What does Brexit mean for cross border motor travel and victim protection?
As with all things Brexit, there is uncertainty about the future of the motor insurance arrangements for cross border travel. Some may recall a time where it was necessary to present an actual Green Card at the border when travelling abroad to prove you had valid insurance cover to visit that country. Whilst the scheme is still in place, the Green Card itself is now sparsely needed by UK travellers thanks to changes in European Law.
The entire Green Card scheme allows vehicles to move freely across the borders of all 48 subscribing countries and ensures that when a visiting vehicle causes damage, there is easy access to compensation in the victim’s home country.
The Scheme originates from a UN recommendation and was not therefore founded by the European Union. That said, the EU later shaped the future of the system when the need to possess a Green Card and border insurance checks were abolished for vehicles from and travelling within the EEA (plus three ‘third countries’ Andorra, Serbia and Switzerland).
Whilst the Green Card Scheme is not European born, there is fear that the EU system of no border checks will no longer be applicable post-Brexit, meaning UK drivers travelling overseas would be required to obtain a Green Card or frontier insurance when driving across European borders. We are working to explore ways to ensure this retrograde step does not happen.
Preserving the current system post-Brexit should be achievable and encouraged given that there are already other non-EEA countries which are no longer ‘Green Card Compulsory’. To maintain this system, the UK will need to keep the requirement for compulsory motor cover within the EEA and ‘third countries’ in the Road Traffic Act and MIB will need to remain signatory to an international Multilateral Agreement. It is also likely that there will be a requirement for the European Commission to implement a decision sanctioning no Green Cards and border checks between the UK and the EEA.
The system described above enables cross border travel while protecting victims injured in their own country by a foreign registered vehicle.
However, there is another system to assist victims who are injured while abroad. This scheme is European born and will almost certainly face Brexit ramifications.
This enables victims to return home and then pursue a claim in their home country either via a local representative of the foreign insurer, or a special body – the ‘Compensation Body’. MIB is the Compensation Body for the UK.
If the scheme cannot be maintained or replicated, victims may have no choice but to pursue their claim in a foreign country in an unfamiliar language. This is clearly a backwards step for victims and would be an unwelcome change.
Whilst the UK may decide to keep national law compliant with the EU Directive in this respect, the obstacle is the fact that all other Member States will have to agree, as the scheme is based on reciprocal agreements and provisions in national laws. Without the EU Motor Insurance Directives, there is nothing binding the UK to the other countries and as such it will be necessary to explore ways to coming to agreements about the provision of local representatives for insurers and also assistance for victims and reimbursement arrangements.
We are working hard with the government, the Council of Bureaux, and the ABI to facilitate the smooth transition, aiming as much as possible to continue with the system that has served UK and foreign travellers well for many years.