What MTPL Insurance Covers and What It Does Not

Short answer: MTPL covers the damage you cause to third parties in an accident that is your fault — injuries, death, repairing the other person's car and other material damage — but it does not cover your own car or your own injuries if you're at fault. The exact limits and exclusions are set by Law no. 106/2022.

What MTPL covers

Compulsory MTPL insurance covers damage caused to third parties as a result of a vehicle accident that is your fault. It covers: bodily injury or death, including moral damages; the cost of repairing the injured party's vehicle; material damage caused by damaging or destroying property, including deregistration costs and expenses to reduce the loss; court costs borne by the injured party if the ruling is in their favour; the cost of a single tow of the damaged vehicle from the accident scene.

Law no. 106/2022 sets maximum liability limits, the same for every MTPL policy:

• Material damage, per accident — EUR 100,000
• Bodily injury or death, one person — EUR 100,000
• Bodily injury or death, several people — EUR 500,000
• Material damage under the friendly accident report — MDL 15,000
• Moral damages (disability or death), one person — EUR 5,000
• Moral damages, several people — EUR 10,000

Important: The part of the loss that exceeds these limits is not covered by MTPL.

What MTPL does not cover

MTPL does not cover: cases where the insured is not at fault for the accident; cases caused solely by the fault of the injured party; damage to the property of the at-fault driver, as well as their injuries or death; damage to the at-fault person's own property; damage to property that is part of a married couple's joint estate; the loss of value of property after repair; damage to transported goods, if a transport contract existed between the owner, user or driver of the at-fault vehicle and the injured parties at the time of the accident.

Also not compensated: damage caused by military action during a state of emergency, siege or war, by natural disasters, nuclear explosions, radiation or radioactive pollution, mass unrest or terrorist acts, environmental pollution resulting from the accident, and lost profit or income. These exclusions are the same for every MTPL policy — they're set by law, not by any individual insurer's own terms.

6 situations: does MTPL pay or not?

1. You cause the accident — the other driver's car

MTPL pays for repairing the injured party's vehicle and any injuries, within the legal limits above. The injured party contacts your insurer, not their own.

2. You cause the accident — your own car

MTPL does not pay: the law explicitly excludes damage to the at-fault person's own property. This is what voluntary CASCO insurance is for — it covers exactly the repair of your own vehicle.

3. Someone else hits you through their own fault

You're the injured party, and their MTPL pays you: for your injuries, repairing your car and other material damage, within the legal limits. You contact their insurer, not your own.

4. The accident happened solely through the fault of the injured party

If the party that suffered the loss was the sole cause of the accident, the other driver's MTPL does not apply in that case.

5. Transported goods damaged in the accident

If a transport contract existed between the owner, user or driver of the at-fault vehicle and the injured parties at the time of the accident, damage to the transported goods is not covered by MTPL.

6. Property from a couple's joint estate

If the damaged property is part of a married couple's joint estate — for example, a vehicle registered to one spouse but used by both — the damage is not covered by the at-fault spouse's MTPL.

Hail or flooding, with no other vehicle involved. MTPL does not cover damage from natural disasters — there's no at-fault third party in a natural event. Natural events fall under the risk group of CASCO insurance, not MTPL.

What obligations you have for MTPL to work correctly

The cover described above also depends on a few obligations you have to the insurer, not only on the type of accident. You must pay the premium, take every possible action to reduce the damage caused, and notify the MTPL insurer that issued the policy about the accident within 48 hours of it happening.

You also have obligations related to the accuracy of the information you declare: notifying the insurer, when the contract is signed, about the intended use of the vehicle — including whether it will be used as a taxi —, giving the insurer access to the vehicle that caused the accident if requested, and informing the insurer if you sell the vehicle. These obligations don't change what the policy covers or doesn't cover, but they affect how a claim is handled.

Where the insurance is valid

Compulsory MTPL insurance is valid only within the Republic of Moldova. For accidents abroad you need the Green Card — external MTPL insurance.

What to remember

1. MTPL pays injured third parties, within the limits of Law no. 106/2022 — not your own car and not your own injuries if you're at fault.
2. Limits range from EUR 5,000 (moral damages, one person) to EUR 500,000 (bodily injury, several people).
3. The at-fault person's own property, a couple's joint estate, goods under a transport contract, and natural disasters are excluded from MTPL.
4. For your own car, regardless of fault, you need CASCO.
5. See full details on MTPL on the General Asigurări website.

Note: the full list of exclusions and restrictions is set by Law no. 106/2022 and the MTPL insurance conditions.