2021 Georgia Code
Title 40 - Motor Vehicles and Traffic
Chapter 9 - Reporting Accidents; Giving Proof of Financial Responsibility
Article 2 - Reporting Accidents; Giving Security for Damages
§ 40-9-34. Exceptions to Requirement of Security

The requirements as to security and suspension provided in Code Sections 40-9-32 and 40-9-33 shall not apply:

1. To the operator or owner of the vehicle involved in the accident if the owner had in effect at the time of the accident an automobile liability policy with respect to the vehicle involved in the accident, except that a driver shall not be so exempt if at the time of the accident the vehicle was being operated without the owner's permission, express or implied;
2. To the operator, if he is not the owner of the vehicle involved in the accident but there was in effect at the time of the accident an automobile liability policy with respect to his driving of vehicles not owned by him which provided him with liability coverage in the operation of the motor vehicle involved in such accident;
3. To an operator or owner whose liability for damages resulting from the accident is, in the judgment of the department, covered by any other form of liability insurance policy;
4. To any person qualifying as a self-insurer under Code Section 33-34-5.1 or to any person operating a vehicle for such self-insurer;
5. To the operator or the owner of a vehicle involved in an accident wherein no injury or damage was caused to the person or property of anyone other than such driver or owner;
6. To the operator or the owner of a motor vehicle legally parked at the time of the accident;
7. To the owner of a vehicle if at the time of the accident the vehicle was being operated without his permission, express or implied, or was parked by a person who had been operating such vehicle without such permission;
8. To a resident of this state involved in an accident with a nonresident of this state when the damage is less than $300.00, except upon the written request of any party in interest;
9. If, prior to the date that the department would otherwise suspend a license and registration or a nonresident's operating privilege under Code Section 40-9-33, there shall be filed with the department evidence satisfactory to it that the person who would otherwise have to file security has been released from liability or finally adjudicated not to be liable.

(Ga. L. 1951, p. 565, §§ 5, 6; Ga. L. 1956, p. 543, §§ 9, 11; Code 1933, § 68C-304, enacted by Ga. L. 1977, p. 1014, § 1; Ga. L. 2000, p. 1246, § 17.)

- Requirements regarding automobile liability policies generally, § 33-34-3.

JUDICIAL DECISIONS

Individual must deposit security unless policy covers liability.

- If an individual's liability policy covers the individual's potential liability to any person aggrieved after an accident the individual does not have to deposit any security. If the individual has no insurance at all, or the policy does not cover the particular type of liability claim, the individual must comply with the requirements of proof of financial responsibility. Fitzgerald v. Universal Underwriters Ins. Co., 132 Ga. App. 610, 208 S.E.2d 619 (1974).

- An automobile policy exclusion for the insured using a vehicle "while employed or otherwise engaged in any business" was void as against public policy to the extent of the mandatory monetary requirements in effect at the time of the collision. Federated Mut. Ins. Co. v. Dunton, 213 Ga. App. 148, 444 S.E.2d 123 (1994).

Cited in Commercial Union Ins. Co. v. Insurance Co. of N. Am., 155 Ga. App. 786, 273 S.E.2d 24 (1980); Hall v. Regal Ins. Co., 202 Ga. App. 511, 414 S.E.2d 669 (1991).

OPINIONS OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL

Owner permitting another to drive.

- Ga. L. 1951, p. 565 does not mean that when an owner gives permission to another to drive the owner's vehicle the owner assumes all the consequences of the driver's acts; such an interpretation would render without meaning the phrase relating to "permission, express or implied," for there must be some point when permission to drive an automobile ceases being express or implied. 1969 Op. Att'y Gen. No. 69-40.

RESEARCH REFERENCES

ALR.

- Liability of insurer, under compulsory statutory vehicle liability policy, to injured third persons, notwithstanding insured's failure to comply with policy conditions, as measured by policy limits or by limits of financial responsibility act, 29 A.L.R.2d 817.