Overview
Background
The Compensation Fund was set up in 1996 by the National Insurance Commission in conjunction with the insurance companies which underwrite motor insurance business.
Who can benefit from the fund?
The Fund will compensate anybody who has been Injured after 1996 but who is unable to obtain compensation from an insurance company because of the following:
1. Uninsured Motorist
The motorist is uninsured, that is:
- a) The vehicle owner failed to take a motor insurance policy.
- b) That the policy had expired at the time of accident.
- c) The vehicle .owner has breached a policy condition which renders the policy invalid or inoperative.
2. Hit and Run Vehicle
The vehicle which injured or killed the victim cannot be traced or identified.
3. Bankrupt Insurer
The insurance company which insured the vehicle owner is in distress or has legally wound up.
The Purpose of the Fund
- The Fund is not meant to relieve insurance companies of their liabilities under policies they have issued. Neither does it intend to encourage motorists not to insure their vehicles or to relieve motorists of their obligations to the victims.
- The Fund is a compensation fund of last resort, so the claimant must prove that he or she has tried without success to make a claim from the insurer of the offending driver or the vehicle owner.
- It is important to note that awards made by the fund are purely voluntary and are not the result of any contractual obligation on the part of the Fund.
