All drivers have a duty of care to their passengers. If you were involved in a road accident and you were a passenger then your claim may be against the driver of the car in which you were travelling. It may be against the driver of the other vehicle. Whoever is at fault you, as the innocent passenger, should obtain compensation.

The non driver will be an innocent passenger and will, if the driver was at fault, be able to claim against them even if they are related. This would also be the case in the more unusual situation where a husband and wife driving separate cars are involved in a collision.

There will be no difficulty at all with husband and wife passenger claims provided the driver is properly insured. It does not matter if they are a named driver on their spouse’s policy provided they are insured it will in reality be the insurance company who pay out.

The only slight difficulty is that if the claim is on the non driver’s policy because the driver is the named driver then their no claims bonus will be effected however this will be a small price to pay if you or your spouse has suffered serious injury.

The other time when it can be difficult to make a claim is if the driver is not insured, is drunk or has vitiated their insurance in some way and it can be shown that you got in to the car with your husband/wife fully aware of the circumstance.  

In almost all cases if you suffer an injury following a collision if you were a passenger you will be able to make a successful claim against somebody. It is even possible to make a claim if the driver of the vehicle was not insured. Talk to us about the circumstances of your particular case and we will be happy to advise you.