Uninsured Drivers and Compensation Claims

When accidents cause damage or injury and the responsible driver is uninsured, a claim can be made to the Motor Insurers' Bureau (MIB), an organisation financed by motor insurers with the intention of compensating those who have been involved in accidents with uninsured drivers or those who cannot be traced.

The existence of the MIB is the result of governmental insistence that insurers should operate a safety net for those involved in accidents with uninsured or untraced drivers. However, it is controlled by the motor insurance industry and is not free from conflicts of interest.

Changes to its Untraced Drivers Agreement and Uninsured Drivers Agreement came into effect on 1 March 2017. These are intended to remove some of the impediments to claims under the old rules and to achieve a better degree of compliance with European law designed to ensure that victims of accidents involving untraced vehicles or uninsured drivers can be compensated.

One significant change is that the MIB will be required to pay for damage to an uninsured driver's car where this is caused by another uninsured vehicle or a 'hit and run' driver. A 2019 case in the Court of Appeal led to the decision that even if the vehicle causing the accident is on private land, compensation will be underwritten by the MIB.

If you have been the victim of an accident, expert legal advice is the best assurance you can have of getting fully compensated.