Monthly car costs in The Netherlands

First of all, car insurance is mandatory in the Netherlands, like in most countries. The mandatory third-party insurance is called the ‘WA’ insurance, which covers damaged caused to others. On top of that, you can get ‘WA+’ or ‘beperkt casco’ insurance, which covers theft, fire damage, nature damage and window damage as well. Full coverage is called ‘WA volledig casco’ or simply ‘All Risk’. In that case, damage caused by yourself is covered as well.

If your get a car insurance your claim-free years are important. This is the number of years you haven’t claimed any damage. The more claim-free years you collect, the higher your no-claim discount will be. Therefore you’ll always get asked how many claim-free years you have, when you take out a new car insurance.

When you have a car registered in the Netherlands you need to pay road tax or motor vehicle tax, called ‘mrb’ in Dutch. The road tax has to be paid every 3 months. The amount of the tax depends on the weight of your vehicle, the fuel type and the province you live in. For a regular petrol car (e.g. a Volkswagen Golf) you usually have to pay between €560 and €680 annually. If you drive a fully electric car, you’re in luck. In that case, you don’t have to pay any road tax.

Regarding maintenance costs, the Netherlands is not really different from most other countries. Of course, the maintenance costs depend heavily on the type of car, the age of the car, the mileage, et cetera. Maintenance carried out at a dealership will be more expensive than maintenance carried out at a regular garage. One thing you should know about the Netherlands is that your car needs to be subjected to a mandatory vehicle inspection called APK (the Dutch equivalent of the MOT). This inspection has to be carried out annually, although less regularly in the first few years after buying a new car. You usually have to pay €20 to €50 for the inspection (which doesn’t include repairs).

One more thing we need to talk about are the fuel prices. Unfortunately, fuel in the Netherlands is more expensive than in most other countries. This is due to the high excise tax on fuel, particularly on petrol. Therefore, you probably want to drive a fuel-efficient car in the Netherlands, if you want to keep your car expenses limited.

If you live in the city, parking costs are also an regular part of your car costs. Especially in Amsterdam, parking can be pretty expensive. Parking in the city centre of Amsterdam costs €7,50 per hour on average. But don’t worry: not al Dutch cities are as expensive as Amsterdam. If you live in area with paid parking, you can get a parking permit. With a permit you don’t have to pay at a parking meter, but you have to pay a certain amount every 3 to 12 months (depending on where you live).

There’s one more thing that’s expensive in the Netherlands… the fines. Hopefully, this isn’t part of your monthly car costs, but we thought we should mention it. Exceeding the speed limit with 20 km/h on the highway can be fined with €219 for example. Overtaking on the right or driving through red lights can be fined with €280. We could give you some more examples, but you get the idea. Parking fines can be pretty expensive as well, so don’t forget to pay when necessary.

So… how much will your total car costs be when you live in the Netherlands? That’s a question we really can’t answer for you, since it depends on so many factors. However you can use an online tool to calculate your car costs. For example, Dutch traveller’s association ANWB has such a calculator, which helps to make an precise estimate of your car costs.