Part of our Core Hub on Turkish Traffic Accident Compensation: This guide covers the situation where there is no insurer to claim against — an uninsured, unidentified or stolen vehicle. For the ordinary direct claim against the at-fault driver's compulsory insurer, the heads of loss and the evidence, see our main pillar: Traffic Accident Compensation in Türkiye →.
1. What the Güvence Hesabı Is
Every motor vehicle operated in Türkiye must carry compulsory third-party liability insurance (zorunlu mali sorumluluk sigortası, usually shortened to trafik sigortası), and the normal route for an injured person is a claim against that insurer within the policy limits. The system assumes the policy exists and the vehicle can be identified. When either assumption fails, Article 14 of the Insurance Law No. 5684 provides the answer. Its first paragraph establishes, within the Insurance, Reinsurance and Pension Companies Association of Türkiye, a fund called the Güvence Hesabı — the Assurance Account — for the purpose of covering losses arising under the compulsory liability insurances created by that Law, by the Highway Traffic Act (Karayolları Trafik Kanunu, KTK No. 2918) and by the Road Transport Act, up to the valid coverage amounts fixed for those insurances.
The Account is funded by contributions from insurers and from policyholders under Article 14(3), which is why it is described as an insurance-sector fund rather than a state compensation scheme. Its detailed operation — payments, recourse, the claimant's duties — is governed by the Güvence Hesabı Regulation issued under Article 14(7). Two features of the design matter for every claim. The Account pays only within the compulsory limits in force on the accident date, so a claim above those limits must still be pursued against the person liable. And the Account is not a charity: under Article 16 of the Regulation it recovers what it pays from the uninsured owner or operator, from the person later identified as responsible, and from the person liable for the loss.
2. The Five Situations It Covers — and the Word "Bodily"
Article 14(2) of Law 5684 lists the situations in which the Account may be applied to. Read closely, because the list is exhaustive and each item carries its own limit.
- (a) The insured cannot be identified — for bodily losses suffered by a person. This is the hit-and-run head.
- (b) The vehicle was uninsured — for bodily losses caused by persons who had not taken out the insurance within the coverage amounts in force on the date of the risk.
- (c) The insurer collapsed — for material and bodily losses the insurer was liable to pay, where its licences were permanently cancelled in all branches for financial weakness or it went bankrupt.
- (ç) A stolen or hijacked vehicle — for bodily losses in an accident involving a stolen or hijacked vehicle, in the cases where the operator is not held liable under the Highway Traffic Act.
- (d) Green Card payments — payments to be made by the Turkish Motor Insurers' Bureau in Green Card cases.
The Regulation adds one more head in Article 9(1)(c): bodily compensation equal to the difference between the compulsory insurance limits and the coverage stated in the policy, where a policy was issued below the statutory limits.
The pattern is unmistakable. In four of the five statutory situations, and in the Regulation's additional head, the Account answers for bodily injury only: death, injury, disability and the losses that flow from them. Property damage — the repair of your own car, a written-off rental, a damaged motorcycle or bicycle, personal effects — is covered only in the insurer-insolvency case under paragraph (c). Article 14(2) closes with a sentence allowing the President to decide that losses to property be covered in part or in full from the Account where deemed necessary; a claimant should treat property damage as excluded unless such a decision is shown to apply to the accident in question. For a foreign victim this is frequently the single most important fact in the file: the Account may pay the hospital bills and the disability compensation, but the destroyed hire car is a claim against the driver alone.
3. Hit-and-Run: The Unidentified Vehicle
Paragraph (a) covers the case where the insured — in practice the vehicle and its operator — cannot be identified. The claimant's difficulty is evidential rather than legal: the Account will pay for a bodily injury caused by a vehicle nobody can name, but it must first be satisfied that a motor vehicle was involved and that the injury resulted from its operation. The documents that establish this are the ones created in the first hours: the police or gendarmerie accident record, hospital admission notes that record the mechanism of injury, witness details, and any camera footage from the road, nearby premises or the vehicle that stopped to help. A pedestrian struck at night and taken to hospital by a passer-by has a claim; whether it is paid depends on whether the accident was reported and recorded as a traffic accident.
Foreign victims should note two practical points. First, the fact that the driver was never found does not shorten the limitation period described in Section 6, but it does mean the two-year period runs from the date the victim learned of the loss and — because there is no liable person to learn of — the Account's role is what triggers the claim. Second, if the vehicle is later identified, Article 16(b) of the Regulation gives the Account recourse against the person responsible or their insurer; the victim's position is unaffected, but the victim must inform the Account of any action brought against that person (Section 6).
The two-year period in KTK Article 109 runs from when you learned of the loss and the person liable — a date that is easy to misjudge in a hit-and-run. Run the dates through our checker before you rely on them.
Open Claim Time-Limit Checker →4. Uninsured and Stolen Vehicles
Uninsured vehicles. Paragraph (b) applies where the person who caused the bodily loss had not taken out the compulsory insurance within the coverage amounts in force on the date of the risk. The identity of the driver is known; what is missing is the policy. The Account pays the bodily-injury compensation that the insurer would have paid, up to the compulsory limits, and then recovers it from the uninsured owner or operator under Article 16(a) of the Regulation. The victim does not have to sue the driver first and does not have to prove that the driver is insolvent; the absence of a valid policy on the accident date is the trigger. It follows that the victim should obtain, as early as possible, written confirmation from the insurance information centre that no compulsory policy was in force for the plate on that date.
Stolen and hijacked vehicles. Paragraph (ç) is narrower than it looks. It applies to bodily losses in an accident involving a stolen or hijacked vehicle in the cases where the operator is not held liable under the Highway Traffic Act. That cross-reference is to KTK Article 107, which provides that a person who steals or hijacks a motor vehicle is liable as if he were the operator; that a driver who knew, or with due care could have known, that the vehicle was stolen is jointly and severally liable with him; and that the registered operator is not liable if he proves that neither he nor any person for whose acts he is responsible was at fault in the theft. Where the operator establishes that, his compulsory insurer is not answerable either, and the Account steps in for the bodily injury. Where the operator cannot establish it — the keys left in the ignition, the vehicle lent to someone who then disappeared — the operator and his insurer remain liable and the Account is not the right defendant. The victim's lawyer therefore needs the theft complaint and the facts of how the vehicle was taken before deciding whom to pursue.
5. The Written Application and the 15-Day Rule (KTK 97)
Article 97 of the Highway Traffic Act, in its current form, requires the injured party — before going to court within the limits of the compulsory liability insurance — to make a written application to the relevant insurance undertaking. If the undertaking does not answer in writing within fifteen days at the latest from the application, or if there is a dispute that the answer does not meet the claim, the injured party may sue or apply to arbitration under Law 5684. The Account occupies the insurer's place in the situations described above, and the same sequence is followed: a written application to the Account, proof of the date it was received, and only then court or arbitration.
The application should be complete when it is sent, because the fifteen days are measured from receipt of the application, not from the day the Account finishes asking for documents. In practice that means: the accident record; the medical evidence, including the report establishing any permanent disability; proof of identity and, for a death, of the dependants' status; the evidence that the vehicle was uninsured, unidentified or stolen; and a statement of the amounts claimed under each head. For a claimant abroad, a notarised and apostilled power of attorney allows Turkish counsel to sign the application and to receive the response.
Article 2 of the Güvence Hesabı Regulation confirms that disputes arising from insurance law between persons who benefit from the Account and the Account itself may be taken to the Insurance Arbitration Commission (Sigorta Tahkim Komisyonu). For a documented bodily-injury claim where the only dispute is quantum, arbitration is usually the faster forum; where liability itself is contested — whether the vehicle was really stolen without the operator's fault, whether the accident was a traffic accident at all — the ordinary courts may be the safer one. The choice should be made once, because a dispute already brought before a court cannot then be taken to the Commission.
6. Deadlines, Notifications and Refunds (KTK 109)
Prescription. Article 109 of the Highway Traffic Act governs. Claims for compensation arising from motor vehicle accidents become time-barred two years from the date the injured party learned of the loss and of the person liable, and in any event ten years from the day of the accident. Where the claim arises from an act requiring criminal punishment and the criminal law provides a longer limitation period, that longer period applies to the compensation claim as well. Article 109 adds that interrupting prescription against the person liable also interrupts it against the insurer, and vice versa. Because the Account's liability is derived from the compulsory insurance, the same framework governs the claim against it. A hit-and-run victim who waits for the police to find the driver can let two years pass without noticing; the application to the Account should be made on the evidence available, not on the evidence hoped for.
Notifying the Account of other proceedings. Article 19 of the Regulation obliges claimants who apply to the Account to notify it of any action they have brought against the person liable for the loss. The Account may, depending on the nature of the action, suspend its payments or intervene in the proceedings. A victim who has sued the driver in the criminal court's civil track, or brought a separate civil action, and then applies to the Account without saying so risks both the payment and the credibility of the file.
Refunds. Article 20 of the Regulation provides that where claimants obtain full or partial compensation from the persons liable, they must return to the Account, within five business days, any amount that causes an unjust enrichment because of the Account's payment; otherwise the Account starts legal proceedings to recover it with default interest. The rule reflects the principle behind the whole scheme: the Account pays first so that the victim is not left waiting, and the person who should have been insured ultimately bears the cost.
7. Insurer, Account or Driver? A Comparison and a Checklist
The right defendant depends on which assumption failed. The table sets out the three routes side by side.
| Feature | At-fault vehicle's compulsory insurer | Güvence Hesabı | At-fault driver / operator personally |
|---|---|---|---|
| When | Vehicle identified and validly insured on the accident date | Vehicle unidentified, uninsured, stolen without the operator's fault, or the insurer collapsed (Law 5684 art. 14(2)) | Always available in principle; essential for losses above compulsory limits and for property damage the Account does not cover |
| Heads of loss | Bodily and material, within policy limits | Bodily only, except in the insurer-insolvency case; up to the compulsory limits in force on the accident date | All heads, subject to the driver's means |
| Pre-action step | Written application, 15-day answer period (KTK 97) | Written application, same sequence in practice; then court or Insurance Arbitration Commission (Regulation art. 2) | No statutory pre-application, but mandatory notification to the Account if you have also applied there (Regulation art. 19) |
| Prescription | KTK 109: two years / ten years; longer criminal period if applicable | Same framework | Same framework |
| Recourse afterwards | Insurer may recover from its own insured in defined cases | Account recovers from the uninsured owner or operator and the person liable (Regulation art. 16) | — |
Checklist for a foreign victim.
- Make sure the accident was recorded as a traffic accident by the police or gendarmerie, and obtain a copy of the record before leaving Türkiye.
- Keep every hospital document; the causal link between the accident and the injury is proved through them.
- Establish, in writing, which assumption failed: no policy on the plate, no plate at all, or a stolen vehicle with a theft complaint.
- Send a complete written application to the Account through Turkish counsel under a power of attorney, and keep the proof of receipt.
- Diarise two years from the date of knowledge under KTK Article 109, and do not rely on the police investigation to extend it.
- Tell the Account about any proceedings against the driver, and expect to refund any double recovery.
- Pursue property damage and any loss above the compulsory limits against the driver or operator separately.
The Güvence Hesabı does not make a hit-and-run or an uninsured driver painless. It makes the bodily-injury part of the loss recoverable from a solvent, statutory defendant on defined conditions — and the defined conditions are the part a foreign claimant can control.
Scope. This page is general information about Turkish law and procedure. It is not legal advice, it is not an assessment of your situation, and reading it does not create a lawyer-client relationship. Statutory figures, thresholds and rates are revised periodically — check the current position before relying on any of them. Any particular case turns on its own documents and facts.
Frequently Asked Questions
The driver who hit me fled and was never found. Is there anyone to claim against?
Yes. Article 14(2)(a) of the Insurance Law No. 5684 provides that the Güvence Hesabı may be applied to for bodily injury where the insured cannot be identified. That covers the classic hit-and-run. The claim is for bodily loss — death, disability and treatment — within the compulsory motor liability limits in force on the accident date. Damage to your own vehicle or belongings is not covered in this situation, because the statute limits the unidentified-vehicle head to bodily injury.
The other driver was identified but had no compulsory insurance. Does the Account pay?
For bodily injury, yes. Article 14(2)(b) covers bodily losses caused by persons who had not taken out the compulsory insurance within the limits in force on the date of the risk. Property damage is not within that paragraph. The Account then has a right of recourse against the uninsured owner or operator under Article 16 of the Güvence Hesabı Regulation, so the uninsured driver does not escape liability; the victim is simply paid first.
Does the Güvence Hesabı ever pay for damage to my car?
Only in one statutory situation: Article 14(2)(c) covers both material and bodily losses that an insurer was liable to pay where that insurer's licences were permanently cancelled in all branches for financial weakness or it went bankrupt. For unidentified, uninsured and stolen vehicles the statute speaks of bodily injury only. Article 14(2) does allow the President to decide that property losses be covered in part or in full, but a victim should not assume such a decision applies to their accident without checking the position on the accident date.
Do I have to apply to the Account in writing before suing?
The Highway Traffic Act requires a written application to the relevant insurance undertaking before court action within the compulsory-insurance limits, and gives the undertaking fifteen days to answer in writing (KTK Article 97). Where the Account stands in the insurer's place, the same sequence is followed in practice: a documented written application, then court or arbitration if there is no answer within fifteen days or the answer does not meet the claim. Article 2 of the Güvence Hesabı Regulation confirms that disputes between claimants and the Account may be taken to the Insurance Arbitration Commission.
How long do I have?
Article 109 of the Highway Traffic Act applies: two years from the date you learned of the loss and of the person liable, and in any event ten years from the accident. Where the accident is also a criminal act and the criminal law provides a longer limitation period, that longer period applies to the compensation claim. Because the Account's liability is tied to the compulsory insurance, the same periods govern the claim against it, and they are not extended by correspondence.
The car that hit me had been stolen. Who is liable?
Article 107 of the Highway Traffic Act makes the thief liable as if he were the operator, and a driver who knew or should have known the vehicle was stolen is jointly liable; the registered operator escapes liability only by proving that neither he nor anyone he answers for was at fault in the theft. Where the operator is not liable on that basis, Article 14(2)(ç) of Law 5684 allows a bodily-injury claim against the Güvence Hesabı.
I already sued the driver. Can I still claim from the Account?
You must tell the Account. Article 19 of the Regulation obliges claimants who apply to the Account to notify it of any action they have brought against the person liable; the Account may suspend its payments or intervene in the proceedings. Article 20 adds that if you later recover from the person liable, any amount that would otherwise be an unjust enrichment must be repaid to the Account within five business days.
Talk to someone about an uninsured or hit-and-run accident
Send us the accident record, the hospital documents and whatever is known about the other vehicle. We will tell you whether the Güvence Hesabı is the right defendant, which heads of loss it will and will not cover, whether the claim is still in time under Article 109, and whether arbitration or court is the proportionate route.