The amendment to the Act on Compulsory Contractual Insurance (PZP) brings fundamental changes intended to increase safety and fairness on the roads. The main goal of the adjustment is to limit the occurrence of uninsured vehicles, which represent a risk not only for other road users, but also for the insurance system itself.
The changes in the legislation respond to the long-term problem of vehicles without valid PZP, which cause damage without financial coverage. The amendment introduces stricter sanctions and modern tools for identifying uninsured cars. The result should be a reduction in their number and a higher protection of all road users.
Stricter rules will end driving without insurance
On April 14, 2026, the National Council of the Slovak Republic approved the legislative regulation referred to as LEX PZP, prepared Department of the Interior. Its goal is to set fairer conditions in the field of compulsory contractual insurance and to significantly limit the occurrence of vehicles without a valid PZP.
The new rules are intended to strengthen the protection of drivers who fulfill their duties properly, and at the same time to make the entire system work more efficiently.
The law will make it possible to automatically check whether a vehicle has valid insurance, and at the same time tighten the fines for those who do not. In the most serious cases, the car may be removed from the register.
Uninsured cars will no longer be able to pass a technical or emissions inspection. The changes also include a one-time cleaning of the records, during which long-term unused vehicles will be removed. In this way, people get rid of cars that appear only in papers, while they do not have to pay anything for it.
Every vehicle that is operated in road traffic must have a valid PZP. It is estimated that there are currently more than 600,000 uninsured vehicles in Slovakia, while more than 300,000 of them are actively used in road traffic.
The share of uninsured vehicles is approximately 9%. Non-payers of PZP are paid extra by responsible motorists, who financially cover damages caused by uninsured vehicles with contributions to the guarantee fund. At the same time, the state loses considerable financial resources obtained from the mandatory levy on insurance premiums, which could otherwise be invested in increasing road traffic safety.
“Our goal is to put order in the PZP system – to make vehicle registration transparent and set up a fair environment for all drivers, so that honest motorists no longer have to settle for non-payers. The new rules will make PZP checks more effective and will ultimately contribute to greater safety on the roads, as every insured car means more money for firefighters and rescuers,” informed Minister of the Interior Matúš Šutaj Eštok.
Cleanup of the database and higher fines
The first change will be a major clean-up in the vehicle register. The state will decommission those cars that do not have PZP for more than 24 months and it is likely that they no longer exist in reality. The process will start on August 1, 2026 and will last for two months. Owners will be notified in advance and given time to correct. They can top up their insurance or scrap the vehicle themselves. If they do not do so, the state will automatically decommission these vehicles in October.
Another novelty is that from October 1, 2026, an automatic insurance check will be introduced. The owner of the vehicle will bear clear responsibility for whether he has a PZP. The state will thus be able to quickly detect uninsured vehicles and issue fines without lengthy procedures.
The previous system was slow and ineffective. Many drivers avoided the penalty or the fine was lower than the insurance itself. The new rules are supposed to change that and motivate drivers to fulfill their obligations.
The amount of the fine will depend on the weight of the vehicle and will range from 120 to 900 euros. It is granted if the vehicle is not insured for more than 30 days. If the problem persists, the fine can be imposed repeatedly, every 150 days, and even in a higher amount. However, the law motivates quick correction. If the driver pays within 15 days, the fine is reduced by a third. It will drop by another third if you top up your insurance at the same time or scrap the vehicle.
If the vehicle remains without insurance for a long time, more than 24 months, the state will remove it from the register. Such a car must no longer be driven. Otherwise, there is a risk of a fine, the withdrawal of a driver’s license and a ban on driving for up to three years. The owner is then obliged to dispose of the vehicle in an ecological manner or hand over the documents and tags according to the type of vehicle.
PZP protects drivers
“The Department of the Interior reminds that liability insurance is not only a legal obligation. PZP protects the culprit as well as the victim in the event of a traffic accident; the insurance pays compensation for damages. By driving without a valid PZP, the citizen risks not only a fine. For the owner of the vehicle, insurance is more advantageous than paying for the damage caused later. If the culprit does not have a valid PZP, in the initial stage, Slovenská would cover the damage the insurers’ office would, however, later claim it from the uninsured person who caused the damage. At the same time, 10% of the paid PZP goes to the equipment of the rescue services and safety on the roads as a result of the levy from the received insurance premiums. Thus, the non-payers directly weaken the financing of the services that help in the event of accidents,” writes the Ministry of the Interior at the end of the report.
A new interesting thing is that vehicle owners will have the opportunity to create a digital confirmation of PZP through a mobile application in the Ministry of the Interior of the Slovak Republic, in which they will be able to store their green card. The aforementioned change is related to the gradual digitization of citizens’ identity and documents. The Slovak Office of Insurers will manage a separate electronic interface for making the digital form of the accident report available.
After being signed by the President of the Slovak Republic, the law will be effective from August 1, 2026, with the exception of the provisions on strict liability, the marking of an uninsured vehicle in the vehicle register and the inspection of PZP as part of the technical and emission control, which will come into effect on October 1, 2026, and the provisions on the introduction of a digital green card and accident report, which will be effective from August 1, 2027.
The changes will affect a total of three legal regulations, namely the Act on compulsory contractual liability insurance for damage caused by the operation of a motor vehicle, the Road Traffic Act and the Act on the operation of vehicles in road traffic.
The Slovak Office of Insurers, in cooperation with the Ministry of the Interior of the Slovak Republic, is preparing a separate website for owners of motor vehicles, on which they can find all the information needed in the individual phases of the introduction of the new PZP system even before the law comes into effect.
