Motor insurance impact of Vnuk

Cars driven solely on private property may need to be insured in future and all motor insurance policies amended following a recent decision by the European Court of Justice, according to a specialist in motor insurance law.

Ruling in Damijan Vnuk v Zavarovalnica Triglav C-162/13, the court found that compulsory motor insurance has to cover any accident caused in the use of a vehicle that is “consistent with the normal function” of that vehicle. The case involved an accident where Mr Vnuk fell off a ladder hit by a tractor and trailer during the stacking of hay bales in a barn. He sought compensation from the tractor’s insurers, but his case initially failed because the Slovenian courts found the insurance did not cover the tractor’s use when manoeuvring a trailer into position in a farm yard.

However, the European Court found that the concept of “vehicle” within the meaning of the European Directive on motor insurance (72/166/EEC) bore no relation to its use and noted, further, that the tractor in this case was reversing which seemed to be consistent with its normal function.

Solicitor Nicholas Bevan, a personal injury lawyer who has campaigned for better protection of victims of uninsured drivers, said the judgment will require the Road Traffic Act 1988 to be amended and it will affect the scope of compulsory third party cover and that of the Uninsured and Untraced Drivers Agreements.  

On the geographical scope of the duty to insure, Bevan said the court’s interpretation was wider than that of UK law, which requires vehicles to be insured only if they are on “a road or other public place”. He said the court’s interpretation extended to any place, including the farmyard in Vnuck, which means “all those UK cases that differentiate between private property and land to which the public have access are out of date”. “While the [transport] minister’s nightmare about lawnmowers has not been realised it will be difficult to argue that an off-road scrambler’s use on a public highway is not a normal function”.