Pay and cry: MPs have drafted amendments to the law on compulsory motor TPL insurance
Motorists who are injured through the fault of drivers who do not have a CMTPL insurance policy will not have to claim compensation for their wrecked car themselves. In such a situation, the Russian Union of Motor Insurers will compensate for the damage. The corresponding bill has been sent to the government for consideration. Experts and market participants ambiguously assess the proposal of deputies. Details - in the material "Izvestia".
And "iron" too
State Duma deputies have prepared and submitted to the government for review amendments to the law on compulsory motor TPL insurance, which change the rules of compensation payments for "car insurance" in the case when the perpetrator of the accident has no insurance. A copy of the document is available to Izvestia.
According to the current rules, in situations where the perpetrator of a car accident has no MTPL policy, reimbursement to him is carried out by the Russian Union of Auto Insurers from a special compensation fund. All insurance companies that work with motor third party liability insurance pay 3% of the insurance premium received from the sale of policies to this fund. However, according to the law on MTPL, in this case, only damage to life or health is compensated. In order to compensate for the cost of repairing a car or other property damaged in an accident, victims have to turn to the perpetrator of the accident, either voluntarily or through the courts.
The law on compulsory motor TPL insurance is proposed to be supplemented with a chapter according to which "in the absence of a compulsory insurance contract under which the civil liability of the person who caused the damage is insured, insurance compensation is carried out by a professional association of insurers".
"In case of realization of such insurance indemnity, the professional association of insurers has the right to a recourse claim for compensation of these compensation payments from the person who caused harm, who did not fulfill the established <...> insurance obligation," the bill says.
The explanatory note to the document notes that at the end of last year, the total collections on MTPL insurance increased by 19% and amounted to 323.7 billion rubles (273.1 billion rubles in 2022). At the same time, the total amount of payments on this type of insurance for 2023 amounted to Br 165.6 billion against Br 160.9 billion in 2022.
"Thus, the Russian insurance system has more than sufficient reserves in the amount of at least 123.1 billion rubles (the difference between collections and payouts minus the interest on insurance activities and mandatory contributions) to fully assume such expenses (payments from compensation funds for property damage caused by drivers without a CMTPL policy. - "Izvestia")," the explanatory note says.
Protect the driver
The proposed amendments to the legislation are aimed at protecting the interests of car owners who have suffered through the fault of drivers who have not insured their civil liability, Yaroslav Nilov, the author of the bill and head of the State Duma Committee on Labor, Social Policy and Veterans Affairs, told Izvestia.
- Now the driver, injured through the fault of a motorist who does not have a MTPL policy, can not expect to receive compensation from the insurance company, and he has to independently demand compensation for damages from the other party to the accident. It is believed that in such a situation, a bona fide car owner should receive payment from the Russian Union of Auto Insurers, which will then file a recourse claim against the perpetrator of the accident," the deputy said.
This approach will make auto insurance more fair to law-abiding motorists, believes Yaroslav Nilov. He promised that the work on further improvement of the CMTPL insurance system will be continued. In particular, it is planned to protect the interests of drivers in case of accidents involving couriers and other persons on electric scooters and electric bicycles and other means of individual mobility, emphasized Yaroslav Nilov.
All at the expense of motorists
The Russian Union of Motor Insurers was skeptical of the initiative. This proposal will increase the financial burden on drivers, but at the same time will not force those who drive without them to take out policies, believe the RAMI.
- The adoption of this bill will lead to an increase in the number and amounts of compensation payments, which will inevitably affect car owners who faithfully fulfill their obligation to insure liability: they will pay more for CMTPL insurance. At the same time, the amendment will not contribute to reducing the number of uninsured drivers," the press service of RAMI told Izvestia.
Insurance companies also call the proposed amendments controversial. According to Alexei Artamonov, vice-president and director of the department for interaction with government authorities at AlfaStrakhovanie, insurers are actually being asked to pay for those who have not purchased an insurance policy.
- This is like obliging a movie theater to let everyone in who has not bought a ticket. The result will definitely be a significant and unfair increase in the tariff for law-abiding drivers. In addition, the authors of the initiative apparently believe that insurers will do a better job of collecting payments from a "policy-less" accident perpetrator than courts and bailiffs, which is also questionable," he said.
Opinions differed
Compensation funds were not originally designed to compensate for damaged property in the event that an accident was caused by a driver who did not have a CMTPL policy, Igor Morzharetto, a member of the Presidium of the Public Council under the Russian Interior Ministry, told Izvestia.
- These amendments increase the burden on these funds. They may simply be insufficient for the proposed payments. In addition, there is a high probability that a certain part of motorists, knowing that even if they hit someone, the insurance company will pay for them anyway, will refuse to take out an MTPL policy. As a result, the number of drivers without a policy on the roads will only increase," he told Izvestia.
Anton Shaparin, vice-president of the National Automobile Union (NAU), who initiated the development of the draft law, has a different viewpoint. Given the active integration of auto insurance in Russia and Belarus, these amendments will not only better protect the interests of drivers, but also harmonize the insurance legislation of the two countries.
- Recently, a law has been adopted that provides for the creation of a unified system of compulsory civil liability insurance of vehicle owners within the Union State from 2025. At the same time, in Belarus, the issue of payments to victims of the driver's fault without a policy has long been settled. In the neighboring country, the Bureau of Transport Insurance (an analogue of RAMI) in this case fully compensates for the damage caused to the life and health of victims in the accident, as well as to their property," Anton Shaparin told "Izvestia.
Thus, a conscientious driver in Belarus does not need to sue the accident perpetrator, who does not have insurance, and then try to get compensation from him for a long time, notes the vice-president of NAC. The adoption of this draft law will also save Russian drivers from having to sort things out with the person responsible for the accident who does not have a CMTPL insurance policy, he believes.
The proposed amendments are logical and fair, said Sergei Radko, a lawyer with the Freedom of Choice movement. According to him, the current legislation does not guarantee that a conscientious driver who has taken out a policy will receive compensation under MTPL insurance.
- By and large, now a motorist who has taken out an insurance policy can only hope that in case of an accident the guilty party will have valid insurance. Otherwise, he will have to collect compensation for damages on his own, either voluntarily or through the courts. It would be logical for a driver who has a policy to know that it not only protects his civil liability if an accident occurs through his fault, but also guarantees compensation for damage if his opponent in an accident does not have insurance," lawyer Sergei Radko told Izvestia.
Переведено сервисом «Яндекс Переводчик»
