What are the rights of victims in third-party car insurance?

Understand what victims' rights are in third-party car insurance and know what to do in such a situation. Check out the information in this article and ask your questions.

Among the many coverages available in car insurance, third-party coverage can be one of the most useful.

It can be contracted by the insured as additional coverage and serves to repair physical, material and moral damages caused to other people by the contracting party.

Generally, whoever takes out this coverage knows what it is for. However, victims tend to have many doubts about what their rights are, since they were not the ones who took out the insurance.

If this is your case, follow this article and find out what your rights of third parties in accident on someone else's third party coverage.

Victims' rights in third-party car insurance

When a traffic accident occurs involving two different vehicles or people, it is generally characterized by a perpetrator and a victim.

Third party insurance is coverage that aims to cover damages suffered by other people, caused by the insured.

For this to happen, the first step is for the insured to assume responsibility for the accident before the insurance company. If this confirmation is not made by the insured, the insurer will not be able to cover the necessary expenses of the victim in question, regardless of the evidence of guilt.

In addition to the person responsible assuming the blame for the accident, the insurance company must confirm this responsibility.

That said, we can move on to the subject of victims' rights in third-party insurance. These may vary depending on the type of damage caused by the insured.

Material and bodily damage

Generally, third-party insurance covers material and bodily damages that can be characterized as:

Materials damage

This framework includes damage caused to the vehicle, or any other property, such as walls, building and store facades, bicycles and more.

Bodily damage

Bodily injuries are situations where the accident victim is injured and needs medical attention. Situations such as:

• Medical help
• Surgical procedures
• Hospitalizations
• Expenses for treatments and medicines and more.

In other words, if you are the victim in a traffic accident, and your car is damaged and/or you suffer physical injuries, the insurance must cover all expenses related to vehicle repairs and medical care.

In addition to these two coverages, some insurance policies also cover moral damages. This service deals with cases in which the victim decides to sue the person responsible for the accident and wins in court.

In these cases, the insurance is responsible for paying the stipulated compensation and paying all necessary legal costs.

See other topics to help you better understand victims’ rights in third-party car insurance!

How third party coverage works

To activate coverage, the insured must open the claim.

After this, you must request the claim number from the person who opened the claim to follow up.

Third-party coverage does not have a deductible, which means that to receive compensation you will not need to pay any amount to the insurance.

Therefore, if the insured informs that the third party needs to bear some cost, be suspicious.

If you have been the victim of an accident and it caused material damage to your vehicle, you are probably wondering “What to do if they hit my car?” In this case, repair will be necessary.

It is not necessary to use the workshop recommended by the insurance company, the victim has the right to choose one of their choice.

In case of total loss of third party vehicle, the victim will have the right to receive full compensation for the car. Normally this value is stipulated by the average price in the FIPE table.

However, it is worth noting that there is a maximum amount contracted by the insurance company for this type of compensation.

Let's assume that the coverage for third parties is R$50 thousand and the damage caused is R$40 thousand. In this case, the full amount will be paid by the insurance company.

However, if the damage exceeds the contracted limit, the insurer will pay the maximum and the rest will be borne by the insured.

And for a rented car, how does third-party car insurance work?

If the driver who caused the accident is in your rented car, simply activate the insurance contracted by the car rental company. Therefore, the contracted company will pay for the vehicle's losses, directly with the workshop, as per the contract.

However, it is important to know that the driver will have to pay the auto insurance deductible. If the rental company has a contract in which the customer pays a fee at the time of rental, the customer will not need to pay the deductible in the event of accidents.

To cover the costs of the vehicle, or with the third party itself, there is no deductible charge. If the rental company insists on this charge, simply contact Procon.

Therefore, in the case of a rented car, the service provided by the insurance company must be the same as that provided for your own car. However, it is worth paying attention to the contract and clarifying any doubts with an insurance broker to avoid problems.

Now you know better how car insurance works for third parties and what your rights are as a victim, you will be able to better defend your interests if you are involved in an accident and the person responsible has this insurance coverage.

You can rest assured knowing that any material or physical damage will be duly covered by the insurance company, as long as the person responsible assumes their fault.

However, if you have any doubts about which rights of third parties in a claim, speak to your insurance broker.

*Published on: 05/29/2019 and updated on 08/25/2022.