Getting a bike in the Netherlands: where to buy one, how to check it is not stolen, and the locks, fines and parking rules that matter

The Netherlands has 22.8 million bicycles for about 17 million people, and bikes cover more than a quarter of all transport in the country. For a newcomer, a bike is the cheapest independent transport there is: no fuel and no tickets. It also comes with two real risks. Bike theft is so normal that only about a quarter of cases are reported to the police. And the used-bike market where you will shop is the same market where stolen bikes are sold on. This guide covers where to buy a bike, the free check that keeps you from buying a stolen one, the locks and insurance that matter, the traffic fines for cyclists, and the municipal rules that can make your bike disappear even when nobody stole it. How a bike fits your monthly budget next to an OV-chipkaart (the public transport card) is covered in the cost of living guide and the public transport guide.

A local bike shop (fietsenwinkel) sells new bikes and usually a row of used ones. It is the most expensive route, but you can see and test the bike, ask questions, and you get a proof of ownership (eigendomsbewijs). That receipt normally lists the frame number, and the police can only return a stolen bike to you when your theft report contains that number. Keep the receipt.

Most used bikes change hands on Marktplaats, the main Dutch marketplace, and on similar platforms and local Facebook groups. The choice is the biggest and the prices are the lowest. It is also where stolen bikes are resold, so do the frame-number check from the next section on every bike, meet the seller in person, and pay only when the bike is in your hands.

A subscription is the third route. Swapfiets, the largest provider, charges a fixed monthly price that includes repairs: in July 2026 roughly €17 to €24 per month for a normal city bike depending on the model and contract, and from about €65 for an e-bike. If the bike breaks, they repair or replace it. You can cancel with one month's notice. This is a practical option for your first months, when you do not yet know your routes or your budget. Over a longer period it costs more than owning a used bike. Read the theft conditions before you sign: Swapfiets charges you a surcharge when the bike is stolen, even if it was locked according to their rules.

E-bikes follow the same rules as normal bikes: no helmet obligation, no minimum age, no number plate and no separate insurance requirement. The motor may only assist while you pedal, up to 25 km/h. A speed pedelec (assistance up to 45 km/h) is legally a moped: it needs a plate, insurance and a helmet. One more difference: an e-bike is worth much more to a thief. For an e-bike, the locks and insurance below matter much more, and some insurers require a second lock for e-bikes.

Buying stolen goods is a criminal offence in the Netherlands. It is called heling, and the government's advice is direct: check before you buy. The check costs nothing and takes one minute. If a seller refuses to give the frame number, do not buy from them.

• Ask the seller for the frame number before you travel to the viewing. It is stamped into the frame, and it is printed on the original purchase receipt.
• Enter the brand and frame number in the fietsdiefstalregister, the national stolen-bike register run by RDW, the vehicle authority. Government.nl explains the register in English on its bicycles pages.
• Check the same number in the Stop Heling app or website. It searches the police database of goods reported stolen, and it works for anything with a serial number, not only bikes.
• On the spot, compare the frame number on the bike with the one you checked, and ask for the lock keys and any receipt.

A clean result is not a guarantee. The register only contains bikes reported stolen after 1 January 2008, the police can take up to 10 days to process a new report, and only about a quarter of thefts are reported at all. The check finds bikes that were reported stolen. For everything else, judge the seller and the price. Do not buy a nearly new bike offered for very little money by a seller who has no keys and no receipt. Walk away, even when the register shows nothing.

Dutch locks are certified by Stichting ART, an independent foundation that tests locks and rates them from 1 to 5 stars. The rating matters for insurance: nearly all insurers require an ART-certified lock before they will insure a bike against theft at all, and most require two stars (ART 2) as the minimum. When you buy a lock, keep the receipt and both keys, including the spare. Insurers ask for the original keys when you claim after a theft, and a missing spare key can sink the claim.

• Use two locks. The built-in ring lock (ringslot) plus a separate ART chain or U-lock forces a thief to break two different systems.
• Put the second lock through the frame and a wheel, and around something fixed: a bike rack, a lamp post, a solid fence. A bike that is only locked to itself can be carried into a van.
• Park where people are: busy streets, lit spots, official racks. A guarded bike garage (bewaakte fietsenstalling) is the safest place, and near stations and city centres there usually is one.
• Photograph the bike and store the frame number in your phone now. After a theft, the report is only useful if it contains that number.

Many newcomers assume their household insurance covers the bike. Mostly it does not. A contents policy (inboedelverzekering) covers theft from your home, and theft from a locked shed or storage box only when there are signs of forced entry. A bike taken from the street, at the station or in front of the supermarket is not covered. The liability and contents insurance guide explains those conditions in detail. For a bike that is parked outside every day, the product that actually covers street theft is a separate bike insurance (fietsverzekering).

Whether that policy is worth it is a simple comparison: put the yearly premium next to what replacing your bike would cost. For a cheap used city bike, the premium often buys you little. For an e-bike, theft cover is usually the whole point. If you do take a policy, read the lock requirement (usually ART 2, sometimes a second lock for e-bikes), lock the bike exactly that way every time, and keep the keys and receipts. After a theft, insurers pay out only when there is a police report, and they ask for the original keys.

First check whether the bike was removed rather than stolen. Municipalities clear wrongly parked and long-parked bikes on a schedule, and the official advice is to check the municipal bike depot before you report a theft. Search verlorenofgevonden.nl, the national found-items site that municipalities, police and bike depots fill together, and check your own municipality's depot page.

If the bike is really gone, report the theft to the police: online, by phone on 0900-8844, or at a station. Give the frame number or the chip number. The police state this clearly: only a report that contains the frame or chip number lets them return the bike to you when it turns up. With the report done, the bike enters the national stolen-bike register automatically, which makes it traceable at every later sale, and your insurer can pay out. Keep checking verlorenofgevonden.nl afterwards: found bikes surface there weeks later. If you spot your own bike for sale online, do not go and "buy" it back on your own; tell the police.

Report even without insurance and even when you expect nothing back. Your report puts the bike in the register, and the register is the only way a recovered bike comes back to you. It also makes the bike harder to resell, because every careful buyer now gets a hit on the frame number. Three quarters of thefts are never reported, and unreported bikes are easy to sell on.

Cyclists get real fines. These are the amounts that apply from 1 January 2026. The official lookup for every current amount is the Boetebase of the public prosecution service. On top of each fine, CJIB, the agency that collects fines, adds €9 administration costs, so the letter shows a higher number than the table.

The lighting rules are simple. In the dark and in bad visibility you need a white or yellow light at the front and a red light at the back. Fixed lights may not blink. Cheap clip-on lamps are legal on the bike, and you may also wear them on your chest or back, but not on your head, arms or legs. The bike must also have reflectors: red at the back, white or yellow on the wheels or tyres, and amber-yellow on the pedals. A broken light counts the same as no light, so check both lamps before winter and keep a spare set of clip lights in your bag.

Holding any mobile device while riding is forbidden: phones, but also tablets and music players. A phone in a holder on the handlebar is allowed, and so is hands-free use. Alcohol law applies on a bike just as in a car. Riding drunk is a criminal offence, and the prosecution guideline of the public prosecution service sets €200 for a first offence, from 235 micrograms of alcohol per litre of breath, which is just over the standard 0.5-promille limit (0.5 grams of alcohol per litre of blood). Repeat offences cost €300 to €400 and can bring a court case.

Where you may ride is set by article 5 of the RVV, the traffic code: use the mandatory cycle path (fietspad) where there is one, and the road where there is none. An optional cycle path (onverplicht fietspad) is allowed but not required. The sidewalk is for pedestrians, so walk your bike there. There is no helmet obligation and no minimum age for a normal bike or a normal e-bike.

Municipalities remove bikes to keep stations and shopping streets usable. Bikes parked outside the racks in regulated areas, and bikes that stand untouched for weeks, get a warning label and then go to a depot. Every municipality runs its own version of this. Den Haag is a clear example of how the labels work:

• Green label: the bike stands outside the racks in a regulated area, such as around a station. You then have 30 minutes before removal.
• Blue label: the bike has stood more than 7 days in racks in the city centre. You have 2 days to move it.
• Purple label: the bike has stood more than 28 days anywhere in public space. You have 2 days to move it.

Removed bikes go to the regional depot, where you can collect yours within 2 to 6 weeks, depending on the label, for €25. Collecting a stolen bike that the police recovered is free.

The practical rules that follow from this: park in the racks at stations even when it means walking further, do not leave a bike untouched in the street for weeks, and when your bike vanishes from a station or shopping street, check the depot before you report a theft. Search your city's name with "fiets verwijderd" (bike removed) to find the local depot rules, and check verlorenofgevonden.nl, where depots list what they hold.

Work in this order. First think about where it stood: a station area or shopping street means removal is likely, a quiet residential street at night means theft is likely. Second, search verlorenofgevonden.nl and your municipality's depot page, because depots register every bike they take in. Third, if the bike is not in the depot, file the police report with the frame number the same day. Speed matters: a depot only keeps a bike for a few weeks, and after the collection deadline you lose it.

The bike remains stolen property. When the police find it, they can return it to the original owner, and nobody refunds you. Contact the police yourself as soon as you know. If you keep riding a bike you know is stolen, a bad purchase can turn into a heling case against you. Whether you are prosecuted depends on what you could have known. A normal price, a normal seller and a clean register check protect you. A very cheap e-bike from a stranger at the station does not. For the next bike, do the register check first and only then pay.

Most rejected theft claims fail on one of three conditions: the bike was not locked with the ART lock named in the policy, you cannot hand in the original keys including the spare, or there is no police report. All three are avoidable. Lock the bike the way the policy describes every single time, keep the lock receipt and spare key at home, and report a theft to the police immediately. For theft from a shed or storage room, contents insurance only pays when the space was locked and shows forced entry; the insurance guide covers those conditions.

A bike solves most daily trips, and public transport covers the rest: rainy days, long distances, a broken bike. How trains, buses and the OV-chipkaart work, and what they cost, is in the public transport guide. Where a bike sits in a realistic monthly budget is in the cost of living guide.