A Car Insurance Newbie’s Guide To CTPL

CTPL or Compulsory Third-Party Liability is a mandatory insurance policy for all vehicle owners. The Land Transportation Office (LTO) requires it upon the registration of a vehicle.

CTPL is basically insurance that provides protection, subject to the limits of liability, and will answer for the death, disablement, and medical expenses of a person injured because of an accident involving the insured’s vehicle.

CTPL insurance in the Philippines

CTPL mandatory insurance for all car owners in the country. They need to have CTPL before they can register their vehicle with LTO, regardless of whether the vehicle is for personal or commercial use.

The purpose of requiring CTPL insurance coverage prior to the registration of the vehicle is to provide protection for the general public.

When a CTPL policy is purchased, the insured is given an insurance policy with terms and conditions. Attached to the policy is the Confirmation of Cover, or COC. This COC is shown to LTO upon registration as proof that the motor vehicle has third-party insurance cover already.

The COC contains essential details: the name of the insured, basic details of the vehicle (i.e, serial number, chassis number, plate number, color), and the insurer’s limit of liability. Additionally, the schedule of benefits, such as death benefits, funeral expenses, permanent disablement and dismemberment, and limits for medical and hospital reimbursement is shown in the schedule of benefits for death and bodily injury.

Furthermore, there are only two kinds of CTPL—Bodily Injury (BI) and Property Damage (PD). In this case, the policy will only take effect if the injury or damage was caused by the operation of the insured’s motor vehicle.

CTPL coverage

In case of an accident, a CTPL cover for a PUV provides a total death benefit of P100,000 for the passenger-victim and P100,000 for third-party victims. Whereas for a private vehicle, the P100,000 insurance coverage is for third-party victims only. Furthermore, under the “no fault” clause of the policy, a third-party victim is entitled to a sum of a maximum of P15,000 without proving negligence.

CTPL insurance price

A CTPL policy may be bought from any licensed insurance company. CTPL insurance cost in the Philippines is mandated by the Insurance Commission across all insurance companies. Any deviation from the rate, be it higher or lower, should be reported to the Insurance Commission.

Be warned that there are fly-by-night companies that may be offering CTPL at the LTO offices. The unwary motorist may buy a CTPL from a person or company without double-checking its legal existence because they hope to speed up the car registration process.

While some Filipinos think that the most important thing is to show a COC just to be able to complete the registration process, this is not the case. When the need arises, if you accidently get into an accident with a third party and you have a fake CTPL, you will end up shelling out hundreds of thousands in damages.

Key takeaway

Remember that driving without a Comprehensive Third Party Liability insurance is illegal. So make sure that you purchase a legitimate one before hitting the road to avoid spending more than what your budget permits.