Compulsory car insurance for road users

Driving a motor vehicle is never safe, either for the driver of the vehicle, for other road users or for the surrounding physical elements. In the event of a responsible accident and damage to the steering wheel, drivers must compensate the victims of the accident. It is in order to fulfil this need for compensation that the State has made it compulsory in France to subscribe to a car insurance contract allowing to compensate the victims of the accident other than the driver responsible and to cover property damage.

Why is car insurance mandatory?

Drivers driving a motor vehicle must have at least one third party insurance contract because it is this formula of car insurance that allows to cover all the bodily and material damages that the users responsible for a loss could cause at the wheel of their car or their motorcycle.

This video can explain it:

Third party liability insurance, as its name suggests, provides compensation for all damages that the car could cause to third parties. The driver of the vehicle responsible for the car accident is the only user who will not be covered in case of injury, since even other users in the vehicle responsible for the accident are recognized as third parties. If the user wishes to be covered by a specific guarantee himself or wants his vehicle to be protected in the event of a responsible accident, then he must take out either additional guarantees or insurance all risks, but in all cases involving the presence of third party insurance and civil liability.

Do I have to insure a non-rolling vehicle?

Motor vehicles must all be insured, even when stationary, as they can cause disasters around them a fire, a faulty hand brake. An unused car can always cause an accident! If your vehicle literally never runs, there are specific contracts for that kind of scenario. The rate is lower than third party insurance, but strictly prohibits the use of the car under penalty of penalties. To avoid entering into a contract, you need to remove the wheels, battery and fuel from your vehicle: from there, it will be totally considered a non-rolling vehicle.

If there are three historical categories of auto insurance, namely third-party liability, intermediate and all-risk insurance, the first category of mandatory auto insurance is third-party liability. This formula can be extended with an optional warranty, or several, to benefit from better coverage of the automobile and its driver.