, with the facts alongside them.

• 'My current advisor has always been helpful' — That is genuinely valuable. A good relationship with an advisor matters. Commission-free advisors also provide personal service — the difference is that their advice is structurally unaffected by which product pays more. And you pay them less.
• 'Switching sounds like a lot of work' — In practice, the switch requires one conversation or one online form. The advisor handles all administrative steps. There is no cancellation you need to manage yourself and no gap in coverage.
• 'My coverage will probably get worse' — This is the most persistent misconception. Commission-free policies are legally identical to the standard product — down to the fine print. You buy the same product from the same insurer at a lower price.
• 'Now I am paying for advice when it used to be free' — Advice was never free. You were paying for it all along through the commission embedded in your premium — you just could not see it. It is now visible on your statement but structurally cheaper than the hidden version it replaces.
• 'I prefer to manage everything online myself' — A completely valid preference. But be aware that doing so through comparison sites still leaves the full commission built into your premium, with no advisor support in return. You are paying for something and receiving nothing.