Insurance and liability
| What the law says | Where it goes wrong | What you do | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Who must insure | The keeper and the person in whose name the vehicle is registered. The duty applies as soon as the vehicle is registered to you — even if it is never driven. | Thinking the duty starts with driving. Article 2(1) lists three cases joined by “or”, and the third is registration itself. A car in the garage must therefore be insured. | Insure as soon as the car is in your name, even if it stands still — or suspend the registration. |
| Hire, lease, usufruct | With hire-purchase, usufruct or other lasting use the duty moves from the keeper to the holder — the person who has the car at their lasting disposal. | Skipping the word “lasting”. Borrowing a car for a weekend does not make you the holder; the owner's policy continues, since it covers every driver (art. 3(1)). | With a lease or hire-purchase check who the contract makes the holder — that is where the duty lies. |
| What third-party cover includes | The civil liability of EVERY keeper, holder and driver of the insured vehicle, plus of the persons carried — not only of the owner. | Thinking the policy attaches to the person. It attaches to the VEHICLE: a friend driving your car is covered. The only exclusion is someone who took it by theft or violence. | Letting a friend drive is fine; whoever steals the car is not covered — that is the only distinction that counts. |
| Victim's direct right | The injured party has a DIRECT right to compensation against the insurer — they need not sue the driver first. | Waiting for the other party to “pass it on”. Not needed: with the plate and the date you can approach the insurer yourself. | Report directly to the other party's insurer, with plate and date. |
| Minimum sums insured | NOT in the act itself: art. 22 says they are set by order in council. The figure is therefore revised periodically. | Memorising an amount. Whoever memorises a fixed figure sooner or later memorises an outdated one; remember where it is set instead. | Do not look for an amount but for the current order in council. |
| Guarantee Fund | Pays the injured party where, among other cases, the liable person cannot be identified (hit-and-run) or the duty to insure was not met. The fund then recovers from the liable person and from the uninsured one. | Treating the fund as free money. It has a right of recovery (art. 27): the uninsured person pays in the end. And for a hit-and-run the exception applies: whoever did nothing reasonable to identify the driver gets nothing. | With a hit-and-run do everything to identify the driver — otherwise the right against the fund lapses. |
| Driving uninsured | Up to three months' detention or a second-category fine — also for anyone who merely ALLOWS the uninsured car to be driven or parked. | Mistaking this for an ordinary ticket. It is a criminal offence carrying detention, and it hits the registered keeper even if someone else drove. | Never let anyone drive an uninsured car — “allowing” is equated with driving in the provision. |
| How it is checked | The RDW keeps a register. If it does not show cover, an official may demand that the registered keeper prove that cover nevertheless existed. | Thinking a police stop is required. The check is administrative and runs on the register; the burden of proof then lies with you. | Keep the proof of insurance — on demand YOU must show that cover existed. |
The law itself
WAM art. 2 lid 1WAM art. 2 lid 2WAM art. 3 lid 1WAM art. 6 lid 1WAM art. 22WAM art. 25 lid 1WAM art. 27 lid 1WAM art. 30 lid 1WAM art. 34 lid 1
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