Compensation for Passengers in Car Accidents in Italy: rights as a passenger in a car accident. Do passengers have always the right to receive compensation for damages? 

Compensation for passengers is always recognized, independently from whom caused the offence, and thus even in the case the car accident was caused by the driver who transported the passenger.

Article 141 of the Insurance Code in regard to the “transported passenger compensation” states that the claim for compensation for suffered damages shall be forwarded to the insurance company of the vehicle on which the passenger was transported, despite determination of liability of the drivers of vehicles involved in the car accident.

Such a regulation may also be applied in the hypothesis that the car, which the passenger was travelling on, was liable for the accident or the responsible vehicle was not insured.

In case of lack of insurance, the passenger shall forward the claim for compensation to the insurance company of the vehicle he was travelling on (if the car which caused the accident was not the one that transported the passenger), or otherwise to the Guarantee Fund for Victims of Road Accidents.

The above mentioned content has been recently outlined and ratified by the Supreme Court of Cassation by Order no. 16477 dated 2017.

Besides, in the pointed order, it has been stated that the passenger has the right to receive compensation even when the same had accepted a free or paid ride by a clearly drunken driver, who caused or did not the car accident, and even in the case of not identified vehicle.

Compensation for passengers in car accidents in Italy: I was a passenger in a car accident in Italy. How to claim for a car passenger injury

The legislator wanted to simplify compensation procedure for the passenger, and exonerated the latter from the obligation to demonstrate eventual liabilities.

Therefore, for damages suffered from an accident, and thus for passenger in a car accident settlement, the passenger shall turn to the insurance company of the vehicle he was travelling on as a passenger at the moment the event happened (under Article 141 of the Insurance Code), and provide evidence of what follows in order to receive compensation:

• evidence of the car accident, through the report drafted by the authority involved or by means of eventual witnesses;

•  evidence of the damage suffered, by attachment of medical certificates adequate to prove the injuries.

Incurred treatment costs and loss of earnings shall also be considered as refundable. 

Action for passenger's compensation for damages may also be implemented, as stated in Article 145 of the Insurance code, after 90 days from the date the claim was forwarded by means of registered letter with advice of delivery to the insurance company.

Have you been victim of a car accident as a passenger or do you wish to receive further information on how to receive compensation for passengers in car accidents in Italy or on how to claim as a Passenger involved in a car accident? Contact us.