Spanish legislation of motor vehicle insurance has created a computing File that is managed by the Consorcio de Compensación de Seguros, called the Insured Vehicles Database (FIVA) in order for traffic accident victims to be able to find out the name of the insurance company of the vehicle that has caused the damages quickly and easily.

Therefore, you can find out this information through the FIVA, whenever you provide the registration number of the other vehicle. In order to access the File you need to:

a) Hold the status of being involved in the traffic accident (accident victim due to personal injuries or damage to goods).

b) Fill in an information request model to the FIVA provided by the Consorcio and which also, can be downloaded from the Consorcio's web site. The following information appears on this model or form:

• Personal details of the applicant.
• Registration of the vehicle causing the accident.
• Date of the accident.
• Type of damages caused in the claim (personal-material).

Said model must attach the documents listed below:

• Copy of the damage report or accident report by mutual consent.
• If the applicant is acting on behalf of another individual or corporate body, this representation must be accredited.

c) The request must be made at the Consorcio's offices or sent by post (inform of the Production Department's address), by fax (913395514) or by email (ccsprod@consorseguros.es), accompanied by the required documentation. No consultations will be admitted by telephone.

The Consorcio de Compensación de Seguros only can take on the contracting of the Compulsory Motor Vehicle Insurance in exceptional circumstances, in those cases where the risks that are to be covered have not been accepted by private insurance companies.

For this reason, the Consorcio cannot act as any other insurance company, competing with the other companies. It does not have a commercial nature, nor can it accept insurance requests due to the price; it can only contract the insurance in the case that the vehicle's insurance has already been rejected on the insurance market by at least two insurance companies.

In order for the injured parties in a traffic accident to be able to find out the insurance company of the vehicle that caused the accident when this occurs in a country other than the injured party's country of residence and in order for this person to present the claim in his or her own country of residence, the Fourth European Directive has established different mechanisms to provide the information that is required to present the aforementioned claim.

In summary, the system is applied when:

• Injured party: he or she is resident in a country within the European Economic Area.
• Vehicle causing the accident: registered and insured in a country within the European Economic Area that is different to the injured party's country.
• Country where it occurred: Any (in the EEA or attached to the Green Card system), but which differs to the injured party's country of residence.

The aim is to guarantee that the injured party may present a claim for the damages suffered in the accident in his or her own Country of Residence. In order to do this, all the insurance companies are obliged to indicate a representative in each Member State who can attend, respond and settle this type of claim. And in turn, each Member State of the European Economic Area must appoint a so-called "Information Organism" through which the injured party may locate the insurance company details for the foreign vehicle responsible and its representative in the State where the injured party resides.

In the Spain the Information Organism is the Consorcio de Compensación de Seguros.

There is an Insured Vehicles Database (FIVA) at your disposal that provides you with the name of the insurance company of any vehicle, whenever you provide the registration number of the other vehicle. In order to access the File the following is required:

a) Hold the status of being involved in the traffic accident (accident victim due to personal injuries or damage to goods).

b) Fill in an information request model to the FIVA provided by the Consorcio and which also, can be downloaded from the Consorcio's web site. The following information appears on this model or form:

• Personal details of the applicant.
• Registration of the vehicle causing the accident.
• Date of the accident.
• Type of damages caused in the claim (personal-material).

And the documents indicated below must be attached to this model:

• Copy of the damage report or accident report by mutual consent.
• If the applicant is acting on behalf of another individual or corporate body, this representation must be accredited.

c) The request must be made at the Consorcio's offices or sent by post (inform of the Production Department's address), by fax (913395514) or by email (ccsprod@consorseguros.es), accompanied by the required documentation. No consultations will be admitted by telephone.

However, the FIVA file does not contain any personal information, but only information relative to the vehicle and to the insurance company, therefore we CANNOT provide you with any personal details about the other driver.

No. The Consorcio only can take on the contracting of the Compulsory Motor Vehicle Insurance in exceptional circumstances if the risk has been rejected by private insurance companies. If there is a private insurance company that will cover the aforementioned risk, the Consorcio cannot agree to contract it, due to the legal requirement that states that the risks dealt with must have not been accepted by insurance companies.

In order to request the information, the following is required:

a) To hold the condition of person involved in the traffic accident (injured party in the accident due to damages to their person or to their goods).

b) To fill in the information request model that is supplied by the Consorcio, and which may also be downloaded from the Consorcio's web site. The following information appears on this model or form:

• Personal details of the applicant
• Registration number of the vehicle causing the damages
• Date of the accident
• Type of damages occurred in the claim (personal and/or material).

c) Attach the documents indicated below:

• Copy of the damage report or accident report by mutual consent.
• If the applicant is acting on behalf of an individual or a corporate body, this representation must be accredited.

d) The request must be addressed to the Production Department and sent by post (Paseo de la Castellana 32, 28046 Madrid), by fax (913395514) or by email (iccsprod@consorseguros.es), accompanied by the required documents.

The Law 21/2007, of the 11th of July, which modifies the consolidated text of the Law on civil liability and insurance in the circulation of motor vehicles allows access to the information included in the IVD for health centres and emergency services that have signed agreements with the Consorcio de Compensación de Seguros and the insurance companies for healthcare given to traffic victims.

Therefore, the requirements for accessing the IVD are:

• Being a health centre or emergency medical service from the public or private sector.
• Having signed an agreement to treat traffic victims with the Consorcio de Compensación de Seguros and the insurance companies.
• Requesting information contained in the IVD in accordance with the purpose entrusted by the law to the File, that is to say, only for the management of the expenses derived from the provision of healthcare to traffic accident victims.

Both for the case of Health Centres that are members of the CAS (Management System of Payments for Healthcare Services in Motor Vehicle Claims) and those that are not members of CAS, it is essential to send the membership protocol correctly signed and stamped along with the model for request for registration of users (with a maximum of 3 users per Centre).

Both documents can be downloaded from the Consorcio's web site and must be sent to the Production Department by post (Ps. Castellana32,28046.Madrid); e-mail (ccsprod@consorseguros.es) or fax (913395514).

Yes, you must indicate the names of at least two insurance companies that have not accepted the risk you wish to contract and that have informed you of this rejection using any means admitted by law.

• The injured parties and their insurance companies.
• The information organisms in the Member States of the E.E.A.
• The compensation organisms in the Member States of the E.E.A.
• The guarantee funds in the Member States of the E.E.A.
• OFESAUTO
• The Courts and Tribunals
• The health centres and medical emergency services that have signed agreements with the Consorcio de Compensación de Seguros and the insurance companies to attend injured parties from traffic accidents.

You do not have to provide a certificate indicating your claim history. On the other hand, you must have the communications from at least two insurance companies where the rejection of the insurance is shown.

In principle, it is not necessary for you to send these communications; it is sufficient for you to read their contents, therefore you should have them at hand when you are going to contract the insurance by telephone. Subsequently, you must keep these communications at the Consorcios disposal.

E.E.A.: Germany, Andorra, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Cyprus, Denmark, Slovak Republic, Slovenia, Spain, Estonia, Finland, France, Great Britain, Greece, Holland, Hungary, Ireland, Iceland, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxemburg, Malta, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Rumania, Serbia, Sweden and Switzerland.

Countries attached to the Green Card system: Albania, Belarus, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Fyrom (Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia), Iran, Israel, Morocco, Moldavia, Montenegro, Russia, Tunisia, Turkey and Ukraine.

a) Country where it occurred: Spain. Injured party: resident in another country in the E.E.A (e.g. Resident in Italy). Causing party: resident in a country in the E.E.A. other than the injured partys country (e.g.: Spanish vehicle).

b) Injured party: resident in Spain. Country where it occurred: another State in the E.E.A. (e.g.: the United Kingdom). Causing party: resident in a country in the E.E.A. (e.g.: German vehicle).

c) Injured party: resident in Spain. Causing party: resident in another country in the E.E.A. (e.g.: French vehicle). Country where it occurred: a country attached to the Green Card System (e.g.: Morocco, Tunisia, Russia).

d) Causing party: Spanish vehicle and policy holder in Spain. Injured party: resident in another country in the E.E.A. (e.g.: resident in France). Country where it occurred: a country attached to the Green Card System (e.g.: Morocco, Tunisia, Russia).

The Regulation for the Compulsory Civil Liability Insurance obliges the insurance companies that reject or do not accept to contract the compulsory insurance to inform the interested party by any means accepted by law (Article 5.2 of the Regulation for the compulsory civil liability insurance in motor vehicles, approved by the Royal Decree 1507/2008, of the 12th of September, O.S.G. of the 13th of September, 2008).

a) Injured party: resident in France. Causing party: resident in France. Country where it occurred: Spain.

In accordance with that established in article 20.2 of the Law on civil liability and insurance for the circulation of motor vehicles, when the traffic accident has been caused by a vehicle that is normally based and is insured in the injured party's State of residence, the Consorcios action as the Information Organism is NOT relevant.

You may address your query to OFESAUTO (Spanish Office of Motor Vehicle Insurers), located at C/ Sagasta, 18, 28004 Madrid (www.ofesauto.es).

b) Injured party: resident in France. Causing party: Spanish vehicle. Country where it occurred: France.

The system of the Fourth Directive is applied when a resident in the European Economic Area is injured in an accident in a country other than that of his or her country of residence..

Therefore, the Consorcios action as the Information Organism is NOT relevant and you may address your query to the French Bureaux.

c) Injured party: resident in Norway. Causing party: Spanish vehicle. Country where it occurred: Spain. Applicant: Norwegian insurance company.

The request must be addressed to the Information Organism of the victims country of residence, in this case Norway (the Organisms details are on the Consorcios web site, link). This organism will send the query by email to the Consorcio, as the Information Organism for the country where the causing vehicle is normally based. And once a reply has been received from the Consorcio, the Norwegian Information Organism will supply the injured party with the requested information.

Yes, as the insurance agent is a mediator AFFECTED or LINKED to the Insurance Company. The insurance agent must issue the rejection communication, expressly mentioning the insurance company where he or she works as an insurance agent and the number with which the agent is registered in the aforementioned company.

Yes. An insurance broker is an independent mediator for the companies and he or she acts as an expert advisor for the insured party in the search for the insurance policies that best meet his or her requirements. It should be understood that, during this work in the search for motor vehicle insurance for his client, the broker has received rejection replies from insurance companies in his condition as representative of the rejected client.

The Consorcio de Compensación de Seguros can contract the Compulsory Civil Liability Insurance for motor vehicles. This is the insurance that covers the damages caused to third parties with the compensation limits for personal injuries and material damages that the legislation establishes.

The law does not attribute any other type of cover to the Consorcio de Compensación de Seguros, such as own damages, vehicle theft, claims for damages, legal defence, etc.

Injuries to people and damages to the goods with the cover limits established by the Law on civil liability and insurance for motor vehicles, which are the following:

• Injuries to people: 70 million euros, however many victims there are.
• Damages to the goods: 15 million euros per claim.
• Medical, pharmaceutical and hospital care: as much as might be necessary until healing or consolidation of after-effects, whenever the expense is correctly justified.
• Funeral expenses: according to the customs and practices of the place where the service is provided, in the amount that may be justified.

If the amount to be compensated for either of the two types of damages mentioned above were to exceed the legal limit set for this type of damages of injuries, the difference will be compensated charged to the excess available for other types of damages, if there were any.

Currently, the Consorcio only offers the compulsory form of contracting, since the latest legislative modification for the quantitative limits of the compulsory insurance have meant an important increase in these limits from 350,000 euros to 70 million de euros in injuries to people and from 100,000 euros to 15 million euros in damages to the goods, and therefore, the voluntary civil liability cover that previously was granted has become integrated into the compulsory cover that we offer now.

NO. At the moment, the Consorcio only offers the compulsory insurance modality, as it understands that the legal limits of this form are sufficiently high.