OK, maybe liable is the wrong term.
You are liable for the 3rd party loss.
You are required to have insurance against this.
Motor Insurers are required to issue USEFUL insurance for this liability. In other words, you should not be able to get motor insurance that fails to insure your liability in this respect.
Is there a scenario in which your liability will not result in the insurance company being liable? Perhaps.
If insurance companies can evade their liabilities (to cover yours) by being incompetent or deliberate stonewalling, and then suggesting that your claim is now invalid because you failed to tell them about something that happened after the date of the claim then surely this would be the logical next step for all money grabbing blood sucking insurers and would defeat the point of mandatory 3rd party insurance?
There's no point in mandatory insurance if it simply results in years of waiting followed by suing the at-fault party followed by them not paying 'cos they cannot?
In fact for the insurers it's a win-win ... they don't pay out any 3rd party claims AND they get to increase the premiums of their customer because they _both_ end up with a claim against their name ...
Were this to become the norm, the government would have to either abandon the requirement for 3rd party insurance (and this is now an EU thing, no?) or they would have to strengthen the legislation to enforce the requirement that 3rd parties are covered without ever having to consider suing the at-fault?
So how many times has it happened that an at-fault but properly insured driver has ended up being sued for the loss and then failed to recover that from their insurer?
I'm beginning to think carrying fake Romanian papers and having no insurance is by far the best insurance .... better yet have Rolfe's telephone number on the back
Cheers,
Robin