(source: European Union)

• The protection provided by community law

• Useful information on the specific requirements laid down by French legislation

• Contact points

The protection provided by community law

You can insure your car with any insurance company licensed to issue such policies in any Member State of the European Union. This entitlement applies both to compulsory insurance policies in the field of civil liability and to optional insurance policies covering supplementary risks (such as theft, fire, etc.).

If you wish to take out an insurance policy for compulsory civil liability with an insurance company licensed and established in another Member State, the company is entitled to sell you such a policy only if it satisfies the following conditions:

• The insurance supervisory authority of the Member State where the vehicle is registered has been notified by the supervisory authority of the company’s home Member State that the company intends to underwrite motor insurance risks in that Member State; 
• it must be a member of the national motor vehicle insurers' bureau and the guarantee fund of the Member State in which your vehicle is registered; 
• if it does not have an establishment in the Member State in which your vehicle is registered, the company must have designated a representative authorised to settle claims in that Member State.

You are obliged by law to take out insurance against personal injury and material damage caused by your vehicle. This guarantee covers all the passengers in your vehicle including the members of your family. The green card or the insurance certificate issued by your insurer on conclusion of the contract is taken as proof that you have fulfilled your insurance obligations with regard to civil liability for motor vehicles.

This insurance covers your civil liability throughout the European Union, no matter where the accident happens. Thus under no circumstances may you be required to pay a supplement for this mandatory civil liability insurance when you travel to other countries of the European Union. When you travel to another Member State, presentation of your green card or your insurance certificate is not normally necessary because the licence plates of your car are taken as evidence that you have taken out compulsory civil liability insurance in your Member State.

But if you also want insurance against other hazards, such as fire or theft abroad, the insurance undertaking is entitled to demand a supplement if the cover under the insurance contract is limited to the Member State in which you reside.

In the event of a car accident caused by you, your green card or your insurance certificate constitutes proof that you have compulsory "civil liability" insurance allowing the victims to obtain compensation. All you have to do is to notify the accident to your insurance company. 

The injured party will contact his own insurer who will in turn contact the national motor vehicle insurance bureau; this bureau will look after the formalities between the two insurance companies and the injured party. The same system also operates in some other countries which are not members of the European Economic Area (Switzerland, Hungary, etc.).

In the event of a car accident in another Member State for which you are not liable you are entitled to compensation in accordance with the rules in force in that Member State or in your country of residence if the level of compensation is higher in the latter. These rules still differ from one Member State to another but you have minimum coverage of 350 000 Euros for personal injury and 100 000 Euros for material damage. However, the total amount of cover may be limited in some Member States when there are several victims involved in a single claim.

If the accident is caused by an uninsured or unidentifiable car, you are entitled under Community law to compensation from the motor vehicle guarantee fund of the Member State in which the accident occurred, in accordance with the rules in force in that Member State.

The Fourth Motor Directive has introduced new rules to facilitate and speed up the settlement of claims when an accident takes place outside the victim's Member State of residence (visiting victims). The new rules introduced by the Directive also apply to accidents between two EU parties in any of the 40 or so countries covered by the Green Card system.

This Directive provides for an efficient mechanism for settling claims in respect of such accidents. It aims to facilitate and speed up the settling of claims by allowing victims to directly refer to the insurer of the liable party rather than having to refer to the liable party him or herself. Every insurer is required to nominate a claims representative in every EU Member State, so an accident victim will be able to deal with a representative of the liable insurer in his or her own Member State and language. Under the Directive, Member States are also required to:

• impose sanctions to accelerate compensation, where liable insurers take more than three months to make a reasoned reply to a compensation request; 
• establish information centres to deal with motor vehicle insurance issues in general, so as to make it easier for accident victims to find out who insures the liable party; 
• establish a compensation body to settle claims in cases where there is no claims representative or where the insurer is too slow to settle. This body will then claim the money back from the compensation body of the Member State where the insurer is established.

References

• Council Directive 72/166/EEC of 24 April 1972 on the approximation of the laws of the Member States relating to insurance against civil liability in respect of the use of motor vehicles and to enforcement of the obligation to insure against such liability (published in the Official Journal, n° L 103 of 2.5.1972, p. 1) 
• Council Directive 84/5/EEC of 30 December 1983 on the approximation of the laws of the Member States relating to insurance against civil liability in respect of the use of motor vehicles (published in the Official Journal, n° L 8 of 11.1.1984, p. 17) 
• Council Directive 90/232/EEC of 14 May 1990 on the approximation of the laws of the Member States relating to insurance against civil liability in respect of the use of motor vehicles (published in the Official Journal, n° L 129 of 19.5.1990, p. 33) 
• Council Directive 73/239/EEC of 24 July 1973 on the co-ordination of laws, regulations and administrative provisions relating to the taking-up and pursuit of the business of direct insurance other than life insurance (published in the Official Journal, n° L 228 of 16.8.1973, p. 3) 
• Council Directive 88/357/EEC of 22 June 1988 on the co-ordination of laws, regulations and administrative provisions relating to direct insurance other than life insurance and laying down provisions to facilitate the effective exercise of freedom to provide services and amending Council Directive 73/239/EEC (published in the Official Journal, n° L 172 of 4.7.1988, p. 1) 
• Council Directive 90/618/EEC of 8 November 1990 amending, particularly as regards motor vehicle liability insurance, Council Directive 73/239/EEC and Council Directive 88/357/EEC which concern the co-ordination of laws, regulations and administrative provisions relating to direct insurance other than life insurance (published in the Official Journal, n° L 330 of 29.11.1990, p.44) 
• Council Directive 92/49/EEC of 18 June 1992 on the co-ordination of laws, regulations and administrative provisions relating to direct insurance other than life insurance and amending Council Directive 73/239/EEC and Council Directive 88/357/EEC (third non-life insurance Directive - published in the Official Journal n° L 228 of 11.8.1992, p. 1) 
• Directive 2000/26/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 16 May 2000 on the approximation of the laws of the Member States relating to insurance against civil liability in respect of the use of motor vehicles and amending Council Directives 73/239/EEC and 88/357/EEC (fourth motor insurance Directive – published in the Official Journal nº L 181, of 20.07.2000, p. 65).

Useful information on the specific requirements laid down by French legislation

Insurance business is based on freedom of contract, and insurance companies can freely determine their commercial policy and set their rates.

Nevertheless, if a company offering motor vehicle third party insurance refuses you cover either explicitly or implicitly, by not answering your request within two weeks, you are entitled to refer the matter to the "Bureau central de tarification", which will set the level of the premium at which the company has to insure you. For further information, contact the Bureau (see file "Useful addresses").

A wide range of policies is available on the French market. 

In addition to compulsory third party policies, which provide unlimited cover against personal injury and minimum cover of FF 3 million per vehicle and per accident against material damage, companies offer many types of optional cover, for example:

• personal accident insurance, covering injury to the driver in an accident for which he is responsible (lump sum payment in the event of invalidity or death, reimbursement of medical expenses, etc.); 
• cover for damage to the vehicle in the event of a collision: either "all accidents" cover, under which claims can be made in respect of collisions with any vehicle, even if unidentified, or "collision damage" cover, under which claims can be made only in respect of collisions with a pedestrian or with another vehicle or an animal whose owner is identified; 
• cover for fire, theft and glass breakage (check which glass items are covered); 
• storm damage cover, which the insurer must include in fire insurance; 
• cover against natural disasters, which is automatically provided when you take out insurance against damage to the vehicle. Claims can be met only after the disaster has been officially recognised by means of an order published in the Journal officiel (French official gazette); 
• cover against fire or explosion damage caused by acts of terrorism, which the insurer must provide if you take out fire insurance, "all accidents" cover or "collision damage" cover; 
• legal expenses insurance, whereby the insurer looks after your defence in legal proceedings or otherwise protects your interests in the event of an accident. In both cases you can appoint the lawyer of your choice; 
• assistance in the event of accident or breakdown. 

The term of the policy is agreed freely between the parties. You have the option of terminating your policy each year at the expiry date, provided that you give sufficient notice (the period of notice is stipulated in the policy but may not be longer than two months). Policies are usually written for a period of one year with tacit renewal.

If you sell your vehicle, cover will be automatically suspended at midnight on the day of the sale. You should notify your insurer of the sale. If you buy another vehicle and you stay with the same insurer, the cover will be transferred to the new vehicle; otherwise the policy will be terminated.

Rates are determined freely. If you do not cause an accident, you will be awarded a no claims bonus and your premium will be reduced accordingly; if you do cause an accident, you will incur a penalty and your premium will go up.

Accidents carry a penalty where one of the drivers of the insured vehicle is wholly or partly liable. But you will not incur a penalty if a person who does not belong to your household causes an accident while driving your vehicle without your knowledge or if the accident is caused by an act of god, by the victim himself or by a third party, even if your insurer has to indemnify the victims.

The calculation method on which the scale of bonus and penalty points is based must be set out in a clause included in your insurance policy.

At your request, your insurer will issue you with a statement giving particulars of the usual drivers of the vehicle, any accidents that have occurred over the past five years, and your position on the bonus/penalty scale in the previous year. 

If you wish to change insurance companies, your new insurer will ask you for such a statement.

If a driver causes an accident while under the influence of alcohol (i.e. with a blood alcohol level of more than 0.5 grams per litre), the insurance company will meet claims under his third party cover but is entitled, at the next expiry date, either to raise his premium by up to 150% or to terminate the policy.

Insurers usually impose a surcharge where the risks are aggravated, e.g. where the insured has omitted to declare, when taking out the policy, any accidents for which he was responsible over the previous three years (surcharge of up to 100% of the basic premium), where he has been responsible for an accident or committed a breach of the highway code leading to suspension or withdrawal of his driving licence (surcharge of between 50% and 200%), where he has committed a hit and run offence (up to 100%) or where he has been responsible for three or more accidents during the annual reference period (up to 50%).

Surcharges may be added together but may not total more than 400% of the basic premium.

In the event of an accident causing material damage, you should fill in an accident statement form ("constat amiable") with the other driver. In the event of a multiple collision, you should fill in forms with the drivers of the car in front of you and the one behind. If anyone is injured, you must call the police.

You must declare any accident involving your vehicle to your insurer by registered letter within five working days, and the theft of your vehicle within two working days; otherwise you will risk forfeiting your cover. Nevertheless, if you delay declaring the accident or theft, your insurer is entitled to refuse claims only if he can prove that he has suffered loss as a result of the delay.

When it comes to assessing the extent of personal injuries, accident victims can be assisted by a lawyer or, if they have to undergo a medical examination, by their own doctor.

The insurer has to make an offer of compensation to persons who have suffered injury within eight months of the accident, otherwise the amount due to the victim automatically bears interest at twice the legal rate. The courts may also impose penalties on the insurer if they deem that the offer was manifestly inadequate.

After accepting the insurer's offer, persons who have suffered injury have a two week cooling off period in which to reconsider their decision. Should they decide to refuse the offer, they must notify the insurer by registered letter with advice of delivery. If they do not go back on their decision to accept the offer, the insurer must pay the agreed compensation within one month of expiry of the cooling off period, otherwise the amounts due automatically carry interest at one and a half times the legal rate for the first two months and twice that rate thereafter. If the amount of compensation is determined by the courts, the time limit for payment starts to run from the date of notification of the court decision.

If the person responsible for the accident is unknown, uninsured or insufficiently insured, or if his insurer is insolvent, compensation may be paid by the guarantee fund.

For the guarantee fund to intervene, the accident must have happened in metropolitan France or in one of the French overseas departments, and the victim must prove that he is either French or a national of an EU Member State or of a country that has concluded reciprocity agreements with France.

Where compensation cannot be obtained from any other source, the fund pays out unlimited damages for personal injury as well as compensation for material damage within certain limits and on condition that the victim has suffered personal injury in cases where the person responsible is unknown.

Claims must be submitted to the fund by registered letter with advice of delivery (see file "Useful Addresses").

With a view to settling disputes between insurers and policyholders, an arbitration service has been set up. The service is available free of charge to policyholders and enables them to obtain an opinion based on law and natural justice in the light of all aspects of their case.

Complaints can be sent to the address of "Médiation assurance" indicated in the file "Useful Addresses".

If the dispute is still not settled on completion of the arbitration procedure, you are entitled to bring the matter before the courts, which alone have the powers to decide on the substantive issues involved.

References 

• Code des assurances

Contact points

• BUREAU CENTRAL DE TARIFICATION 
  11, rue de la Rochefoucauld BP 904 75424 PARIS CEDEX 09.
• FONDS DE GARANTIE DES ACCIDENTS CONTRE LES ACCIDENTS DE CIRCULATION OU DE CHASSE 
  24, rue Defrance 94682 VINCENNES CEDEX. 
• MEDIATION ASSURANCE 
  11, rue de la Rochefoucauld BP 907 75424 PARIS CEDEX 09.

Note: This Citizens First Factsheet is intended to provide guidance on EU law for information purposes only. It has been prepared by the European Commission with the help of national authorities and contains information on the national implementation of EU law. You are advised that the texts of Community legal instruments should be relied upon in case of doubt concerning the extent of a right or obligation arising from EU law.