What is Liability to other people?
Liability is an obligation or responsibility to perform or not perform certain acts. Liability, in most cases, refers to monetary compensation that has to be paid to a third party for damages or losses; this liability can be enforced by law. Liability insurance policies provide cover for delictual (through negligence) liabilities and car insurance policies always include what we refer to as Third Party liability cover. When dealing with legal liability one of the principles is that while you are legally liable to a third party, you cannot be liable to yourself.

The Law
In South Africa our law is divided into criminal and civil law. Civil law refers to the protection of an individual’s rights. The two most common causes of action are contractual and delictual. In terms of common law, that forms part of our South African law system, we all have a legal duty not to harm the person or property of others through our wrongful actions or failure to carry out certain actions.

The Road Accident Fund
If you as a driver are the guilty party in a car accident you are legally liable for the injuries or death of the third parties. You are also liable for the damages to their property, such as their cars. In South Africa the legal liability for injuries or death is covered by the Road Accident Fund to which all drivers on South African roads contribute to in the form of a fuel levy. Every time you fill your car with petrol a certain percentage goes to the Road Accident Fund.

An Amendment to the Road Accident Fund Act became law in August 2008 and since then third parties are prohibited from claiming for injuries or death from the guilty party. They can only claim from the Road Accident Fund; the fund takes over the legal liability of the guilty driver. This has caused concern as it is an infringement of the common law rights of citizens and will probably be tested in our courts sooner or later.

Damage to Property
However, the guilty party in an accident is still responsible, or legally liable, to third parties for the damage to their property. In South Africa there are three classes of car insurance – comprehensive; third party, fire and theft and third party only. Car insurance is not compulsory in South Africa, the exception being when you buy a car on credit. In this case comprehensive insurance is compulsory. In many overseas countries all drivers must have car insurance.

If you cause an accident the third party can sue you in your personal capacity for the damage to his car. If you do not have at least third party insurance you could be ruined financially. Your car may not be worth much but the third party may be driving an imported sports model. Car repairs, especially for imported cars, are extremely expensive.

The Statistics
According to the Arrive Alive Statistics for the year ended 31 March 2008 there were 9,182 677 registered cars on our roads and 922 200 unlicensed and/or unroadworthy cars. 15 172 vehicles were involved in fatal crashes. Of all the cars on our roads only one third are insured. In which category do you fall?

More than sixty percent of the complaints handled by the Short Term Insurance Ombudsman relate to car insurance complaints and most of these link back to issues regarding third party insurance. This is an indication of the importance of having proper third party liability cover.

Minimum Protection
No one should be without the minimum protection offered by third party insurance. You need to take into account that you can be the cause of an accident and therefore responsible for the damage to cars of a third party or parties. But, you also need to take into account that if you have no insurance for your own car and someone else drives into you, there is a sixty-six percent change that this person may have no insurance at all. You can sue the person for the damage to your car – it may take years of legal battles and you have no guarantee that you will ever be refunded. Can you afford not to have car insurance?

If you do have car insurance make sure what the limit is that your insurance company has placed on your third party liability. You need to make a decision as to whether the amount is sufficient. Additional liability cover is not expensive so rather ensure that you are well covered.