Insurance Companies Refuse to Cover Old Vehicles Without Legal Grounds
The Ministry of Finance has acknowledged the infractions and announced concrete actions after being questioned by MP Hatem Labbaoui.
The Problem: Mass Refusals Without Legal Grounds
The issue started in the Kasserine governorate, where MP Hatem Labbaoui alerted that insurance agencies and companies were refusing to cover vehicles without providing any written justification. "People contacted me because insurance agencies were refusing to insure their vehicles without any legal reason," explained the MP. The Minister of Finance's response confirmed that this phenomenon exists in Tunisia, with field inspections by the General Insurance Authority (AGA) revealing infractions in several establishments nationwide.
Profile of the Victims
The victims are vehicle owners who are perfectly in order: valid technical control, available registration card, and paid fees. The ministerial response provides an important clarification: some of the refusals were due to the owners' inability to produce a technical control certificate in the name of the vehicle, an administrative obstacle that the ministry has since sought to resolve.
Context Aggravates the Situation
"Today, the majority of cars in circulation are over twenty years old — and they still work well," observes Labbaoui. No legal provision authorizes the refusal of insurance based solely on the age of the vehicle.
What the Law Says
The Tunisian Insurance Code imposes an obligation without exception of age. The Minister of Finance's response recalls three fundamental articles:
- Articles 110 and 112 establish that anyone who may be held liable for a land motor vehicle is required to take out an insurance contract. Conversely, any company marketing auto contracts is required to accept compliant requests. The age of the vehicle is not mentioned as a reason for legal refusal.
- Article 112 also specifies that if a company does not respond to an insurance request within ten working days, this silence is legally considered a refusal. The applicant can then immediately contact the Central Tariff Bureau.
- Article 113 provides that any company that refuses insurance after the tariff is set by the Central Tariff Bureau is subject to the sanctions of Article 87: warning, blame, or financial fine of 5,000 to 30,000 dinars.
The Central Flaw
The central flaw lies in the fact that these sanctions only apply after the Central Tariff Bureau (BCT) has been contacted. Without this intermediate step, companies that refuse to insure vehicles risk nothing immediately. Since most citizens are unaware of the BCT's existence, refusals have gone unpunished.
What Will Change Concretely
Beyond immediate measures, the Minister of Finance's response confirms that the Ministry of Finance is preparing a draft amendment to several articles of the Insurance Code. This project will be submitted to the Parliament's general legislation commission, which includes MP Hatem Labbaoui. "When the project reaches us in commission, we will also have our say — we will propose improvements to better protect the insured, particularly with regard to sanctions and filling gaps," he specifies.
The Central Issue of the Amendment
The central issue of this amendment is to fill the identified gap: currently, sanctions are only triggered after the BCT has been contacted by the citizen. The objective is for the simple illegal refusal to be directly sanctionable, without the citizen having to take additional steps to trigger the procedure.
The Ministry has also committed to continuing to monitor companies in coordination with the Federation and to remain available to investigate with Parliament on cases of refusal, particularly in Kasserine.
