When your insurer wants its money back: recourse, suspension and termination

In short

The victim of the accident is not affected by the contractual defences your insurer can raise against you. The insurer pays the victim; whether it can recover the money from you is a separate question (1989 Act, art. 16).

For recourse based on alcohol, the insurer must prove both the state of intoxication and that it caused the accident. Recourse is generally capped at €31,000.

When you lend your car, cover continues. The insurer can only recover from you or the driver in the cases listed in the model contract.

Cover can only be suspended for non-payment after a registered formal notice giving at least 15 days and containing the information required by law.

If only the cover was suspended for non-payment, the insurer still pays the victim and recovers from you within the cap. If the policy was validly terminated before the accident, the Common Guarantee Fund pays the victim and recovers the money from the vehicle owner without any cap.

The insurer’s recourse claim is time-barred 3 years after the date of payment.

I caused an accident while drunk and the insurer wants back what it paid: do I have to repay everything?

In most cases, no. The insurer pays the other party’s loss in full, but its recourse (recours / verhaal) against you depends on the conditions and the cap in the model contract.

Conditions for recourse. The insurer must prove that the driver was in a state of intoxication (état d’ivresse), or under the influence of drugs or medicines that deprived them of control of their actions, and that this caused the accident (model contract, annex art. 46 2°). Exceeding the legal alcohol limit under the traffic rules is not in itself the same as a “state of intoxication”; the model contract sets no numerical threshold. In practice courts may establish causation through presumptions, for example a high alcohol level combined with the absence of braking marks (Liège Court of Appeal, 25.1.2016, a personal accident insurance case). If the accident was caused by the other party’s fault, the road conditions or a technical failure, causation can be disputed.

Amount. Recourse is calculated on the insurer’s net outlay: compensation paid, legal costs and interest, minus the deductible and any amounts recovered (annex art. 44, 49).

net outlay up to €11,000: in full;
above €11,000: €11,000 plus half of the excess, but no more than €31,000.

Example: if the insurer paid €30,000, recourse is €20,500; if it paid €100,000, recourse is €31,000. Recourse is also limited to your personal share of liability: if fault was shared (e.g. 50%), recourse is calculated on that share. The text provides no indexation of these amounts. If you caused the accident intentionally, or made an intentional misstatement when the contract was concluded, the cap does not apply and the full amount can be claimed (annex art. 45 2°, 46 1°).

Procedural checks.

The insurer must notify its intention to take recourse as soon as it knows the facts, stating the ground. Recourse based on a ground that was not notified is forfeited (Insurance Act, art. 152; Cass. 16.4.2021, C.20.0151.N).
The insurer must prove the notification reached you; for a registered letter sent to a wrong address, saying “it was not returned” is not enough (Cass. 14.3.2019, C.18.0056.F).
The recourse claim is time-barred 3 years after the date on which the insurer paid (art. 88 §3; Cass. 20.6.2025, C.24.0166.N).

Which text applies? The 2018 model contract applies to accidents occurring from its entry into force on 12.5.2018 (Royal Decree of 16.4.2018, art. 6). For older accidents the 1992 model contract (Royal Decree of 14.12.1992, art. 24-25) applies. Its thresholds are slightly lower: net outlay in full up to €10,411.53, half above that, with a minimum of €10,411.53 and a maximum of €30,986.69; for a non-intentional misstatement recourse is capped at €247.89. These are the euro equivalents of the 420,000 and 1,250,000 Belgian francs in the original text (€247.89 for 10,000 francs).

Ask the insurer for an itemised breakdown of the net outlay, the payment dates and a copy of the recourse notification. Once the amount is settled, a payment plan can be negotiated. The effect of alcohol on your own comprehensive cover and on your own injuries is assessed separately under your policies; fines can never be insured (art. 155).

I lent my car and my friend caused an accident: will the other party be compensated, and can the insurer recover from us?

Yes, the other party’s loss is paid. Compulsory motor liability insurance follows the vehicle and covers the driver’s liability whoever is driving (1989 Act, art. 3 §1; annex art. 41). The only exception is a person who stole the car. Defences such as “the driver is not named on the policy” or “the conditions of use were not respected” cannot be raised against the victim (1989 Act, art. 16; Insurance Act, art. 151).

When can the insurer recover, and from whom? Only in the cases listed in the model contract (annex art. 44-48):

If your declaration was wrong: if you declared that only you drive the car, or that someone else is the main driver, and this was not true, the full net outlay can be claimed from you if the misstatement was intentional, and at most €250 if it was not (annex art. 45 2°-3°). Occasionally lending the car to a friend does not automatically make your declaration wrong; what matters is the question you were asked. The Insurance Commission has asked insurers to put concrete questions instead of relying on definitions such as “main driver” (FSMA, opinion C 2019/2).
The driver’s own faults: if your friend was drunk or caused the accident intentionally, recourse is directed at the driver (annex art. 46).
Licence and age: if the driver had no valid licence, was under the minimum age, breached a licence restriction or was subject to a driving ban in Belgium, the insurer can recover from both you and the driver, with no need for a causal link with the accident (1989 Act, art. 16bis; annex art. 47 §2; Cass. 22.6.2026, C.25.0381.F, on the 1992 model contract). Failure to comply with a purely administrative formality does not give rise to recourse. If you prove that the breach is attributable to another insured and occurred against your instructions or without your knowledge, there is no recourse against you. Proving one of the two conditions is enough: there is no recourse if the breach is attributable to another insured or occurred against your instructions or without your knowledge. The model contract links the two conditions with “and” (annex art. 47 §3), but a royal decree cannot depart from the Act to your detriment: the Act only allows the King to limit recourse (Insurance Act, art. 152), and the model contract may only be departed from in the insured’s favour (Royal Decree of 16.4.2018, art. 1). Courts do not apply a decree that conflicts with the law (Constitution, art. 159). We found no court decision or legal writing on this conflict. The current text of the model contract (its annex was replaced by the Royal Decree of 5.2.2019, in force 1.3.2019) and the 2023 motor general conditions of one insurer we checked also say “and”. In your objection, therefore, rely directly on the last paragraph of art. 16bis of the 1989 Act. In the §1 cases that the Act does not cover (roadworthiness test, races, passengers), annex art. 47 §3 applies as written.
No roadworthiness certificate: recourse is possible if a causal link with the accident is proved (annex art. 47 §1 1°).

Deductible and premium. Many policies apply an extra deductible (franchise) when an undeclared (often young) driver is at the wheel. This deductible cannot be raised against the victim, but you, as policyholder, pay it (annex art. 49). The Insurance Commission has stated that the increased premium and the deductible are borne only by the policyholder and never by an occasional driver who uses the car free of charge (FSMA, opinion C 2026/3). Your claims record and premium may also be affected.

Damage to your own car and to your friend. Compulsory insurance does not cover damage to your car; if you have comprehensive cover, check its conditions on drivers. The at-fault driver’s own injuries are not paid under compulsory insurance either (annex art. 42); that requires driver’s insurance.

My direct debit failed and after the accident I was told cover was suspended: can the insurer refuse to pay?

Not as against the victim. Suspension of cover for non-payment cannot be raised against the victim; the insurer pays them. For you, the question is whether the insurer can recover what it paid from you, and that depends on whether the suspension was valid. A missed instalment does not stop cover by itself; the insurer must give you formal notice in the way the law requires (Insurance Act, art. 69).

Requirements for a valid formal notice (art. 70-71; annex art. 18):

it must be served by a bailiff or sent by registered post; a qualified electronic registered delivery also meets this requirement (Code of Economic Law, art. XII.25 §7). An ordinary e-mail, a text message or the bank’s notice of a rejected debit is not a formal notice;
it must give at least 15 days to pay, counted from the day after service or posting;
it must state the amount and due date of the premium, the consequences of non-payment, the start of the period and the day on which suspension takes effect.

According to the Court of Cassation, the notice must allow you to calculate precisely when suspension takes effect, but the consequences do not have to be described in set wording (Cass. 4.12.2025, C.24.0384.N). Suspension starts on the day after the period expires; accidents before that are covered. You do not need to have actually received the letter, because the period runs from posting. But the insurer must prove the posting and the content.

If the notice is invalid, cover continues: the insurer pays the victim and cannot recover from you on this ground. The unpaid premium remains a debt.

Even if suspension was valid and started before the accident, the victim is still compensated by your insurer. The law only allows the annulment, termination, expiry or suspension of the contract to be raised against the victim (Insurance Act, art. 151 §1; 1989 Act, art. 16); suspension of cover for non-payment of the premium is not one of them. The Court of Cassation has drawn this distinction since 1961 and legal writers agree. That is why the model contract gives the insurer a right of recourse against the policyholder when cover is suspended (annex art. 18 §3, 45 1°). This recourse is subject to the €11,000 / €31,000 cap and limited to your personal share of liability in the accident (annex art. 44); if you were not at fault at all, there is no recourse. The Court of Cassation, sitting in joint chambers, ruled so under the 1992 model contract for a policy whose cover was suspended and for payments under art. 29bis: a clause granting recourse for amounts for which the insured is not liable departs from the model contract to the policyholder’s detriment (Cass. 19.6.2015, C.14.0150.N).

If the policy was terminated before the accident, the position is different. Termination can be raised against the victim, who then claims from the Common Guarantee Fund (Fonds commun de garantie belge) (1989 Act, art. 19bis-11 §1 8°). The Fund recovers what it paid from the vehicle owner, and this recourse is not limited by the €31,000 cap (art. 19bis-14 §5). When a premium is unpaid, the insurer may suspend and terminate in the same formal notice (art. 71); check whether the notice also announced termination. The Court of Cassation held that an insurer may terminate for non-payment even if it had already issued the insurance certificate (Cass. 18.2.2021, C.18.0606.F). Driving an uninsured vehicle is also an offence (art. 22).

Other rules. Suspension ends as soon as you pay the premiums due, but not retroactively (art. 71). Premiums falling due during suspension can be claimed for two years at most (art. 72). The premium is a debt the insurer must collect (art. 67); if you can show the debit failed because of an error by the bank or the insurer, document it. The Ombudsman’s 2025 report also mentions complaints arising from instalments that could not be debited.

Ask for a copy of the formal notice and the registered post receipt, calculate the dates and compare them with the date of the accident. For more detail, see our refused claim guide.

I moved, the termination letter went to my old address and I only found out after the accident that my policy had ended: is the intermediary or the insurer liable?

Possibly. It depends on whether the letter went to the last address known to the insurer, whom you told about your move, and what type of intermediary you use.

The rules. You must inform the insurer of a change of address (annex art. 5 5°). The insurer sends notices to the last address known to it (annex art. 37 §2). Notices you send go to the insurer’s address or to the person designated for that purpose in the contract (annex art. 37 §1). If your policy designates your intermediary to receive notices, telling the intermediary counts as telling the insurer. For a registered termination letter, the period runs from the day after posting (art. 70, 84); so not receiving a letter sent to the correct address does not by itself invalidate the termination.

The type of intermediary matters.

An agent (agent) acts in the name and on behalf of the insurer. Under the rules of agency, notice given to the agent within the scope of its mandate counts as notice to the insurer; any document showing that the agent handles your contract (policy, correspondence) matters. For example, in a case where the policyholder’s broker notified the claim to the agent that the insurer had appointed to handle claims, the Liège Court of Appeal accepted that the claim notification had interrupted the limitation period, and treated the refusal sent by that agent as the insurer’s decision (3.3.2009, 2006/RG/1561). We found no Court of Cassation ruling stating this principle expressly; even if you notify a claim through the agent, send a dated written copy to the insurer. If the agent works for a single insurer (agent lié), the insurer is fully liable for its acts and omissions. Information given to an intermediary who is neither the actual nor the apparent agent of the insurer, however, does not count as given to the insurer; an intermediary who fails to pass it on may itself be liable to you (Liège Court of Appeal, 25.6.2008, 2005/RG/1708). The Act states the same principle expressly for premium payments: payment to a person who asks for it and appears to be the insurer’s agent for receiving it discharges you (Insurance Act, art. 67, para. 2). The rule also works the other way: for the limitation period to start running again, the insurer must notify its decision to you or to an agent you have instructed to receive it; notifying someone who represents you, such as your broker, is not enough in itself (Court of Cassation, 18.4.2016, C.15.0450.F).
A broker (courtier) generally acts on your behalf. If the broker did not pass your notice on to the insurer, it may be professionally liable. Brokers must act honestly and professionally in their clients’ best interests (Insurance Act, art. 279) and professional liability insurance is compulsory (art. 266). The 3-year insurance limitation period does not apply to an intermediary’s liability (Ombudsman, 2022 report); for this contractual claim the general period is 10 years (former Civil Code, art. 2262bis §1). For a claim based on non-contractual liability, the period is 5 years from knowledge of the damage and of the liable person (same article). Book 6 of the Civil Code did not change this.

If the insurer knew your new address. If you reported your change of address to the insurer or to the person designated in the contract and the termination letter still went to the old address, it was not sent to the “last known address” required by the model contract, so the termination was not properly notified. The insurer must prove the notice was sent to the right address; the Court of Cassation held that, for a registered recourse notice sent to a wrong address, saying “the letter was not returned” is not enough (Cass. 14.3.2019, C.18.0056.F). In that case the contract continues and the insurer pays. The Liège Court of Appeal likewise held that a premium reminder and termination letter sent to a wrong address through the insurer’s own error (it had entered a wrong address in the policy) had no effect, that the policy continued and that the insurer had to pay the claim (4.10.2017, 2016/RG/752).

Consequences of the accident. If the termination was valid and took effect before the accident, the Common Guarantee Fund pays the victim and recovers the money from the vehicle owner without a cap (1989 Act, art. 19bis-11 §1 8°, 19bis-14 §5). These amounts can be very large: in a case reviewed by the Constitutional Court, the Fund had paid €392,305.78 (judgment 12/2022). If the termination was invalid, the contract continues and the insurer pays. You can claim any amount you have to pay as damages from the intermediary or insurer at fault.

Do this straight away: Do not drive the car until it is insured. Keep the e-mail or letter in which you reported your change of address, with its date. Ask the insurer for a copy of the termination letter and proof of posting, and ask the intermediary for a written explanation and the details of its professional liability insurer. Check in which capacity the intermediary is registered in the FSMA register of intermediaries. Complain first to the complaints department, then to the Ombudsman, who also handles complaints about intermediaries. Your legal expenses insurance may cover a lawyer (legal expenses guide).

Checklist

When did the recourse notification arrive and what ground does it rely on? Was a new ground added later?
Net outlay breakdown: were the deductible and recoveries subtracted, and was the €11,000 / €31,000 cap applied?
What is your share of fault? Recourse is limited to it.
Alcohol: did the insurer prove intoxication and the causal link with the accident?
Lent car: which model contract article does the insurer rely on? A non-intentional misstatement costs €250 at most.
Suspension or termination: registered notice, at least 15 days, required content and the right address? Did the accident happen before suspension?
The 3-year limitation period for recourse runs from the payment date (Deadlines guide).
Complaints department, then the Ombudsman.

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Sources

This guide is general information, not legal advice. Current as of 09.10.2026.