What Is Compulsory Motor Third Party Liability Insurance in Türkiye?

What the Cover Actually Protects

Compulsory Motor Third Party Liability insurance — zorunlu trafik sigortası in Turkish — answers for the legal liability of a vehicle operator where operating that vehicle causes the death or injury of a third party, or damage to property. Every operator using Turkish roads must hold it.

The policy pays within the compulsory limits in force on the date of the accident. Article A.1 of the General Conditions says so directly. A policy issued a year earlier is settled against the limits of the day of the loss, not the day of issue.

The geographical scope is Türkiye (A.4). Damage caused by a trailer under tow falls within the towing vehicle's policy; trailers carrying people need separate additional liability cover (A.3).

Owner or Operator: Who Carries the Duty?

The statute places the duty on the operator (işleten), not on the registered owner as such. Article 91 of Road Traffic Law No. 2918 requires operators to insure so that their Article 85 liabilities can be met; Article A.2 defines the insured as the person that law treats as operator of the vehicle named in the policy.

Article 85 makes the operator, with any undertaking the vehicle belongs to, jointly and severally liable, and holds the operator liable for the fault of the driver and of auxiliary persons as if it were their own. Who was behind the wheel does not settle where liability sits.

Article 9 of the Tariff Application Principles Regulation fixes when the duty starts: whoever acquires operator status must insure as of that date. A gap between taking the vehicle over and issuing the policy returns later as a premium loading. Our motor liability product page lists the vehicle groups we place.

The Four Heads of Cover

Article A.5 of the General Conditions groups the cover under four heads. Each answers a different class of loss and carries its own limit on the schedule.

The limits are not left to insurer discretion. Under Article 93 of Law No. 2918 the general conditions, the sums insured and the tariffs are set by the administration and published in the Official Gazette. No figure appears here for that reason: the limits set for the relevant year apply, and can be followed through the source below.

What the Policy Does Not Cover

This is a liability policy: it answers for harm you cause others, not for your own property. Article A.6 lists the exclusions one by one. The most frequently misunderstood are below.

Damage to your own vehicle is not the subject of this policy; that belongs to motor own damage cover, known in Türkiye as kasko. For protection above the compulsory limits there is a separate route: Article 14 of the Tariff Regulation allows higher cover under a voluntary motor liability policy against an additional premium.

• Damage to the insured's own vehicle and to trailers towed by it.
• Claims for non-pecuniary (moral) damages.
• Damage to goods carried in the insured vehicle, apart from luggage and similar effects accompanying injured parties.
• Costs arising from criminal proceedings, and administrative or judicial fines.
• The portion of a claim corresponding to the claimant's own fault.
• Damage caused by vehicles that are not in operation.

Policy Term and the Price of Late Renewal

Article 13 of the Tariff Application Principles Regulation states the rule in one line: the insurance term is one year. Short-term cover exists only in listed situations — temporary plates, international carriers under Road Transport Law No. 4925, and foreign-plated vehicles without valid cover in Türkiye.

Expiry falls earlier than most drivers assume. Under Article A.7 the cover begins and ends on the days and times written in the policy; where no time is stated, it runs from 12.00 noon Turkish time to 12.00 noon. A vehicle driven on the afternoon of the expiry day is uninsured.

Late renewal carries three separate costs. The first is in the premium: Article 7 adds 5% to the next contract's premium for every 30 days the renewal is not completed, capped at 50%. The second is on the road: under Article 91, vehicles without cover at valid sums insured are removed from traffic. We deal with the moment of an accident in a separate article.

The third cost sits in the no-claim step system. Article 5 moves the operator one step up where no indemnity was paid during the term, and one step down for each indemnity paid. Insurers set the discount and loading percentages freely, so the same step can differ between companies. The record follows the operator, not the vehicle, and each vehicle carries its own step.

What Happens to the Policy When You Sell the Vehicle

The policy does not pass to the buyer. Article 11 of the Tariff Regulation and Article C.4 of the General Conditions agree: whenever the operator changes, the contract terminates automatically as of that date and premium is refunded pro rata daily.

The transferor also owes a notification: Article 94 of Law No. 2918 requires them to notify the insurer within 15 days. The buyer must insure as of the transfer date, and the day of the notarised sale is not too early for it.

How We Work the Renewal Calendar as an Agency

RYL Sigorta Aracılık Hizmetleri Limited Şirketi is an insurance agency. The policy is issued by the insurance company, and any indemnity is paid by the insurance company. Our part is to prepare quotations from the insurers we place business with, and to put the expiry hour — not just the expiry date — into your calendar.

Clients most often ask what time the policy actually ends and whether the no-claim step moves to a newly acquired vehicle. Both are answered in the legislation, and both belong in a conversation held before renewal day. The insurers we act for, and the authorities granted to us, are published on our dedicated page.

If your policy is approaching expiry, the quotation form is enough to start: with the registration document and your current policy details we prepare a comparative quotation.

Frequently Asked Questions

Sources

• General Conditions of Compulsory Motor Third Party Liability Insurance — Turkish Legislation Information System
• Road Traffic Law No. 2918 — Turkish Legislation Information System
• Regulation on Tariff Application Principles for Compulsory Motor Third Party Liability Insurance — Turkish Legislation Information System

This article is for information only; the scope of cover is set by the policy’s specific and general terms.