The new Untraced Drivers Agreement fails to ensure full conformity with the protection required under European law, as Nicholas Bevan explains
On 13 January the Motor Insurers Bureau (MIB) published its new Untraced Drivers Agreement 2017 (UtDA 2017) as well as amendments to the Uninsured Drivers Agreement 2015 (UDA 2015). The changes came into effect this week (1 March 2017).
The MIB is a consortium that is owned and controlled by every motor insurer authorised to sell compulsory third party motor insurance in the UK. It was set up in 1945 at the insistence of the government and specifically charged with providing a safety net for victims of uninsured drivers and insolvent insurers. Over the years, the industry has enjoyed a licence to dictate the terms under which the MIB discharges this public service. This has led to the schemes becoming increasingly skewed in its interests. Properly understood, the MIB is a public body but, as an emanation both of the insurance industry and of the state, it is heavily conflicted in its compensatory
