Road accident: compensation by the Victims Guarantee Fund

The Guarantee Fund for Compulsory Damage Insurance (FGAO) is an organization responsible for compensating victims of road traffic accidents, for which strangers or uninsured.

It intervenes in the alternative, when the victim cannot be compensated by an insurer or by the person responsible for the accident.

When the immediate victim of the accident has died, the FGAO also compensates his beneficiaries (husband/wife, partner of Civil partnerships, cohabiting partner, ascendants and descendants).

You can enter the FGAO only for a traffic accident that has occurred in France and is caused by any of the following:

• Driver of a land motor vehicle traveling on public roads
• Person traveling on public roads with or without a vehicle (pedestrians, cyclists, skiers, rollerbladers,....))
• Domestic or wild animals
• Object (e.g., dropped load from an unidentified vehicle such as a pallet, rubble).

The FGAO can also compensate you if you have your habitual residence in France and you have a accident abroad, in one of the member countries of the green card system. This requires that the 3 the following conditions are met:

• You have not received a reasoned response from the insurer of the person responsible within 3 months of your request
• The insurer of the person responsible has not appointed a representative in France
• It is impossible to identify the accident site and the place of registration of the vehicle responsible for your accident within 2 months after the accident.

The notion of accident is understood in a broad sense. It includes accidents occurring on a road open to public traffic, even without direct contact between vehicles, as long as there is a link between the traffic situation and the accident.

You can apply to the FGAO if you are a direct victim or a beneficiary of a victim of a road traffic accident whose perpetrator is unknown or uninsured.

You must:

• either be a French national or have your habitual residence in France,
• or have the nationality of one of the following countries: State of, Holy See, Morocco, Tunisia.

The FGAO may refuse to compensate you in certain cases.

The FGAO carefully examines the conditions of intervention and may reduce or refuse compensation if the victim has committed a fault that contributed to the occurrence or aggravation of his damage.

Exclusions vary depending on whether the accident was caused by a land motor vehicle, an animal or object, or a pedestrian:

The FGAO will not compensate you in the following situations:

• You are the driver responsible for the accident or his successor in title
• The accident is caused by a regularly insured foreign-registered vehicle
• You are the owner or guardian of the animal or object that caused the accident
• Your family members (ascendants or descendants) when their responsibility is engaged
• The accident is caused by a pedestrian and you are the perpetrator without being a driver of a land motor vehicle.

The FGAO may reduce or deny compensation where the victim has committed a fault that contributed to the occurrence or aggravation of the damage.

The situation varies depending on whether you have suffered bodily harm or not:

To ask the FGAO's response to a traffic accident, you must fill out a file opening form:

Claim for compensation to the FGAO by a victim of a traffic or hunting accident

The form is accompanied by a notice that indicates the list of supporting documents to provide for the constitution of your file.

You must send the complete file to the FGAO by email or registered letter with acknowledgement of receipt.

The FGAO may request additional documents until the investigation of the case is completed.

The FGAO can compensate you for personal injury (injuries, incapacity for work) and property damage (damage to the vehicle) caused by the accident, but there are conditions.

The FGAO's compensation rules vary depending on the cause of the accident, the identification of the person responsible, and the nature of the damage you have suffered (property damage, personal injury, or property damage and personal injury):

After reviewing the file, the FGAO must decide whether you meet the conditions for compensation or not.

In the event of a favorable decision, the FGAO must offer you an agreement with an amount of compensation.

You can make a claim against the way your case was handled by the FGAO. You can also challenge the decision that was made on your claim.