If you are looking for the cheapest car insurance against third parties, you had better think it twice, as the insurance against third party covers passengers of your car, and usually the most common passengers of your car are the members of your family and / or your loved ones.
What is 3rd Party Car Insurance?
The need for protection and rehabilitation of victims of road accidents has been and continues to be a major priority and goal of every modern and well-governed welfare state. In order to ensure the protection of these victims, it has been established at a European level, already for many years now, the institution of compulsory insurance against third party liability of automobile accidents.
The mandatory insurance coverage of these risks constitutes a first degree social demand for the modern welfare state, which must take measures:
• to alleviate the tragic consequences for the victims of the inherently dangerous activity of vehicles.
• To understand the interests of all stakeholders, civilly responsible persons, and especially to understand their pecuniary integrity which is threatened by such activity?
The legislation governing car insurance is the Motor Vehicles (Third party liability insurance) Law 2000 and the Motor Vehicles (Third party liability insurance) Regulations of 2000. The Law and Regulations are mainly translations of their English counterparts (English relevant legislation of 1930, 1934 and 1988), but have been modified by the inclusion of provisions of European Directives as we with by purely Cypriot pension provisions.
Third party liability car insurance covers the civil liability of the policyholder and / or insured and /or any driver and/or employee and/or servant for driving against claims of ‘third parties’ for damage or injury caused by circulation of the insured vehicle relating to:
a. Injury, fatal injury or bodily injuries to third parties, including passengers of the insured vehicle.
b. Property damage to things and persons’ property which is not transferred to the insured vehicle and do not belong to the family of the insured person, the driver or policyholder.
The above coverage does not include civil liability for persons who caused the accident intentionally, and persons who seized the car by means of theft or violence.
To demonstrate:
But who is considered as a “third party”;
It is not easy to define which people are considered as third parties; in fact perhaps it s easier to define which people cannot be considered as third parties, namely:
a. The driver of the insured vehicle.
b. The policyholder and / or insured and any person whose liability is covered by the insurance contract.
c. The legal representatives of a legal person or a company that although insured does not yet have separate legal personality.
Accordingly, the passengers of the car which caused the damage fall within the definition of third parties, regardless of the degree of affinity with the driver or the owner of the vehicle. Accordingly, if you are looking for the cheapest car insurance against third parties, you had better think it twice, as the insurance against third covers passengers of your car, and the most common passengers are none other than the members of your family and / or your loved ones. Of course you know that always the expensive one is the cheapest to buy.
Nevertheless, instead of thinking as per above and ensuring insurance in the best possible way, the number of uninsured vehicles in Cyprus is extremely high.
What does the 3rd Party car Insurance cover in case the insured is at fault for an accident?
1. All expenses to repair or replace the property of the 3rd parties, for example damage to their car or their property.
2. All medical expenses of all injured 3rd parties ( including the passengers of the insured car)
3. Compensation for loss of work , disability, pain and suffering from the accident
What happens if we drive without insurance?
Relatively, the Motor Vehicles (Third party liability insurance) Law 2000 Capital 333, provides that in case of circulation of vehicle, which is not covered by insurance, the owner of the car shall, in case of first conviction, be penalized with imprisonment which shall not exceed one year or with a fine not exceeding one thousand pounds or with both such penalties, i.e. both imprisonment and fine and the person who is convicted of such offense shall not be entitled to hold or obtain driving license. Furthermore, in case of second or subsequent conviction for an offense committed under this section within two years from the date of commission of the previous offense, the person will be sentenced to prison which shall not exceed two years and a fine not exceeding two thousand pounds and further the Court may order forfeiture of the right to hold or obtain driving license.
Indeed, in accordance with Article 14 (A) of the Motor Vehicles and Road Traffic Act 86/72, the owner of a motor vehicle has the duty to take all reasonable measures to prevent the use of the car by any unauthorized person. The term “unauthorized person” means, in accordance with the interpretation given (see Article 14 A (4)), any person who does not have or is not entitled to have a driving license for the category of the relevant motor vehicle in relation to which the offense was committed or is not covered by the required by the law insurance certificate for third part insurance.
In addition, Article 3 (1) (b) of the Motor Vehicles (Third party liability insurance) Law 2000 Capital 333 also regulates the criminal liability of a person (see Article 3 (3) of that Law) who places a motor vehicle on the road without insurance for third party liability being in place in relation to its use by that person, or who causes or permits any other person to use such vehicle without insurance for third party liability being in place.
In relation to the civil liability of the vehicle owner who allowed or tolerated the use of his car from another unauthorized person for purposes of establishing liability and allowing restoration via the payment of damages for losses caused due to the negligence of the person who used it, the textbook Clerk & Lindesell on Torts 12th edition in paragraph 1408 page 742 reads «Rather exceptionally, however the owner of a car who allows it to be driven by an uninsured driver, contrary to the Road Traffic Act, 1930, is liable to be sued by a person whom the driver negligently injures.» The above textbook refers to Case Monk v. Warbey (1935) 1 K.B. 75 which sets the conditions for such a claim. In particular, in accordance with this decision the obligation to insure is one which gives rise to a statutory duty, so that failure to insure is tortious. If, therefore, there is no insurance and the user incurs liability to a third party, both the user and the person who caused or permitted the uninsured use have committed a statutory tort. This is of no significance as regards the user, who is in any event liable to the third party for the damage caused. The significance of Monk v Warbey is, therefore, to impose additional civil liability on the person causing or permitting uninsured use, so that if the user is impecunious the third party may nevertheless have a fallback action.
Finally, it is worth mentioning that despite the above, many owners or drivers of motor vehicles for various reasons and contrary to the relative Law continued to use the roads without having a policy of insurance in force. As a result of this situation, their victims remained without compensation and this created a social problem that the Insurance Companies’ Law of 1967, which came into force in 1969, intended to solve through the introduction of a specific provision. Section 55 of the said Law, gave to the Minister of Finance the power to set up, if he wished, a special Fund which would cover such victims. Consequently, the then Minister of Finance, having as a model the Motor Insurers’ Bureau already operating in the U.K, authorized Motor Insurers to set up and operate such a Fund. So, on the 1st February 1969, the Motor Insurers’ Fund was registered by the Registrar of Companies as a company limited by guarantee, just like its U.K model and has as its members all Motor Insurers operating in Cyprus.
Quick Tips:
1. Do not buy Third party liability car insurance based only on the cost
2. Do not buy the most inexpensive insurance against ” third parties”, because third parties can be your family, and a popular saying says ”cheap costs expensively”.
3. Take into account not only the price but also the service that you will get at the time you will need the insurance. Will you have someone you can run to, to settle everything that needs to be done or will you find yourself waiting in line and listening to ”all lines are busy, please call later’
4. Choose and the optional coverage for the liability of other passengers.
5. Do not forget to include the “driving beyond the road” coverage
6. If you do not have any insurance coverage for medical care, disability and loss of life for you if you are a driver, make sure to add it, because the driver is not covered under the vehicle insurance.
7. Make sure you have a valid M.O.T certificate , otherwise your car insurance is VOID
If you want any clarification or have any questions , please feel free to contact me at 22 26 96 46 or drop me an e-mail at savvas@insurancelinkcyprus.com, or fill out the enquiry form below and I will be more than happy to answer you and give you a quotation if you are interested.
*Savvas P. Christoforou is a Chartered Insurer and managing director of Insurancelink Cyprus
Disclaimer
This information is only for information purposes and not for providing any professional or legal advice through it. Insurance link and its or their officers, employees, personnel, directors will not be responsible for any direct/indirect loss or liability incurred by the user as a consequence of his or any other person on his behalf taking any decisions based on the contents of this guide. Use of this guide is at the user’s own risk. The user must make his own decisions based on his specific objective. Insurancelink does not warrant completeness or accuracy of any information published in this guide.
