The firm will help you find fair compensation for the loss you have suffered by offering you a simulation of the compensation you are entitled to claim.
Whether you are a pedestrian, cyclist, car passenger or driver, if you are injured in a road accident, you will be compensated. If you are a driver, your compensation will depend on your responsibility in the accident and the cover you have taken out.
People covered by compensation
Passenger, pedestrian and cyclist victims.
Their bodily injuries are compensated in full, except where the victim has :
- deliberately caused their own injuries, for example by suicidal behaviour
- committed an inexcusable fault, the sole cause of the accident. However, this fault is not accepted if, at the time of the accident, the victim is under 16 years of age, over 70 years of age or suffering from a permanent incapacity or disability equal to at least 80 %.
The legislative framework: the Act of 5 July 1985, known as the "Badinter Act".
The Badinter Act establishes a "right to compensation" for any victim of a road traffic accident involving a land motor vehicle.
What is a road traffic accident?
A road traffic accident necessarily involves a land-based motor vehicle (car, motorbike, scooter or other two-wheeler, coach, tractor, etc.), whether or not it is moving.
However, accidents caused by trains and trams running on their own tracks are not considered to be traffic accidents.
What is bodily injury?
Bodily injury means damage to a person's physical or mental integrity.
Drivers of motorised land vehicles (lorries, cars, motorised two-wheelers, etc.)
Drivers are entitled to compensation for bodily injury unless they are at fault, which may limit or even exclude their right to compensation.
For example, if a driver is travelling at excessive speed and is unable to take the evasive action that would have prevented the accident, his right to compensation may be limited or withdrawn.
Bodily injury taken into account for compensation purposes
The losses taken into account by insurers and civil courts are listed in a nomenclature known as the Dinthilac Nomenclature.
What are the procedures after a road accident?
Damages suffered by direct victims
Property damage
Temporary damage (before consolidation)
Permanent injury (after consolidation)
- current health expenses following the accident
- miscellaneous expenses
- loss of current professional earnings
- future healthcare expenditure
- adapted accommodation and vehicle costs
- third-party assistance
- loss of future professional earnings
- professional impact
- educational, university or training disadvantages.
Non-economic losses
Temporary damage (before consolidation)
Permanent injury (after consolidation)
Evolving damages (other than consolidation)
- suffering endured
- temporary functional impairment corresponding to temporary inconvenience in carrying out usual activities
- temporary cosmetic damage
- sexual harm
- permanent functional impairment: damage to physical and mental integrity (AIPP), permanent pain, loss of quality of life and permanent problems affecting living conditions, etc.
- loss of enjoyment, due to the impossibility of continuing to take part in leisure activities that were regular activities before the accident
- permanent cosmetic damage
- sexual harm
- establishment damage, i.e. loss of hope and opportunity to realise a family life project due to the seriousness of the disability
- exceptional permanent damage (atypical damage directly linked to permanent disabilities, etc.)
- all progressive pathologies, in particular incurable diseases likely to progress as a result of the accident.
The date of consolidation corresponds to the moment when the injuries have set in and become permanent, so that treatment is no longer necessary, except to prevent further deterioration.
Losses suffered by indirect victims
In the event of the death of the direct victim
If the direct victim survives
They include funeral expenses, loss of income and miscellaneous expenses for relatives, loss of affection (emotional pain) and loss of companionship (emotional loss suffered by relatives during the traumatic illness until the death of the direct victim).
They include loss of income and miscellaneous expenses for relatives, loss of affection (emotional pain suffered by certain relatives at the sight of the suffering of the direct victim) and exceptional non-pecuniary losses.
How to claim compensation
Declaring the accident
As a general rule, to enable the compensation process to be set in motion, the victims of a road accident or the people accompanying them should, as far as possible, fill in a joint accident report.
The insurer of each vehicle involved in the accident must be informed promptly, within five working days at the latest. It is possible to make an initial declaration by telephone.
In his declaration, the insured or the person accompanying him must indicate the name and number of the insurance contract, specify the date, place and circumstances of the accident and, if applicable, the names and addresses of any witnesses.
The Irca agreement: the principle of direct compensation
The Irca agreement (Indemnification and Recourse for Bodily Injury in Motor Vehicles), concluded between insurance companies, is applicable in 90% of accidents.
It speeds up compensation for victims, because under this agreement, people injured in a vehicle are compensated directly by the civil liability insurer of the vehicle in which they were travelling.
Recourse between the various insurers is then based on the recourse rules set out in the same agreement.
The insurer's first letter to the victim
The insurer of the vehicle involved sends a letter to the victim informing them of their rights: they can obtain the police report free of charge, and have the assistance of a lawyer or doctor of their choice.
A questionnaire is enclosed with this letter. It covers, in particular, a description of the bodily injury, the professional activity, identification of dependants for tax purposes and third-party payers (social security bodies, mutual insurance companies, employers, etc.) required to pay benefits.
The victim must reply and return it within six weeks, failing which the deadline for the offer of compensation is suspended.
Medical examination
Depending on the seriousness of the injury, it is assessed either on the basis of documentary evidence or by a medical expert.
Coin-op opinion
This involves the assessment of bodily injury after examination of medical documents (initial medical certificate, certificates of time off work, treatment prescriptions, etc.) by a doctor appointed by the insurer. This practice only concerns very minor bodily injuries.
Medical expertise
If the bodily injury is not very slight, the insurer will arrange for a medical examination to be carried out by a qualified expert in bodily injury compensation. The expert will suggest an appointment at least two weeks before the examination. The victim may be assisted by a specialist of his or her choice. If the victim has taken out legal protection insurance, his insurer will be able to give him the name of a doctor.
After the examination, the expert appointed by the insurer has twenty days to send a copy of his report to the victim and, if applicable, to the doctor who assisted him.
Compensation
The offer of compensation
The insurer makes an offer of compensation to the victim. This offer must cover all elements of bodily injury, as well as material damage related to bodily injury or death (clothing, prostheses, etc.).
This offer of compensation may be reduced depending on :
- the victim's responsibility in the accident (e.g. a driver who has committed a fault that reduces his or her right to compensation)
- deduction of sums paid or payable by third-party payers (social security bodies, employers, supplementary health insurers, "driver's insurance" insurers, pension funds, etc.).
To find out how much compensation you will receive
The FVI file of compensated victims is managed by the Association pour la Gestion des Informations sur le Risque en Assurance (Agira).
The purpose of this file is to inform the public of compensation awarded to victims of road traffic accidents under decisions taken either by settlement agreement or by legal proceedings.
The addressee of the offer :
- the victim in general
- heirs in the event of death
- the partner linked by a PACS, the cohabitee, the spouse
- the legal representative and, depending on the case, the guardianship judge or the family council if the victim is a minor or a protected adult.
Deadlines for making an offer of compensation
The insurer must make an offer of compensation:
- within eight months of the accident; or
- within three months of the victim's request for compensation, unless it can justify that the damage has not been fully quantified or that liability has not been clearly established.
The offer period that is most favourable to the victim applies.
These deadlines are extended in two situations, when :
- the insurer is not notified of the facts during the month following the accident or receives the information requested more than six weeks after the questionnaire was sent out
- the victim refuses the medical examination.
If the insurer does not meet the deadline, the amount of the indemnity shall be increased by interest at double the legal interest rate for the period between the end of the deadline and the date of the offer.
The nature of the offer
The offer is :
- definitive if the victim's state of health has been consolidated and the insurer has been informed within three months of the accident
- provisional in the opposite case.
The final offer must be submitted no later than five months after the date on which the insurer is informed of the consolidation.
Acceptance of the offer
The victim who has accepted the offer receives the settlement no later than forty-five days after acceptance. After this deadline, the insurer must pay interest: for the first two months, at half the legal rate; thereafter, at double the legal rate.
Victims who have accepted the offer have the right to withdraw their agreement. In this case, they may withdraw their agreement within fifteen days by sending the insurer a registered letter with acknowledgement of receipt.
Discussing or refusing the offer
When they receive the offer, victims can think about it for as long as they wish.
If the victim considers the offer insufficient, he or she can either ask the insurer to make a new offer, or take the case to court. In the latter case, the victim will only receive full compensation at the end of the trial.
It is possible to take the case to court without waiting for the offer of amicable compensation.
In all cases, you should inform the insurer of your decision.
If the victim's condition worsens, he or she may submit a new claim to the insurer that paid the compensation. They have ten years from the date of the worsening of their condition to submit this new claim. However, it must not be a normal and foreseeable consequence of the victim's state of health at the time the compensation was agreed. In addition, it must be proven that the worsening of the condition is the result of the accident.
Personal insurance to cover compensation in the event of a road accident
To receive compensation for bodily injury, policyholders can take out several types of personal insurance: specific driver's cover or cover attached to the car insurance policy, life insurance, specific individual cover or cover attached to the comprehensive home insurance policy, personal accident cover, if it includes road accidents, and legal protection cover.
Legal protection cover
If the policyholder has legal protection cover (attached to their motor, multi-risk home or school insurance policy) or a specific policy that applies in the event of a road accident, their insurer can help by making a doctor or lawyer available to them.
Driver's guarantee
If the insured is the driver at fault in the accident, the insurer will compensate him for his loss in the same way as other victims, i.e. in addition to the social security contributions. However, the policy always sets a cover limit. It may also provide for excesses and the exclusion of certain items of loss.
If the insured is not the driver at fault, the insurer's compensation corresponds to an advance on the sums owed by the person responsible for the accident.
Other guarantees
Life insurance
Life insurance covers serious accidents. In the event of death, a lump sum is paid to the beneficiaries. In the event of disability, depending on the insurance contract, the victim will receive either an annuity or a lump sum.
Individual accident cover
The amount paid out by the insurer depends on the choice of capital guaranteed at the time of purchase. The disability capital is paid in the event of total disability. If the disability is partial, the insurer pays a proportion of the lump sum based on the degree of disability. A scale appended to the policy specifies the percentages to be applied for each disability. Cover for medical expenses supplements the benefits paid by the social security body.
Specific cases of road accidents
Road accident in France involving a foreign national
In the event of a road accident caused in France by a vehicle registered abroad, you can contact the correspondent of the foreign insurer in France (contact details are available on the French Central Bureau website).
Road accidents abroad
In the event of a road accident occurring in a country listed on the front of the Green Card and caused by a vehicle registered in one of the countries of the European Union, it is possible to make one of the following claims:
- the representative in France of the civil liability insurer of the at-fault driver
- the civil liability insurer of the at-fault driver in the country where the accident occurred.
As a general rule, the law of the country where the accident occurred applies to determine liability and compensation for damages.
Within three months of the date of the claim, the insurer or representative making the claim must make an offer of compensation if liability is not disputed and the loss is quantified. Otherwise, it must send a reasoned reply within the same time limit.
If the insurer or its representative fails to make an offer or give a reasoned response within the time allowed, the claim may be referred to the Fonds de garantie des assurances obligatoires de dommages (FGAO), designated by France as the compensation body. Within two months of the claim being made, the FGAO will attempt to have the insurer or its representative take over management of the case. Once this period has elapsed, the FGAO will itself pay compensation in accordance with the law applicable to the accident.
The FGAO can also intervene if :
- the vehicle responsible is unidentified or uninsured
- the insurer of the at-fault vehicle has not appointed its representative in France.
Practical advice
As soon as possible after the accident, report it:
- Your car insurer if you are a driver
- the insurer of the vehicle carrying you if you are a passenger
- To your comprehensive home insurance provider in all other cases.
This is the case even if an official report has been drawn up by the police or gendarmerie.
If you send treatment forms to the Social Security, make sure you specify that it is an accident and indicate the date.
Put together your file, keeping the original or, failing that, a copy of all medical documents, Social Security statements and, where applicable, those of your supplementary insurance, proof of your expenses and a copy of all correspondence.
You must provide the insurer with documentary evidence of the damage you have suffered.
You can seek the advice of specialists (defence or legal protection insurers, etc.) or decide to be assisted by a doctor or lawyer. However, you may still have to pay the costs and fees of these people, unless you are covered by legal expenses insurance or, in the event of legal proceedings, by legal aid.
You can also get information or psychological help from your nearest victim support association.
Keep an eye on deadlines to speed up the settlement of your case.
Do not hesitate to contact the insurer with whom you reported the accident, your legal protection organisation or the lawyer you have instructed to defend your interests.
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