That's not true.: insurers pointed out a problem with CTP in a taxi
Insurers are concerned that only half of taxi cars have CTP policies designed to work in this area. In turn, experts of the passenger transportation market doubt the correctness of these data and recall the problems of insurance in the taxi industry. Izvestia investigated whether it was possible to correct the dangerous trend.
Billions of rubles were missing
By October 2025, the Russian taxi fleet, according to estimates by the National Agency for Industrial Information (NAPI), numbered almost 800 thousand passenger cars with valid permits. However, the AIS insurance has data on just over 400 thousand taxis with the corresponding CTP policies. Of these, 265 thousand per annum for 125 thousand short-term contracts.
"It turns out that the remaining 400,000 taxi cars either go uninsured at all, or indicate personal use as the purpose in order not to pay more," said Evgeny Ufimtsev, head of the Russian Union of Motor Insurers (RSA).
Insurers have estimated that with the average price of an annual taxi policy of 21.4 thousand rubles and the average premium for short policies of 205 rubles, the missing insurance premium is almost 5.7 billion rubles. This is about 2% of the total CTP market on an annual basis.
With a short-term policy
The mentioned "short" policies are popular mainly among taxi drivers, which ensured a rapid growth in their registration in 2025.
According to the NSIS (AIS insurance operator), in the first 9 months of 2025, 4.75 million short-term CTP contracts were issued for a period of one day to three months. However, out of the total number of short-term policies, only 159 thousand turned out to be unique, that is, issued for the same car. Both annual and short-term CTP policies were in effect for 35.7 thousand cars.
"Even taking into account the availability of annual CTP policies for taxi drivers, the overall level of penetration is far from assuming that the norms of the Law on Compulsory Motor Liability Insurance are being fulfilled," said Nikolay Galushin, General Director of NSIS JSC.
In accordance with current legislation, the obligation to issue a CTP policy for using a vehicle as a taxi lies with the car owner or carrier, and not with the aggregator, the Maxim service's press service said.
"The digital platform, including the Maxim service, is not a party to the insurance contract and is not authorized to verify the validity of insurance policies — this is the function of insurance companies and regulatory authorities," the company explained.
Not everything is on the line
Taxi industry experts question the insurers' data. The statistics provided show only information on insurance contracts concluded this year, said Irina Zaripova, Chairman of the Public Council for Taxi Development.
It does not reflect policies that were issued earlier and are still valid. Therefore, it is incorrect to talk about the actual number of insured taxi cars, Irina Zaripova believes. According to her, in order to objectively assess the situation, it is necessary to take into account the total volume of all existing CTP contracts.
Zaripova also drew attention to the fact that not all cars listed in the taxi register are actually involved in operation. Many fleets are experiencing a shortage of drivers, so some cars are idle and some are under repair. Thus, the number of vehicles in the registry may be more than the actual number used on the line.
It can be considered progress
With the introduction of "short" CTP policies, it became unclear how to count such statistics, Stanislav Shvagerus, head of the competence center of the International Eurasian Taxi Forum, told Izvestia.
— The peculiarity of the "short" CTP policy is that it actually performs the role of additional insurance. That is, the car is insured as a personal car, and a short-term policy is purchased to operate in taxi mode. This is a fairly common practice now. The driver of his own car just needs to click a button in the application and get an insurance policy for that day. And many people use it," he said.
According to Stanislav Schwagerus, 50% of cars insured under CTP for taxis can be considered progress, since in previous years there were 30-40% of them.
The problem with CTP in the taxi industry lies in the inconsistency of insurance and industry legislation, he noted.
— The CTP policy is valid throughout the Russian Federation. Meanwhile, a taxi car is considered such only in the subject of the federation in which it is registered. CTP insurance for taxis is also valid throughout the Russian Federation, but it is not needed throughout the territory, since legally a car outside its region is not a taxi. Here is an example of the imbalance between insurance and industry legislation. And, strictly speaking, there are many such examples. For example, if you do not have OSGOP insurance, you may be denied a car permit. And for the lack of a CTP policy, a taxi is not in danger," said Stanislav Shvagerus.
They get refusals
Taxi drivers still face refusals to apply for a CTP policy, Irina Zaripova notes. The situation has improved: if in 2021 97% of such requests were refused, now only about a quarter of carriers cannot issue CTP for taxis, especially in regions from the "red" category, for example, in the Novosibirsk region.
— The main reason is that insurers still consider this type of insurance highly profitable and do not actively seek to work with this segment. Additionally, the situation is complicated by the high cost of policies for legal entities and individual entrepreneurs. Depending on the region, the price of insurance can reach 40-60 thousand rubles per year, which is a significant burden for carriers. It is important to note that insurers often use so-called cross—products, where additional requirements are imposed, for example, when buying a CTP, purchase another insurance product. Because of this, according to the RSA, the average cost of the policy seems low, but in fact, due to the purchase of additional products, carriers incur insurance costs higher than those announced," Irina Zaripova noted.
She added that starting from January 1, due to plans to expand the CTP tariff corridor, the cost of policies will increase again. This may lead to an additional decrease in the proportion of insured vehicles.
"No one will run"
A total check of taxi drivers for the presence of a CTP policy is typical for regions such as Moscow or St. Petersburg, control in the regions is weaker, says vice-president of the National Automobile Union (NAS) Jan Heitser. He recalled that in the future, the availability of the policy will be monitored using photo and video recording systems.
— On the one hand, there must be the inevitability of punishment, and on the other, there must be justice. It's time for insurers to turn around to the consumer, to make the insurance cost more fair and more coverage. Due to this, they will get, perhaps, a larger number of users, no one will run away from the need to insure themselves," said the vice president of NAS.
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