Written by Onur Arslan, personal injury attorney at Arslan Advocaten. Registered in the Netherlands Bar’s register of specialist fields (rechtsgebiedenregister) for employment law and personal injury. Last updated: 21 September 2026.
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Personal injury compensation is the total of all the loss you suffer as a result of the accident: your financial loss as well as compensation for the suffering itself. That total is not a single amount, but a series of separate heads of loss that you have to identify and substantiate one by one. As a rule, what is not claimed is not compensated either, and that is exactly where most compensation awards end up too low.
This page lists the heads of loss: what each one covers, what the discussion with the insurer is usually about, and where you can find a detailed explanation of each item.
What does personal injury compensation consist of?
The law works with a twofold division. Article 6:95(1) of the Dutch Civil Code (BW) provides that the loss to be compensated consists of financial loss and other harm, the latter “to the extent that the law confers a right to compensation for it”. For injury, Article 6:106 of the Dutch Civil Code confers that right: anyone who has suffered physical injury is entitled to compensation, fixed on an equitable basis, for harm that does not consist of financial loss. In plain terms: your material loss and your compensation for pain and suffering (smartengeld).
Your material loss is everything that can be expressed in money. Article 6:96(1) of the Dutch Civil Code includes both losses incurred and loss of profit. So it is not only about bills you have already paid, but also about income you will no longer earn because of the injury. Your non-material loss is the compensation for pain, fear, grief and the things you can no longer do as you did before.
What people consistently misjudge is the relationship between the two. With serious injury, compensation for pain and suffering is usually the smallest part of the claim: loss of earning capacity over a whole career, lifelong care and adaptations to the home generally far exceed it. Anyone who negotiates only about the amount for pain and suffering leaves most of their loss on the table.
Two provisions shape the whole picture. Article 6:97 of the Dutch Civil Code allows the court to assess the loss in the manner most consistent with its nature, and to estimate it if its extent cannot be determined precisely; for future loss, estimation is the rule rather than the exception. And Article 6:98 of the Dutch Civil Code provides that only loss which can be attributed to the liable party as a consequence of the event qualifies for compensation. In practice, that last point, the causal link, is more often the bone of contention than liability itself.
The heads of loss at a glance
Below are the items that most often arise in a personal injury file, each with the page on which we explain it in detail.
Income you miss out on
What you can no longer do yourself
Costs you incur
Compensation for the suffering itself
If a loved one has died or been seriously injured
What happens to your money afterwards
Loss of earning capacity: usually the largest item
Loss of earning capacity is the difference between the income you would have had without the accident and the income you can still earn with your limitations. The starting point is not your current payslip, but your career as it would have developed without the accident.
This means that the calculation goes further than lost wages over the past months. It takes into account, among other things, the promotion that was in the pipeline, the overtime and allowances that were earned on a structural basis, the bonus, the lower pension accrual and the point at which you would have stopped working without the accident. For young victims with no work history, the assessment looks at education, aptitude and the labour market in their field.
Because it concerns the future, the extent cannot be determined exactly. Article 6:97 of the Dutch Civil Code allows for this: the court assesses the loss in the manner most consistent with its nature, and estimates it if it cannot be determined precisely. In practice, an actuary compares two scenarios (the situation without the accident and the situation with the accident), and the difference, discounted to its present value, is your loss.
What the insurer pushes for on this item: a shorter period, lower career progression, a higher residual earning capacity and a higher discount rate. Each of those four levers shifts the outcome by tens of thousands of euros, without a single word being said about your injury. So never leave a calculation unchecked.
Help from loved ones: loss, even without an invoice
Work you can no longer do yourself because of the injury is a loss, even if a family member or neighbour takes it over without pay. This is the item that is most often forgotten, and it can add up considerably in a file over the years.
It covers three things that often overlap in practice: household help (cleaning, cooking, shopping, childcare), personal care and nursing, and loss of DIY capacity (odd jobs, gardening, repairs and maintenance on your home and car that you used to do yourself). For all three, there does not have to be a bill in order to claim them. The Dutch Personal Injury Council (Letselschade Raad) uses guidelines with standard amounts for these items, which serve as a starting point in negotiations.
Article 6:107 of the Dutch Civil Code is the statutory basis here: costs incurred by someone other than the victim for the victim’s benefit also qualify for compensation, to the extent that the victim could have claimed them had he incurred them himself. Practical advice: from the very first week, keep a notebook recording who helped you, when, for how many hours and with what. Later on, that notebook is often more convincing than any legal argument.
Compensation for pain and suffering: on an equitable basis, not by table
Compensation for pain and suffering is compensation for the suffering itself and is determined on an equitable basis, taking into account all the circumstances of the case. There is no statutory table. However, courts look to amounts awarded in comparable cases.
Factors taken into account: the nature and severity of the injury, the duration and intensity of the pain and treatment, permanent limitations and disfigurement, the consequences for work, family, sport and social life, your age, and the nature of the liability. With serious injury, what is decisive is not the injury as it appears on the scan, but what it has done to your daily life.
Two misconceptions. The first: that compensation for pain and suffering is “the” compensation. With permanent injury, it is usually the smallest item. The second: that the amount is fixed per injury. Two people with the same knee injury may receive very different amounts, because one is fully back at work and the other can no longer practise their profession.
If a loved one dies
In the event of death, the claim shifts to the surviving relatives. Article 6:108 of the Dutch Civil Code gives a right to compensation for loss of maintenance to those who depended on it, and for funeral costs to the person who bore them. Since the Bereavement Damages Act (Wet affectieschade), the same article also grants compensation for bereavement damages to a defined circle of loved ones (partner, parents, children and a few other categories) for the grief caused by the death. For loved ones of someone who has suffered serious and permanent injury, the same compensation is provided for in Article 6:107(1)(b) of the Dutch Civil Code.
There is also shock damage: the psychological harm suffered personally by someone who was directly confronted with the accident or its consequences. That is a separate claim with its own conditions, and not the same as bereavement damages.
Three things that can still shift the final amount
Contributory negligence. If you also made a mistake yourself, the compensation is apportioned under Article 6:101 of the Dutch Civil Code according to the extent to which each party’s conduct contributed to the loss, after which an equitable adjustment may follow. So a degree of contributory negligence does not mean that nothing is left. In addition, road traffic liability law contains protective rules for cyclists and pedestrians under the age of fourteen and, in principle, for adult non-motorised road users.
Statutory interest. Statutory interest accrues on loss you have already suffered from the moment it arose (Article 6:119 of the Dutch Civil Code). In a file that lasts for years, this is not a minor item but a substantial amount in its own right, so make sure the interest is tracked per head of loss and claimed as well.
The costs of your own lawyer. Once liability has been established, the reasonable costs of legal assistance are in principle borne by the liable party under Article 6:96(2) of the Dutch Civil Code, as a separate head of loss in addition to your loss. They are therefore not deducted from your compensation. How this works exactly, and what the exceptions are, is explained on our page on personal injury and what it costs you.
Why the first offer is rarely the final offer
An insurer that quickly names a round figure is usually buying off two things: the items that have not yet been calculated, and the time in which your complaints may still develop. As a rule, compensation is settled with full and final discharge, and with that you also close the door on loss that only becomes apparent later.
So do not sign as long as your final medical condition is unclear, have the future loss calculated before you agree, and always ask for a tax indemnity. If you need money while the case is still ongoing, an advance payment is the right route, not a quick final settlement.
What we do for you
We map out your loss item by item, involve an actuary and a medical adviser where necessary, and conduct the negotiations with the insurer. Alongside our lawyers, we have NIVRE-registered personal injury experts, so that the legal strategy and the loss calculation are part of the same file instead of running in parallel without coordination.
The first consultation is free of charge and confidential. We assess whether you have a case and will tell you honestly if you do not. Six offices in the Netherlands; we also speak Turkish, Polish and English.
Have your loss assessed free of charge. Call 070 450 0300 or send us your documents. We will tell you in advance who bears which costs in your case, and from what point.
Further reading
Has it not yet been established who is liable, or is the discussion about whether your complaints are caused by the accident? Then start with liability or with personal injury: do you have a case. Would you like to know how long a case takes and which steps follow? Then read what a personal injury claim process looks like and how long a personal injury case takes.
