Can you have insurance on an unregistered car

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It can happen to anyone. You’re driving a car (you might not even own it, it could be a company car or your parent’s car) and you don’t realise the rego is overdue.

Best case scenario, you get pulled over by the police, who alert you to the fact and you could get a hefty fine (the driver is responsible no matter who owns the car), provided you don’t meet some very specific criteria.

The worst case scenario is that you get involved in a motor vehicle accident and someone ends up being seriously injured or even killed.

While the emotional and legal ramifications of an event like this occurring are severe and ongoing, there’s also the financial aspect to consider, which is why Compulsory Third Party Insurance (CTP Green Slip) is mandatory in all Australian states.

Protecting you, protecting others

CTP Green Slip exists to protect drivers from the financial burden of providing compensation to individuals and their families who may have been in an accident.

NRMA Insurance CTP Green Slip is linked with your vehicle’s registration, meaning that you can’t register your car unless you have a policy in place.

Of course, driving an unregistered car is illegal, but oversights can and do occur, especially now that windscreen stickers with the renewal date don’t exist anymore.

So what happens if the registration has temporarily lapsed for one reason or another and you find yourself involved in an accident?

Registration and CTP

Your CTP Green Slip insurance is a policy you buy from an insurer, whereas your registration is a duty paid to the government, and you might think of them as them as two entirely separate entities.

The fact is however, that your registration and CTP Green Slip are inextricably linked; not only must you have a CTP Green Slip policy in place before your registration is valid, but your car needs to be registered in order for your CTP insurance to be valid.

As soon as your registration has expired, so too has your policy, which means an accident resulting in injury or death during this time can leave you financially vulnerable – or to put it bluntly you can be sued for a large amount of money.

Is there a grace period after your registration expires?

There’s no grace period – once your registration has expired, your policy is invalid, effective immediately.

I’ve had an accident in an unregistered vehicle: now what?

If you find yourself in a situation where you’ve been involved in an accident while driving an unregistered vehicle, there will be a number of complications to deal with.

While this does mean that your CTP Green Slip insurance policy is invalid, NRMA Insurance will still allow you to make a claim and explain the circumstances under which the situation occurred. A case handler would then assess the situation on a case-by-case basis.

Ideally, you don’t want to find yourself in this situation.

How can I make sure I’m covered?

It’s always a good idea to double-check the details of your registration and CTP Green Slip policy.

You can phone the CTP Green Slip department of your insurer and check your policy, and you can also visit the Service NSW website to conduct a quick and free rego check.

It’s also good to understand that just having CTP Green Slip might not be enough car insurance for your vehicle.

There’s also Comprehensive Car Insurance, Third Party Property Car Insurance, and Third Party Fire and Theft car insurance to be considered.

Safety first

CTP Green Slip Insurance exists to protect you from unnecessary financial burden, should you be involved in a serious accident.

By simply keeping your vehicle’s registration up to date you can be sure that, should the worst happen, you won’t be held financially liable if you cause injury to someone else while you’re driving.

Read more articles about protecting the things you love at The Hub.

This article was contributed by NRMA Insurance, which is part of the Insurance Australia Group. The NRMA (National Roads and Motorists’ Association Limited) is a separate and independent company from NRMA Insurance.

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