New Uninsured Drivers’ Agreement to come in on 1 August

A new Uninsured Drivers’ Agreement will come into force for accidents occurring on or after 1 August this year after the Transport Secretary Patrick McLoughlin aligned the UK’s accident regulations with those of the EU.

The Uninsured Drivers’ Agreement provides a framework within which the Motor Insurance Bureau (MIB) provides compensation to innocent victims of accidents with uninsured driver. The current agreement has been in place for 16 years.

McLoughlin has brought in new arrangments after a Government review was carried out into accidents involving uninsured drivers. Ministers conducted a consultation in 2013 with a range of claimant and insurer stakeholders over the matter. The revised rules include simplified notice provisions and amendments to passenger knowledge exclusions. In particular, the current wording “ought to have known” has been replaced by “had reason to believe” in the agreement. This better reflects the legal position following White v White and also follows the wording in the Road Traffic Act 1988. In addition, the exclusion relating to passenger knowledge of use in furtherance of a crime is deleted as a result of Delaney v Secretary of State 2015.

In the clause dealing with “other sources of recovery”, not only are true subrogated claims excluded, but also claims where the claimant has other sources of redress available to them. If, for example, the claimant has a comprehensive insurance policy available to cover the cost of repair to their vehicle, then MIB will not be able to pay that cost. The agreement has been extended to recognise the common practise of settlement

Ashton West, the chief executive at MIB, said that the agreement was now not only easier to understand, but also “better reflected the world we live in today”.

“Obviously there have been a myriad of changes over the past 16 years, in particular to domestic and EU law. What hasn’t changed though is our promise to deliver a prompt, open and fair service to everyone we deal with,” he said.

Mark Dugdale