CTPL Insurance in the Philippines: 2026 Limits and Premiums
Compulsory third party liability, or CTPL, is the policy the Land Transportation Office asks for before it registers a vehicle. In 2024 the Insurance Commission doubled the limit and the death benefit to ₱200,000, and left the private-car premium where it has sat since 2006. A later draft would raise the limit again. That draft is not the number on a Certificate of Cover today.
This guide covers the benefit that applies now, the draft that may replace it, and the questions worth getting in writing before you insure a hybrid or a battery car. Comprehensive cover, the policy that repairs your own car, is a different product. The side-by-side is in CTPL vs comprehensive car insurance.
CTPL pays for people, not for your own car
CTPL, also called compulsory motor vehicle liability insurance, exists so the owner of a vehicle has a fund for the death or bodily injury of a third party, or of a passenger, arising from the use of that vehicle. The Certificate of Cover is what you show the LTO. The policy does not repair your bumper, replace a stolen car, or pay for damage you cause to someone else’s vehicle. It also does not cover the owner as an injured party.
Insurance Memorandum Circular No. 2024-01 raised the limit. From March 24, 2024, third-party liability under this cover is ₱200,000 for every type of motor vehicle. The old ceiling was ₱100,000. Death indemnity, including burial and funeral expenses, is also ₱200,000. Injuries are paid from a schedule the circular did not raise. A hospital room is paid at up to ₱500 a day for 45 days at most, a major operation at ₱7,500, drugs and medicines up to ₱20,000, and a permanent total disablement at ₱50,000. The no-fault benefit, paid without anyone having to prove negligence, went from ₱15,000 to ₱30,000. Other incidental expenses can be reimbursed up to ₱10,000, and the insurer’s total payment still cannot exceed ₱200,000. The increase applied to policies already in force. Insurers did not have to issue a new contract for the higher benefit to attach.
Premiums did not rise with that benefit. Circular 2024-01 kept the rates in Insurance Memorandum Circular No. 4-2006. For a private car the one-year total remains ₱560, taxes included, and the three-year total remains ₱1,610.
A ₱400,000 ceiling has been drafted. It is not the rule yet
On June 27, 2025, the Insurance Commission released Advisory No. RS-2025-013 and asked for comments on a revised circular. The draft would lift the limit to ₱400,000 per incident for every class of vehicle. In that draft, private cars stay at ₱560 for one year. Motorcycles, tricycles, and trailers stay at ₱250. The increases fall on vehicles that carry paying passengers and on air-conditioned and tourist cars.
| Vehicle class | One-year total in force | One-year total in the June 2025 draft |
|---|---|---|
| Private cars, jeeps, utility vehicles | ₱560.00 | ₱560.00 |
| Motorcycles, tricycles, trailers | ₱250.00 | ₱250.00 |
| Light and medium commercial vehicles | ₱610.00 | ₱610.00 |
| Heavy commercial vehicles and private buses | ₱1,200.00 | ₱1,200.00 |
| Air-conditioned and tourist cars | ₱740.00 | ₱1,134.49 |
| Taxi, PUJ, minibus | ₱1,100.00 | ₱1,686.40 |
| PUB and tourist bus | ₱1,450.00 | ₱1,632.27 |
Totals include basic premium, documentary stamp tax, VAT, and local government tax. Local tax can vary by city, and the draft notes that figures may not add up because of rounding.
As of October 2026, the text a motorist can still rely on is Circular 2024-01: a ₱200,000 limit, at the old premium. If a final circular has taken effect by the time you renew, the limit printed on your Certificate of Cover is the one that counts.
Comprehensive cover is a separate policy
Comprehensive insurance, the policy that repairs or replaces your own car, is priced on a different tariff. For a private car, own damage and theft is rated at 1.25 to 3.75 percent of the sum insured, and flood is an optional acts-of-nature section that a lender often requires. The Commission’s 2022 template for a private-car policy, issued with Insurance Memorandum Circular No. 2022-02, sets out what is covered and how parts are depreciated. Its rollout was suspended in March 2023, so ask for your insurer’s own wording. How much comprehensive car insurance costs walks through the price, the deductible, and flood cover.
Electric cars and the fine print
There is still no Insurance Commission tariff for electric cars. The Philippine Insurers and Reinsurers Association has said a normal motor policy is a poor fit: the battery can be a third to half the value of the vehicle, flooding is a heightened risk, and in other markets flood damage to the battery is not covered. Insurers here may do the same, or set a higher deductible for battery claims. Local rates, the association said in February 2025, could come in at roughly double the premium of a comparable conventional car, in part because fewer insurers were willing to write the risk. Until a guide rate is published, two insurers can look at the same car and produce very different prices.
Get these answers on the quotation, or in an email. A verbal assurance at the dealership is hard to claim against.
- Is the high-voltage battery inside the sum insured, or does it have a separate sub-limit or deductible?
- If floodwater reaches the battery, is that an acts-of-nature claim, a higher deductible, or an exclusion?
- If the car will not start because the battery has worn out, and there has been no accident, is that declined as mechanical or electrical breakdown? Under the template wording, that is the usual answer.
- After the car turns three, what share of a replacement pack do you pay? The template puts ordinary batteries at 45 percent.
- If the car runs out of charge, is a tow to a charger covered, and up to what peso limit?
- Which workshops can repair the car, and does the warranty require a casa?
What to keep with the OR/CR
Buy CTPL before registration. Keep the Certificate of Cover with the OR/CR, and check that the plate, chassis, and engine or motor number match the car in the garage. Renew before the certificate lapses. A ₱200,000 ceiling is an improvement on ₱100,000, but a hospital bill passes the injury schedule long before it reaches that figure. Anything CTPL does not pay is your own exposure unless a comprehensive policy’s voluntary third-party liability picks it up.
Compare comprehensive quotes for one make, one model year, and the same add-ons at eCompareMo car insurance. The comparison that helps is the own-damage rate, the deductible, the repair network, and whether flood and the battery are actually on the schedule.
Sources
- Insurance Commission, Insurance Memorandum Circular No. 2024-01, “Increase in the Benefits for Compulsory Motor Vehicle Insurance Coverage,” effective March 24, 2024. insurance.gov.ph
- Insurance Commission, Advisory No. RS-2025-013, draft circular on revised compulsory motor vehicle liability insurance, June 27, 2025. insurance.gov.ph
- Insurance Commission, schedule of motor car rates, own damage and theft at 1.25 to 3.75 percent as of January 1, 2015. insurance.gov.ph
- Insurance Commission, template Private Car Policy, Annex A to Insurance Memorandum Circular No. 2022-02 (insurance.gov.ph), and Circular Letter No. 2023-07, March 1, 2023, which suspended its rollout (insurance.gov.ph).
- Keisha Ta-Asan, “Insurers work on EV insurance guide rates,” The Philippine Star, February 19, 2025, quoting the Philippine Insurers and Reinsurers Association. philstar.com