Antalya Car Accident & Personal Injury Lawyer

Antalya’s busy city traffic, long coastal roads and the surge of rental cars, transfer vehicles and scooters during the tourist season make road accidents common. After an accident, the injured person or their family has to work out who is liable, what can be claimed, how the compulsory traffic insurance works, and which deadlines apply, often while recovering, or after returning home to another country.

Ozturk Law Office handles compensation and insurance claims arising from traffic accidents across Antalya from our office in Muratpaşa, in English and Turkish. This page explains the main rules of the Turkish Highway Traffic Law and Code of Obligations, with each statement linked to the official text. It is general information; every accident is different, and the outcome depends on fault, insurance policies and the nature of the harm.

Accidents Involving Visitors and Foreign Residents

Who Is Liable?

Rental Cars and Borrowed Vehicles

In accidents involving hire cars, which are very common in Antalya, the key question is who counts as the operator. Under the law, the operator is the owner of the vehicle, or the buyer registered under a retention-of-title sale, or, in cases such as long-term rental, loan or pledge, the hirer, borrower or pledgee (Traffic Law art. 3). The person to claim against may therefore differ between short-term and long-term rentals, so the rental agreement and its duration are reviewed.

The operator’s liability is a strict liability that arises independently of the driver’s fault (Traffic Law art. 85). Operators must take out compulsory liability insurance to cover it (Traffic Law art. 91), and this obligation applies equally to rental companies that own the vehicles. Because injured parties can claim directly from the operator’s compulsory insurer, the plate number, registered owner and insurance details of a hire car should be recorded at the scene.

What Can Be Claimed?

The judge determines the scope and manner of compensation taking into account the circumstances and in particular the degree of fault (Code of Obligations art. 51). Compensation may be reduced where, for example, the injured person contributed to causing or increasing the harm (Code of Obligations art. 52).

Compulsory Traffic Insurance

Operators of motor vehicles must take out compulsory liability insurance to cover their liability under Article 85 of the Highway Traffic Law (Traffic Law art. 91). Compensation under this insurance follows the procedures set by law, and the tort provisions of the Code of Obligations apply to matters the law does not regulate (Traffic Law art. 90). The law lists matters excluded from compulsory insurance (Traffic Law art. 92), including:

• claims for non-financial (moral) damages;
• damage to goods carried in the vehicle;
• the part of a claim corresponding to the claimant’s own fault;
• in loss-of-support claims, the part corresponding to the deceased supporter’s fault;
• indirect losses such as loss of income or profit, business interruption and loss of rent;
• loss-of-value claims for vehicles taken off the road or scrapped because of the damage.

Losses outside the insurance can be claimed from the operator, driver or others liable under the general rules. Health services related to traffic accidents are covered by the Social Security Institution in accordance with the procedure set out in the law (Traffic Law art. 98).

The Insurer’s Payment Deadline and Defences

Compulsory traffic insurance primarily protects third parties injured in the accident. Defences arising from the insurance contract or the related law that would remove or reduce compensation cannot be raised against the injured person; an insurer that pays may then seek recourse from its policyholder to the extent the contract allows (Traffic Law art. 95).

Insurers must pay amounts within the compulsory insurance limits within eight working days of the claimant delivering the documents required by the general conditions to the insurer’s head office or one of its branches. The insurer that pays may ask the other insurers to share the amount according to their liability (Traffic Law art. 99). A complete application is important, because missing documents can delay the process. Settlement offers do not always cover the full loss, so each heading of damage, and the possibility of claiming the excess from the operator or driver, should be considered before accepting.

Uninsured or Hit-and-Run Vehicles: The Guarantee Account

If the vehicle that caused the accident was uninsured, could not be identified because it drove off, or its insurer is no longer able to operate, the injured person is not left without compensation. A Guarantee Account (Güvence Hesabı) has been established within the Insurance, Reinsurance and Pension Companies Association of Turkey. Claims can be made to it for bodily injury where the insured cannot be identified, bodily injury caused by those who failed to take out the insurance, material and bodily damage that an insurer whose licences were revoked or that went bankrupt should have paid, and bodily injury in accidents involving stolen or robbed vehicles where the operator is not held liable (Insurance Law art. 14). The Account pays up to the limits valid for compulsory insurance, and for uninsured vehicles its cover is limited to bodily injury.

Passengers Carried as a Favour

Accidents while travelling free of charge in a friend’s or relative’s car are known as carriage as a favour. If the injured or deceased person was being carried as a favour without payment, or the vehicle was lent to them as a favour, the operator’s liability is governed by the general rules rather than the stricter regime of the Highway Traffic Law. Damage to goods carried in the vehicle, other than the injured person’s own luggage, is also subject to the general rules (Traffic Law art. 87). This can affect the scope of compensation and how fault is assessed.

When a Road Accident Is Also a Work Accident

Some road accidents on the way to work or while travelling for work are work accidents for social security purposes. An event that occurs while the insured is travelling to and from work in a vehicle provided by the employer, or during time spent away from the workplace on assignment, and that disables the insured, is a work accident; the employer must report it to the police immediately and to the Social Security Institution within three working days (Social Insurance Law art. 13). In such cases, rights arising from the work accident are assessed alongside the traffic insurance claim; see our employment lawyer page.

Insurance Application, Arbitration and Court

1. Written application to the insurer: before suing or applying to arbitration, the injured person must apply to the insurer in writing (Traffic Law art. 97).
2. Fifteen-day wait: if the insurer does not reply in writing within fifteen days of the application, or the reply does not meet the claim, the injured person may sue or apply to arbitration (Traffic Law art. 97).
3. Court or arbitration: the injured person may choose between a court case and arbitration under the Insurance Law No. 5684 (Traffic Law art. 97).
4. Evidence: the accident report, any criminal file, medical reports and expert assessments of fault and loss form the basis of the claim.

Claims for material damage from motor vehicle accidents become time-barred two years after the injured person learns of the damage and the person liable, and in any case ten years after the accident. If the claim arises from a crime for which the criminal law provides a longer limitation period, that period also applies to material damage claims; interrupting limitation against the person liable also interrupts it against the insurer, and vice versa (Traffic Law art. 109). A similar rule applies to tort claims generally (Code of Obligations art. 72).

Fault and Calculating the Loss

At the Scene: Legal Duties and the Accident Report

What happens in the first minutes after an accident can be decisive for both fault and compensation. Those involved in a traffic accident must stop immediately without creating further danger and take safety measures; where there are deaths, injuries or damage, avoid changing the scene, including traces and evidence useful for establishing liability, as long as traffic and safety are not affected; show their identity, address, driving licence, registration and insurance details on request; and report the accident to the authorities and not leave the scene until they arrive or permit it (Traffic Law art. 81).

A driver who damages an unattended vehicle or property must try to find the owner and, if they cannot, record the situation, leave a written note and inform the police as soon as possible. In damage-only accidents, the parties may record the accident between themselves if they see no need for officials to attend (Traffic Law art. 81). The accident report form used for this should be completed fully and accurately; it often shapes later disputes about fault.

Preserving Evidence

Some evidence disappears quickly: cars are repaired, the scene changes and camera footage is deleted. Each party may ask the court, in pending or future proceedings, to establish facts by a site inspection, expert examination or hearing of witnesses; a legal interest must be shown (Civil Procedure Code art. 400). In disputes over damage and loss of value, this route is worth considering before the vehicle is repaired.

The Criminal Side

If someone was injured or killed, a criminal investigation may run alongside the compensation claim, usually for negligent injury (Penal Code art. 89) or negligent killing (Penal Code art. 85). Negligent injury is among the offences subject to criminal mediation (Criminal Procedure Code art. 253). The fault assessment in the criminal file can be important evidence in the civil claim, so following the investigation matters both for the driver and for those injured or bereaved. See our criminal defence lawyer page for the criminal process.

First Steps After an Accident

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