Original (in Estonian): Tiina Kaukvere, "Luubi all ⟩ Kohustusliku liikluskindlustuse avalik saladus" (The open secret of compulsory motor insurance), Postimees, 19 February 2022. Read the article
Date note: the date of this post (19 February 2022) is the date of the original publication. This English summary was written for this website in 2026.
Postimees followed the path of a seriously injured road accident victim towards motor third-party liability (MTPL) benefits. Olavi-Jüri Luik appeared as the victim's counsel.
Key points
Compulsory motor insurance exists to protect victims, and an insurer should not leave a victim unaware of the benefits to which they are entitled. In serious injury cases the heads of loss are numerous (medical costs, lost income, care, adaptations, non-pecuniary loss), and victims often cannot identify them alone. The high statutory sum insured shows that the legislator had serious injuries in mind.
What has changed since
The Motor Insurance Act (liikluskindlustuse seadus, LKindlS) has been substantially amended. The minimum sum insured for personal injury is now EUR 6,450,000 per event (LKindlS § 25(1), in force 15 July 2024), compared with EUR 5.6 million at the time of the article. Since the reform of 1 December 2024 the extent of damage is determined under the damages rules of the Law of Obligations Act (võlaõigusseadus, VÕS) with MTPL-specific deviations, and statutory minimum amounts for non-pecuniary loss were added (LKindlS § 32). See the Motor Insurance Act on Riigi Teataja.