Motor Insurance - What Is Covered By Third Party Car Insurance By: Trevor Dace

Third party car insurance offers you protection for any claim made against you, your driver (if someone else was behind the wheel) or the person responsible for your car. You must by law (the Road Traffic Act) buy a minimum level of insurance cover. All UK car insurance policies giving 'third party cover' or more, will provide greater protection than the law requires. Whether you just have 'third party only'; 'third party fire and theft' or 'comprehensive' you will have this section.

If you are to blame for causing an accident your insurance company will be required to pay all monies that you are liable for to those people (the third party) that you have killed or injured, or whose property you have damaged etc. They will also be liable to pay any legal costs incurred by either the victim's or your own solicitors.

The subject of third party cover becomes increasingly complicated when you are a passenger in your own car and it is being driven by someone else. Provided that the driver is allowed and has your permissionto drive it, then it is the driver who is protected by this part of the policy and not you. Your insurance policy will list those who are insured to drive the vehicle, e.g., named drivers, passengers, employer . Thus if you, as the passenger, were to be injured because of the negligent driving of the person driving your car, you have the legal right to claim damages from that person. So your policy here would 'indemnify' the driver, not you. You would end up with the money. Remember though that this is a two edged sword. In the event that the driver were injured or killed whilst driving on your policy then there would be no liability on your insurance company.

Sadly, immaterial of who was behind the wheel, you cannot claim for accident damage to your vehicle under this section.

If a thief takes your car and causes an accident (an all too common happening in this day and age!) this section of the policy will protect you, as owner of the car, against all claims for injury or damage caused by the thief. This seems so unfair - after all it was the thief who was to blame, yet it's our no-claims bonus that will be lost. You must remember that we are dealing with the law. We have to insure that innocent victims of otherwise uninsured drivers who are injured or who have some sort of damage caused by an uninsured driver's negligence should be compensated. How many thieves have the money to pay for such damage? So it is viable, in practical terms, for the victim to claim against your policy. Claims can be very complicated where a thief causes damage or injury.