Third-Party Car Insurance in Zimbabwe (2026): What the Law Actually Covers You For

The cover almost every Zimbabwean driver has, and almost nobody has read

If you licence a vehicle in Zimbabwe, you hold third-party motor insurance. You cannot get a ZINARA vehicle licence without it, so it is bought at the same counter, in the same transaction, usually in under five minutes, and the certificate goes into the glovebox unread.

That is a problem, because third-party cover is not a general-purpose safety net. It is a narrow, capped, statutory minimum with amounts fixed by law — and those amounts are low enough that a single ordinary collision can exhaust them completely and leave you personally liable for the rest, out of your own pocket.

This guide sets out what the law actually requires, what the gazetted limits really are, and where the numbers circulating on Zimbabwean websites diverge from the instrument itself.

What the law requires

Compulsory third-party motor insurance sits in Part IV of the Road Traffic Act . In substance:

• You may not use a motor vehicle or trailer on a road unless a statutory policy of insurance is in force for it. This is an offence, not a technicality, and it is prosecuted as one — the Act provides for a fine on the standard level scale, imprisonment, or both.
• You must display the insurance disc in a conspicuous place on the vehicle. Failure to display is itself a separate offence.
• The policy protects other people, not you. It answers for death of or bodily injury to third parties, and for damage to their property, arising from the use of your vehicle. It pays nothing at all towards repairing your own car.

Because the cover is compulsory and tied to licensing, the practical enforcement point in Zimbabwe is the ZINARA licence counter and the roadblock, not the insurer.

The thing worth internalising is the second bullet's logic: third-party insurance exists to protect the person you hit. If you want protection for yourself, that is a different product entirely, discussed further down.

The limits: what the gazetted instrument actually says

The prescribed amounts are set by the Minister of Transport and Infrastructural Development under section 23A of the Road Traffic Act, through the Road Traffic (Prescribed Amounts for Statutory Policies of Insurance) Notice, 2020 — Statutory Instrument 293 of 2020, gazetted 11 December 2020. It repealed the equivalent 2009 notice (SI 124 of 2009).

The notice is explicit that the amounts are denominated in United States dollars and may be paid in Zimbabwean currency at the prevailing official exchange rate. Reading the operative wording of the notice, a statutory policy is not required to cover:

Death or bodily injury to persons being carried in, on, entering or alighting from the vehicle:

• US$1,000 in respect of any one such person killed or injured;
• US$5,000 in respect of any one accident, where the vehicle is not an omnibus or commuter omnibus;
• US$10,000 in respect of any one accident, where the vehicle is an omnibus or commuter omnibus.

Destruction of, or damage to, property:

• US$2,000 in respect of any one accident, whether the vehicle is a passenger public service vehicle or not.

Any liability arising out of any one accident (the overall ceiling):

• US$5,000 where the vehicle is not an omnibus or commuter omnibus;
• US$20,000 where the vehicle is an omnibus or commuter omnibus.

There is also a transitional rule worth knowing: the increases made by the notice do not apply to a statutory policy issued before it commenced until the end of that policy's then-current term.

Why we are not repeating the figure everyone else publishes

Search for Zimbabwean third-party limits and you will repeatedly find the pairing "US$3,000 for bodily injury and US$2,000 for property damage." It appears on law-firm blogs, insurer marketing pages, news explainers and comparison sites.

The US$2,000 property-damage figure matches the instrument. The US$3,000 bodily-injury figure does not appear in SI 293 of 2020 at all. The instrument's bodily-injury figures are US$1,000 per person, US$5,000 per accident for an ordinary vehicle, and US$10,000 per accident for an omnibus. A separate set of much higher numbers — US$20,000 and US$30,000 per accident — also circulates; those come from enhanced commercial products sold by individual insurers, not from the statutory floor.

We are not going to reconcile that for you by guessing. Our position, and it is the same position this site takes on Zimbabwean capital gains tax, is that a figure only gets published here when a primary source establishes it. SI 293 of 2020 is a primary source and it is what we have quoted above. What we cannot rule out is that the Minister has since raised the amounts by a later notice under section 23A that we have not located — the power to do so exists and is exercised from time to time.

So treat the numbers above as the floor as gazetted, and do two things:

1. Read your own certificate and policy schedule. Your insurer must state the limits it is actually carrying. If the schedule says something higher than the statutory minimum, you bought an enhanced product, which is good — but know what you bought.
2. Ask your insurer, in writing, to confirm the current statutory limits. Keep the answer. If they cannot answer it, that tells you something too.

What this means when something actually happens

Take an ordinary Harare scenario. You are at fault in a collision. The other driver's vehicle is a reasonably recent import and needs substantial panel and mechanical work. The driver and one passenger both need medical treatment.

Under a bare statutory third-party policy on a private car, the insurer's exposure is capped — property damage at US$2,000, and total liability from that one accident at US$5,000. Repair costs and medical bills in Zimbabwe are quoted in real US dollars and are not constrained by a 2020 statutory notice.

Everything above the cap is your personal debt. The injured party is not barred from recovering it — they simply pursue you directly at common law, and their claim runs against your salary, your savings and your assets rather than against an insurer's balance sheet.

That is why "I have insurance" and "I am covered" are not the same sentence in Zimbabwe. If the gap between the statutory cap and a real repair bill is a number you could not write a cheque for tomorrow, you are carrying that risk personally. It belongs in the same mental column as the rest of your financial resilience planning — see our guide to building an emergency fund in Zimbabwe, and be honest that borrowing your way out of a liability claim is an expensive last resort (borrowing money in Zimbabwe explains why).

Third party, "full third party", and comprehensive

Zimbabwean insurers generally sell three tiers. The names are not statutory, so check the schedule rather than the label:

• Third party only (RTA). The statutory minimum described above. Cheapest, and the one bundled at the licensing counter. Covers other people's injury and property, to the capped amounts. Nothing for your vehicle.
• Full third party / third party, fire and theft. Adds cover for loss of your own vehicle by fire and by theft, and usually offers higher third-party limits than the statutory floor. Does not pay to repair your car after a collision.
• Comprehensive. Adds accidental damage to your own vehicle, and normally much higher third-party limits. Most insurers restrict comprehensive cover on older vehicles — a common cut-off is around 15 years, after which third-party-based products may be the only option offered.

The decision is mostly about the replacement cost of your own car versus the premium. If losing the vehicle outright would be financially survivable, third party plus a real cash buffer can be rational. If it would not — if the car is how you earn — comprehensive is doing a job that no amount of statutory minimum cover does. Our broader guide to insurance in Zimbabwe covers how to think about that trade-off across all classes of cover, and if you are still shopping, buying a car in Zimbabwe sets out the running costs that insurance sits inside.

We deliberately do not publish premium figures. They vary by insurer, vehicle value, age, use, driver history and the currency of the policy, and any number we printed would be wrong for most readers within months.

Kombis and buses: the separate no-fault passenger cover

If you commute by kombi, there is a second layer of protection that most passengers do not know exists. Under Part VA of the Road Traffic Act, operators of passenger public service vehicles — omnibuses, commuter omnibuses and taxis — must carry no-fault insurance for their passengers, in addition to the ordinary statutory third-party cover. "No fault" means the passenger does not have to prove the driver was negligent.

SI 293 of 2020 prescribes those benefits as:

• US$2,000 for the death or permanent disability of a passenger;
• US$350 for medical or funeral expenses incurred by or for a passenger who is injured or dies.

Where the passenger is a child, the notice allows the death-or-permanent-disability benefit to be limited to US$200 for a child aged six or younger, and US$300 for a child over six but fourteen or younger.

These figures are small measured against what a Zimbabwean funeral or a serious hospital admission actually costs — which is precisely why funeral cost planning and medical aid are separate financial decisions in their own right, not something a kombi ticket quietly takes care of.

What is changing: the Road Accident Fund Bill

Zimbabwe is in the late stages of the most significant overhaul of road-accident compensation since independence. The Ministry of Transport and Infrastructural Development has concluded national public consultations on a proposed Road Accident Fund (RAF) Bill, and Minister Felix Mhona has set out its shape publicly.

The core idea is a shift from the current fault-based, insurer-administered system to a state-administered no-fault fund covering evacuation costs, medical expenses and funeral costs for road-crash victims, with benefit amounts capped by regulation. Government's stated position is that this is funded by restructuring the existing third-party premium rather than adding to it — the split described in consultations directs 35% of the premium to the Fund, 34.3% to insurers for vehicle damage and other claims, and the balance to brokerage, the Traffic Safety Council, stamp duty and the IPEC levy.

Two honest caveats. First, this is a Bill, not law — it has not been enacted, benefit levels will be set by regulations that do not yet exist, and the final text can differ from what was consulted on. Second, nothing about it changes your position today. Until it is passed and brought into force, the SI 293 of 2020 limits are what your policy answers for.

If your claim is refused or stalls

Motor claims in Zimbabwe stall for predictable reasons: disputed liability, currency-of-settlement disagreements, valuation gaps, and paperwork. The escalation route is defined:

1. Complain to the insurer first, in writing. IPEC requires this step before it will take the matter. Every insurer must keep a complaints register recording the complainant, date received, nature of the complaint and date resolved.
2. If you are not satisfied with the response, take it to IPEC. The Insurance and Pensions Commission accepts complaints by email (complaints@ipec.co.zw), WhatsApp, its website form, by post to 160 Rhodesville Avenue, Greendale, Harare, or in person. Send copies of all relevant documents, never originals, and keep everything.
3. The IPEC process is free. It is not a courtesy — it is a regulator exercising oversight of a licensed entity.
4. If you remain unsatisfied with IPEC's resolution, an appeal lies to the Minister of Finance.

One thing IPEC cannot do is rewrite a statutory cap. If the claim was refused because it exceeded the gazetted limit, that is not maladministration — it is the policy working exactly as designed, which is the whole argument for not relying on it alone.

A five-minute check on your own cover

Before your next licence renewal, pull the policy out of the glovebox and confirm:

• The limits on the schedule — property damage, bodily injury per person, and the per-accident ceiling. Compare them to the statutory figures above.
• Which tier you are on — third party only, full third party, or comprehensive. Do not rely on memory or on what the counter told you.
• The currency of settlement — whether a claim pays in US dollars or in ZiG at an exchange rate, and which rate.
• The insurer is licensed by IPEC. Verify it, exactly as you would verify any financial counterparty; the same instinct that protects you from investment scams applies to insurance sold at a roadside desk.
• Whether your premium payment attracts IMTT. Electronic USD payments carry the 2% intermediated money transfer tax — small on a premium, but it is real, and our IMTT calculator shows what any given payment costs you.

Frequently asked questions

Is third-party insurance compulsory in Zimbabwe? Yes. Part IV of the Road Traffic Act prohibits using a motor vehicle or trailer on a road without a statutory policy in force, and requires the insurance disc to be displayed. It is also a practical prerequisite for a ZINARA vehicle licence.

Does third-party insurance repair my own car? No. It answers only for injury to other people and damage to their property. Repairs to your own vehicle after a collision require comprehensive cover; fire and theft losses require at least a full third party or third-party-fire-and-theft product.

What happens if the damage I cause exceeds the statutory limit? The insurer pays up to the gazetted cap and no further. The balance is a personal liability, and the injured party can pursue you directly at common law for the shortfall.

Why do different websites quote different third-party limits? Because some are quoting the statutory minimum in SI 293 of 2020 and others are quoting enhanced commercial products with higher limits — and some are simply repeating a bodily-injury figure that does not appear in the instrument. Rely on your own policy schedule and on the gazetted notice, not on a summary.

Am I covered as a kombi passenger? Partly. Passenger public service vehicle operators must carry no-fault passenger cover under Part VA of the Act, prescribed at US$2,000 for death or permanent disability and US$350 for medical or funeral expenses, with lower limits for children. Those amounts are modest relative to actual costs.

Will the Road Accident Fund replace my third-party policy? Not yet, and not automatically. The RAF Bill has completed public consultation but has not been enacted. Until it is law and its regulations are made, your existing statutory third-party cover and its gazetted limits are what apply.

Last reviewed: August 2026. General information, not financial, tax, insurance or legal advice. Statutory limits are set by the Minister under section 23A of the Road Traffic Act and can be varied by notice — confirm current amounts with your insurer or IPEC before relying on them.