Third party

A third party is anyone other than the driver and their own insurer, meaning any other road user affected by that driver’s actions.

In practice this covers a pedestrian, a cyclist, a passenger, or the driver and occupants of another vehicle. Malaysian motor insurance law is built around protecting third parties, requiring cover for the death or bodily injury a driver’s vehicle causes to people outside their own policy.

Being the “third party” in this legal sense is usually good news for a claim, because it is the position from which you claim against the at-fault driver’s insurer rather than your own.

How a third-party bodily injury claim works explains that claim in full.