WILLEMSTAD - An employee of nature conservation Stichting Unique got in an accident with the company car during her work. The perpetrator appeared not to be insured, had no driver's license and no income. The car was badly damaged, and the costs are increasing. In Curaçao this means that you largely have to pay the repair costs yourself.
"Because," says Theo van der Giessen, director of the foundation, "you can't pluck a bare chicken." The foundation is in trouble. On Facebook they make a call for donations to pay the costs. Theo and insurance company Ennia believe that the police are not doing enough to prevent uninsured driving.
The story of Stichting Unique is not isolated. "Now that people have less to spend because of the economic crisis and high unemployment, it can happen that they have to choose between insurance or bread on the shelf," says Faisel Brons, Insurance Expert at Ennia. "It is nothing new but the number is increasing."
According to Forensys, an average of 36 accidents happen on Curaçao every day. Annually that amounts to 1256 collisions in which there is an accident with a motorist without insurance. In that case the motorist who does have insurance will still pay for the own costs of the collision, if not in possession of a Casco-plus or All-risk insurance.
According to Van der Giessen, the costs are high: “The damage, purely to the car, will cost us around 15,000 guilders. Such high costs can be devastating for the foundation ". He is annoyed that the boy got off with a fine. "Tomorrow he will probably just get into another car again."
The National Motor Vehicle Liability Insurance Regulations prescribe that everyone who goes on the road with a motor vehicle must have insurance. The penalty for this is a fine that is paid to the Public Prosecution (OM). This amount does not end up with the other party if there is an accident.
Fine and detention
According to Ivo Out, public prosecutor in charge of the portfolio traffic, the policy in such cases is to write a fine and a repeat offense policy. Out: "If such a person causes a collision more than once while he is not insured, then the sentence is detention."
By Kim Hendriksen