Insurance claim can be denied if vehicle driven without valid license: Supreme Court

Sept. 30: An insurance claim can be denied if a vehicle doesn’t have valid registration, the Supreme Court observed while rejecting a claim regarding a car’s theft. The car’s temporary registration expired on July 19, 2011, and it was stolen on July 28, 2011. United India Insurance Company Limited, one of the more popular vehicle insurance companies in India, had filed an appeal against the claim. The vehicle, a Mahindra Bolero with an insured sum of ₹6.17 lakh, had expired 10 years ago.

The top court dismissed the insurance claim saying there is a fundamental breach of the terms and conditions of the policy. “What is important is this Court’s opinion of the law, that when an insurable incident that potentially results in liability occurs, there should be no fundamental breach of the conditions contained in the contract of insurance,” said the bench, headed by Justice U U Lalit and Justices S Ravindra Bhat and Bela M Trivedi. The SC noted that the vehicle was driven/used without a valid registration on the date of theft.