Driving without a license is a very serious offense with both administrative (traffic fines) and criminal penalties, and in the event of an accident, the insurance company is obliged to compensate any third party who has suffered damage caused by a driver without a license. Therefore, the victim of a traffic accident always receives the compensation they are entitled to from the insurance company.
However, the insurance company may then take action against the driver and the owner of the vehicle, claiming back any amount it has paid to the third party.
The liability of a driver without a license is therefore unlimited. The owner of the vehicle is also liable. Specifically:
According to the provisions of Article 4 of Law GPN/1911, “for any damage caused to third parties by the operation of the vehicle, the driver and the owner, as defined in Article 2, are liable for compensation, and the owner in this case is another person, or the owner is liable only up to the value of the car, which he may, at the discretion of the court, transfer to the injured party and be exempt from any other compensation…”.
It follows from the above provision that, because the liability of the owner of the vehicle causing the damage is established regardless of whether he is the driver or owner of the vehicle at the time of the accident (objective liability), in order to mitigate the severity of the objective liability of the owner, who is not the keeper or driver, the law limits his liability to the value of the vehicle causing the damage immediately prior to the accident.
This limitation of liability takes the form of an objection based on the fact that the owner of the car is not also its keeper or driver.
