Thousands lack motor insurance

The Star

06-05-2025

KUALA LUMPUR: Despite strict laws mandating motor insurance for all vehicles that ply the roads, tens of thousands of them are believed to be operating without it, according to a study by the Vehicle Theft and Accident Reduction Council of Malaysia (VTAREC)
VTAREC coordinator Mas Tina Abdul Hamid said the findings were based on a study of 740,000 cases of road accidents in 2023, which revealed that insurance claims for damages were only filed for 40% of the cases.
'We found that insurance claims were only made for 299,000 accident cases.
'While police reports were lodged by the parties involved in the accidents, not all the cases saw insurance claims being filed.
'We believe this is likely because certain vehicle owners did not make an insurance claim as they did not possess motor insurance.
'This might seem unimportant, but not having motor insurance can have serious consequences.
'Motor insurance does not only cover the damage to our vehicles but most importantly provides compensation for victims who suffer injuries, or the next of kin of those killed in the event of an accident,' she said at a soft launch ceremony of the council's Vehicle Theft and Road Accident Aware­ness campaign at a hotel here yesterday.
However, Mas Tina said the lower insurance claims could also be a case of motorists who chose not to make a claim for minor repairs and bear the costs themselves to preserve their no-claims discount.
She also revealed that road accident fatalities were highest among motorcyclists and pillion riders – making up to 70% of the annual average of 6,000 deaths.
However, she said only 13% of accident cases were caused by motorcyclists, although their numbers were 12 times higher than cars.
The study revealed that 67% of accidents were caused by cars, while 20% were caused by commercial vehicles.
'Often, bikers are blamed for accidents, but here we have learnt that it is car drivers who need greater awareness on road safety and need to be educated on defensive driving.
'The annual average of fatalities remains alarming. The yearly deaths from accidents can fill graves that may require space the size of six football fields.
'On average, one motorist is killed every 80 minutes.
'Human error is the primary cause of road crashes, making up to eight out of the 10 factors that cause traffic crashes,' added Mas Tina.
Last year, the vehicle insurance industry recorded 266,716 accident claims, a 11% decline compared with 299,657 cases in 2023.
Mas Tina said 86% of the claims in 2024 involved cars, about 5% motorcycles and 8% commercial vehicles.
As for vehicle thefts, she said on average, a vehicle gets stolen in Malaysia every two hours.
She said in 2023, 4,086 vehicles were reported stolen nationwide, of which 51% were motorcycles, 41% cars and the rest commercial vehicles.
Selangor reported the highest number of cases, followed by Kuala Lumpur, Johor and Sarawak.
Based on last year's statistics, six out of 10 cars targeted by thieves were Malaysian-made.
She said most of them were old models that were stolen to be cannibalised for spare parts.
Also present at the event were VTAREC director Datuk Ooi Win Juat, representatives from traffic police and other government agencies.