Category: Motor · Reviewed by Amy Price, Account Executive · Personal · Last reviewed 2026-06-05
Compulsory motor insurance is the minimum third-party liability cover required by the Road Traffic Act 1988 before any motor vehicle may be used on a road or other public place in Great Britain; it indemnifies the user against liability for death, bodily injury and property damage caused to third parties.
Category: Motor Also known as: statutory motor insurance, compulsory third-party motor insurance, ‘section 145 cover’ First codified: Road Traffic Act 1930; current statute Road Traffic Act 1988, sections 143–151 Related legislation: Road Traffic Act 1988; Motor Vehicles (Compulsory Insurance) Regulations 2000 Apex Wiki link: /wiki/compulsory-motor-insurance/
Compulsory motor insurance is the statutory minimum level of motor insurance that must be in force before a motor vehicle may be used on a road or other public place in Great Britain. The duty is imposed by section 143 of the Road Traffic Act 1988, which makes it a criminal offence to use, or cause or permit another to use, a motor vehicle on a road or other public place without a policy of insurance or security in respect of third-party risks complying with the requirements of Part VI of the Act [1].
The requirements of the policy are set out in section 145. The policy must be issued by an authorised insurer; it must insure the named user in respect of liability incurred in respect of the death of or bodily injury to any person or damage to property caused by, or arising out of, the use of the vehicle on a road or other public place in Great Britain; and it must include cover in the territory of other relevant States to the extent required by the law of those States [1].
The minimum monetary cover is set by the Motor Vehicles (Compulsory Insurance) Regulations 2000 (SI 2000/726): unlimited cover for death and personal injury and at least £1.2 million in respect of damage to property per accident [2]. These figures apply to all motor policies sold in Great Britain regardless of the cover tier purchased; third party only motor insurance, third party fire and theft and comprehensive motor insurance all satisfy these statutory minima and may exceed them.
Part VI of the Road Traffic Act 1988 consolidates the compulsory motor insurance regime first introduced in Great Britain by the Road Traffic Act 1930. The principal sections are:
The framework derives from the EU Motor Insurance Directives, consolidated in the Sixth Motor Insurance Directive 2009/103/EC, which remains relevant as retained EU law [4]. Compensation for victims of uninsured and untraced drivers is provided by the Motor Insurers’ Bureau under the Uninsured Drivers Agreement and the Untraced Drivers Agreement [5].
Sale and administration of motor insurance is regulated by the FCA Handbook (ICOBS) [6].
Section 143 applies to use on a ‘road or other public place’. ‘Road’ is defined in section 192 RTA 1988 as ‘any highway and any other road to which the public has access’; ‘other public place’ has been interpreted in case law to extend to any place to which the public has access whether by right or by permission [1]. The breadth of these terms means that compulsory cover is required even for short journeys, even on private land if the public has access (such as a supermarket car park).
The duty is imposed on the user. ‘Using’ a vehicle is interpreted broadly: it includes driving and, in many circumstances, sitting in a stationary vehicle on a public road with the keys in the ignition. The offence is one of strict liability — it is no defence that the user believed the vehicle was insured, although honest belief may be relevant to sentencing.
The certificate of insurance issued under section 147 must be produced to the police on request. Production may be deferred for up to seven days under section 165 RTA 1988. Cover is now also evidenced electronically by reference to the Motor Insurance Database, which is queried by police automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) systems and is the basis of the Continuous Insurance Enforcement regime [3] [7].
Insurers may impose policy conditions (such as limits on use, named drivers, geographic restrictions, class of use, garaging postcode requirements) without breaching the statutory minimum, provided that these conditions do not, by virtue of section 148, defeat a third-party claim. Where they would, the insurer remains liable to the third party but has rights of recovery against the insured.
The principal market tiers that satisfy compulsory cover are third party only motor insurance, third party fire and theft and comprehensive motor insurance.
The deposit scheme under section 144(1) allows certain bodies to satisfy the duty by depositing £500,000 with the Senior Courts in lieu of taking out an insurance policy; in practice this is used by very large fleet operators (including some local authorities and government agencies) and is not available to private individuals [1].
Crown vehicles are exempt from section 143 under section 144(2)(a). NHS hospital, ambulance and police vehicles are covered by separate statutory arrangements that satisfy the equivalent third-party obligation. Vehicles temporarily in Great Britain from another EEA state are recognised under the green card and frontier insurance schemes pursuant to the Sixth Motor Insurance Directive [4].
In Northern Ireland the parallel statutory regime is the Road Traffic (Northern Ireland) Order 1981 (SI 1981/154), which mirrors Part VI of the RTA 1988 with local modifications.
An illustrative example: a private individual buys a second-hand car from a private seller and drives it home from the seller’s house. The buyer believes the seller’s policy covers a ‘driving other cars’ extension. The journey takes 25 minutes on public roads.
In fact the seller’s policy provides no driving other cars extension. The buyer is stopped by police, who run an ANPR check against the Motor Insurance Database and find no insurance recorded. The buyer is charged under section 143 RTA 1988. The vehicle is seized under section 165A. The buyer is convicted, fined, ordered to pay costs and given six penalty points.
In a separate scenario, a registered keeper SORN-declares a vehicle and stores it on a private driveway. No road or public place is involved and the keeper has complied with the Continuous Insurance Enforcement regime [3]; no offence is committed. Figures are illustrative only.
This entry is part of the Apex Insurance Wiki. Last reviewed by Matt Bartlett on 2026-06-05. Next review: 2026-12-05.
Apex Insurance Brokers Limited. Authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority, FRN 724952. Registered in England and Wales, Companies House 07014570. This entry provides general information about UK insurance concepts and is not regulated advice. Consult your insurance broker on your specific position.
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