The most important risk on the road isn't the bodywork, it's the person. Casco protects the vehicle – injury to the people inside it is the territory of other kinds of cover: for not-at-fault passengers, it's the at-fault driver's MTPL (compulsory motor third-party liability); for the driver, it's typically their own accident cover. This borderline article sets out the division of roles clearly.
- Casco applies to the car – the risk of personal injury is carried by a separate accident cover.
- Injury to not-at-fault passengers and other injured parties is settled by the at-fault driver's MTPL – the driver's own injury in a self-caused accident can fall through the gap: that's exactly what accident insurance is for.
- An accident add-on that can be taken out alongside casco is a useful layer, but it typically doesn't match the depth of standalone cover.
Who pays if someone is injured?
The formula rests on liability: the loss suffered by people who are not at fault in the accident (passengers, pedestrians, occupants of the other car) – the costs and lost income arising from the injury – is settled by the at-fault driver's MTPL. The blind spot is the driver's own injury in an accident they caused themselves: MTPL doesn't apply to that, and casco, being a property policy, doesn't either. This is the gap accident insurance fills: it pays out for defined injuries, permanent health impairment, surgery, or days in hospital – according to its own terms, without any assessment of liability.
What can casco's accident add-on do?
An accident-insurance element covering the occupants can be added to many casco policies – this is a good basic layer: it applies to the people travelling in the vehicle, typically with sum limits. What's worth knowing: the add-on's amounts and range of covered events are typically narrower than those of a standalone accident policy, and it only applies to situations linked to the car. For anyone for whom accident cover matters (a family's breadwinner, someone who spends a lot of time on the road), standalone cover is the complete answer – baleset.biz covers the depths of this.
The layers of complete motoring protection
The full picture comes together: MTPL for damage caused to others (compulsory), casco for your own car (optional), accident cover for the people involved, legal protection for disputes. Not everyone needs all four – but it's worth deciding consciously about all four. It's worth drawing up this map, and wherever going without a layer is a conscious decision, that's absolutely fine.
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