What does a year on the road cost? Living costs per region, and what keeps running in the Netherlands

A year on the road costs more than tickets, food and a bed. In the Netherlands, costs keep running that are easy to forget: your health insurance, a storage unit, your phone number, and perhaps the voluntary AOW. A family may also miss out on child benefit and allowances. Living costs on the road can only be given as an estimate. The fixed costs in the Netherlands you can calculate exactly, and that is where you start.

Three things to know in advance:

• Your budget has two parts: what keeps running in the Netherlands, and what you spend on the road.
• Whether your care, AOW and child benefit continue depends on the SVB, not on your registration.
• The calculator on the costs page for life on the road lists the items for your situation.

What keeps running in the Netherlands, and what stops?

If you cancel your rent, energy and subscriptions, those stop. Other costs keep running, or are added.

Item	What happens
Health insurance	Keeps running if you are away for less than a year, even if you deregister. After that, an international policy
Supplementary or travel insurance	Added, for care above the Dutch rate and for repatriation
Phone number	Keep your Dutch mobile number for the DigiD and bank codes
Storage	Monthly rent, for the whole trip. A few boxes at family costs nothing
Your car	If you suspend it with the RDW, you pay no motor vehicle tax and third-party insurance is not required
A house you keep	Mortgage, insurance and municipal taxes keep running

Suspending a passenger car up to 15 years old costs € 88.05 at the RDW for one year, € 117.15 for two and € 146.25 for three years. If you stop earlier, you get nothing back.

You can read more about your care in health insurance on a world trip. The Rijksoverheid says: "For trips shorter than 1 year you remain insured under Dutch law." If you are away longer, an international policy often becomes the biggest cost of the year.

What does the voluntary AOW cost?

You only pay it if the SVB no longer sees you as a resident of the Netherlands. Then you stop building up AOW, and later you get 2 percent less AOW for each year. A voluntary insurance closes that gap.

The premium for 2026, according to the SVB:

• AOW. 17.9 percent of your income, at least € 569 and at most € 5,693 a year. With an income of € 38,883 or more, you pay the maximum.
• Anw, the survivor's benefit. 0.1 percent, at least € 3 and at most € 31 a year.

If you have little or no income on the road, you pay the minimum premium. If you travel together, this applies to each of you separately. How and when to sign up is in your AOW build-up stops when you leave.

What does a family miss out on?

Less than you might think. The SVB writes about child benefit: if you stay outside the Netherlands temporarily, for example for a world trip, "you usually remain insured". Working on the road can change that. And if the SVB no longer sees you as a resident, child benefit stops.

What you then miss out on, per child per quarter (second half of 2026):

Age of child	Child benefit per quarter
0 up to and including 5	€ 298.40
6 up to and including 11	€ 362.35
12 up to and including 17	€ 426.29

In addition:

• The child-related budget follows child benefit. If one stops, so does the other.
• Rent allowance stops when you give up your rented home.
• Healthcare allowance depends on your Dutch health insurance. If you cancel that, it stops.

An allowance you are no longer entitled to, you stop yourself. Otherwise you pay it back later.