Car and home insurance information in Turkey

What is mandatory car and home insurance in Turkey?

In Turkey, there are two types of insurance that are not optional extras but direct legal obligations for anyone who owns a car or a registered residential property.

For cars, Traffic Law No. 2918 (Karayolları Trafik Kanunu) requires mandatory third-party liability insurance (trafik sigortası) on every vehicle driven on Turkish roads, whether registered with Turkish or foreign plates, and regardless of whether it is owned or leased. This obligation falls on every vehicle owner, not only on someone renting a car.

For residential property, Turkish law imposes mandatory earthquake insurance, known by the abbreviation DASK, administered by the Natural Disaster Insurance Institution (Doğal Afet Sigortaları Kurumu). This insurance is mandatory for any residential unit officially registered in Turkey, and it is a basic requirement for completing official procedures such as connecting electricity or water for the first time or when changing the subscriber.

In both cases, these are not optional products that can be dispensed with, but two legal requirements necessary for owning and officially dealing with a car or residential property in Turkey, given the particular earthquake risk the country faces.

Important points to know

• DASK coverage is limited to the building's structural framework itself, within a coverage cap set periodically by law, and does not include home contents such as furniture, appliances, and personal belongings. Covering these contents requires a separate comprehensive (optional) home insurance policy apart from DASK
• Not having valid DASK insurance effectively prevents completing official property-related procedures, such as subscribing to electricity or water when a new subscriber moves in, in addition to leaving the owner with no financial coverage for the building's structure in the event of an earthquake
• Driving or owning a vehicle without valid mandatory traffic insurance exposes the owner to fines and direct legal and financial liability toward any third party harmed in an accident, and this may include additional consequences depending on the case
• Insurance issued by an entity not licensed by SEDDK is not considered legally valid insurance in Turkey, whether it is traffic insurance or DASK-related insurance

Frequently asked questions

Is DASK the same as comprehensive home insurance? No. DASK is mandatory insurance that only covers structural damage caused by an earthquake to the building itself, within a legally defined coverage cap. Coverage of home contents, or risks other than earthquakes, requires a separate comprehensive home insurance policy and is entirely optional.

Does mandatory traffic insurance cover damage to my own car in an accident? Mandatory traffic insurance under Law No. 2918 is primarily designed to cover the driver's liability toward injured third parties (other people or their property), not to cover damage to the owner's own car. Covering the owner's own car damage usually requires an additional type of optional insurance (comprehensive/kasko) separate from the mandatory one.

What happens if I don't have valid mandatory insurance on my car or home? For a car, driving without valid traffic insurance exposes the owner to fines and direct financial liability toward any harm caused to others. For property, not having valid DASK prevents completing official procedures such as subscribing to electricity or water, and leaves the building with no financial coverage for its structure in the event of an earthquake.

Last updated: 2026-09-07