Fiji's Compulsory

3Rd-Party

Car Insurance

TVHIRD party motor vehicle in

surance, designed to give

some financial protection to road

accident victims and their depen

dents, became compulsory in

Fiji on October 1.

Failure to insure renders motor vehicle owners liable to a fine of £2OO or imprisonment for one year or both.

A third-party policy indemnifies the owner and/or licensed driver using the vehicle with the owner’s consent, against his legal liability to pay for death or injury to people outside the vehicle, and in case of taxis and buses, to passengers in the vehicle.

In New South Wales, where the liability of insurance companies is determined by juries, many excep tionally high awards have been granted to victims of accidents.

These have resulted in alarming in creases in premiums and in view of their huge losses, numbers of in surance companies have refused to handle third-party insurance. Two large companies now handle the majority of motorists’ third-party policies alone.

To a lesser extent, much the same

thing has happened in New Zea land, although claims by individuals have been limited to £5,000 and total claims arising from one accident to £50,000.

The Fiji Ordinance has given much greater protection to insur ance companies by limiting in dividual claims to £2,000 and de claring the maximum claim on one policy to be £20,000.

Further protection is given th companies by excluding as claimant those people outside the vehicle wh are relatives of the owner or drive] or members of his household. Thi follows closely the NZ condition whereas the NSW Ordinance state only that husband and wife ma not sue each other.

The 11 companies operating i Fiji which are members of th

South Sea Islands Fire and Tariff Lssociation have fixed premiums anging from £2 a year for a private ar or motor-cycle, to £lO a year n a taxi and £l7 10 - a year for bus seating more than 11 assengers. Private motorists in fSW now pay £7 14 6 a year (orig lally it was about 24/-) and taxi ib owners £56/15 -.