Exclusion from property damage insurance (and, consequently, the insurer’s lack of obligation to provide coverage) also applies where the driver did hold a driving licence, but at the time of the accident its validity period had expired.
In a recent decision (Supreme Court Decision 379/2021), the Supreme Court (Areios Pagos) held that damages caused by a driver who lacks a driving licence are excluded from insurance coverage.
Specifically, the Supreme Court, quashing the decision of the Single-Member Court of First Instance sitting as an appellate court, ruled that it is not necessary for there to be a causal link between the absence of the legally required driving licence and the damage caused by the driver of the insured vehicle. It suffices that, at the time of the accident, the driver did not possess the driving licence prescribed by law for the category of vehicle being driven.
Furthermore, exclusion of damage from insurance coverage also applies where the driver of the insured vehicle did hold a driving licence, but at the time of the accident its period of validity had expired.
According to Article 4 of Law 3557/2007, which added Article 6(b) to Presidential Decree 237/1986 (which codified Law 489/1976 on the compulsory insurance of motor vehicle civil liability arising from accidents), damages caused by a driver who lacks the driving licence prescribed by law for the category of motor vehicle being driven are excluded from insurance coverage.
From the wording of this provision, it follows that no examination or investigation is carried out as to whether the lack of a driving licence affected the occurrence of the accident. The legislature deliberately did not make the insurer’s exemption or exclusion contingent upon a causal link between the aforementioned violation and the accident.
Consequently, according to the reasoning of the Supreme Court, it is legally irrelevant for a driver involved in a road traffic accident who does not hold a valid driving license to claim that they know how to drive or that there is no causal link between the absence of the license and the accident.
Furthermore, the Court accepted that, under the relevant provisions of Law 2696/1999 (the Greek Highway Code), the renewal of a driving license that has expired due to the driver reaching the age of sixty-five (65) does not cover the intervening period, i.e. from the expiration until the renewal of the license, during which the driver, lacking a valid license, caused the road traffic accident.
