PRIVATE AUTONOMY, CIVIL LIABILITY AND MONOPOLY IN BRAZILIAN AND EU MOTOR THIRD PARTY LIABILITY INSURANCE

This article aims at analyzing from a legal-economic point of view some aspects of the Brazilian Motor Third Party Liability Insurance (Seguro DPVAT) that distinguish it from other liability insurance, namely: private autonomy in contract performance and liability principles. Moreover, the article provides a general overview of the rules on Motor Third Party Liability Insurance in the European Union (EU) comparing them with the Brazilian ones. The article concludes that the DPVAT’s monopolist market structure makes it a sui generis liability insurance with no private autonomy in the performance of the contract. Furthermore, the liability principles applicable to Seguro DPVAT are different from ones usually applicable to traffic accidents in Brazil. Therefore, although being a type of liability insurance, Seguro DPVAT socio-economic objectives are different from other of liability insurance and consequently create less social welfare.