Dead cars: every fifth car in the Russian Federation does not have a CTP policy
Approximately one in five cars in Russia does not have a CTP policy, Izvestia found out, comparing the number of insurance issued last year and the number of vehicles registered with the Ministry of Internal Affairs. Many of these cars are only registered, but they do not take to the roads, insurers and experts say. Nevertheless, the problem is quite acute, experts say. Details can be found in the Izvestia article.
"Short" growth
By the end of last year, a total of almost 54.4 million CTP policies were issued in Russia. This is stated in the annual report on the CTP market prepared by the Russian Unions of Motor Insurers (RSA). Compared to the year before last, the number of insurance applications increased by 21.5%. Such a sharp increase in the number of contracts in the RSA is explained by a more than nine-fold (9.4 million in 2025 against just over 1 million in 2024) increase in the number of issued "short" insurance. At the same time, the vast majority of such insurance (99.87%) with a validity period of 1-2 days were issued for taxi cars. Last year, only 44.5 thousand "short" CTP policies were purchased for ordinary cars.
In total, insurance companies received 329.47 billion rubles for the registration of avtograzhdanki last year. At the same time, insurers paid 294.49 billion rubles to the victims of the accident. The average cost of the policy was 6057 rubles against 7441 rubles the year before last, the average amount of payment by the end of 2025 is 98 519 rubles (89 691 rubles in 2024).
Not everyone is insured
According to the Russian Interior Ministry, as of January 1 of this year, 68 million vehicles were registered in our country. Thus, taking into account 54.4 million CTP policies issued last year, 13.6 million cars (or one in five vehicles) do not have insurance.
At the same time, according to the Russian Union of Motor Insurers, the share of drivers driving a car without insurance is 7-10%. These figures are based on data that the RSA takes from the calculation of the number of compensation payments made, the union clarified. The organization recalled that if the liability of the person responsible for the accident is not insured and harm is caused to life and health, the victim has the right to receive compensation from the RSA.
— According to our assessment, the level remains unchanged. Currently, about 70% of the regions of the Russian Federation have less than 7% of drivers who have not signed a CTP contract, the press service of the RSA told Izvestia.
A significant part of the cars that are registered with the State Traffic Inspectorate and for which insurance has not been issued have not been going anywhere for a long time, said Igor Morzharetto, a member of the presidium of the Public Council at the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation.
— These are "dead" cars, monument cars that have already sunk into the ground. Of course, no one takes out insurance for them. No one knows how many such cars there are," he told Izvestia.
Put him in the cell!
According to Igor Morzharetto, the situation with cars that are operated without insurance can be corrected by launching a system for monitoring the availability of policies using cameras.
— This idea has been discussed for a very long time, for a number of reasons, its launch date has been repeatedly postponed. It is expected to start functioning this fall," said a member of the Presidium of the Public Council under the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation.
The problem of "policyless drivers" primarily affects bona fide car owners, according to the RSA. A driver without insurance, who is the culprit of an accident, must pay for the repair of both his own and someone else's car from his personal funds, and there may simply not be enough money for this, the Union clarifies.
— After the cancellation of the car owner's obligation to provide a CTP agreement from March 1, 2025, when performing registration actions, the only way to verify the availability of a CTP agreement is to check documents by employees of the State Traffic Inspectorate. Monitoring the availability of insurance with the help of cameras is necessary precisely to protect car owners who get into an accident and then have to recover damages from the car owner without a policy in court, according to the RSA.
The Union believes that checking the cameras for a contract will also make it possible to more effectively curb the growth of insurance premiums, since bona fide vehicle owners will not have to pay extra for those who drive without a policy.
— At a meeting on March 10, the State Duma Committee on State Construction and Legislation recommended the adoption in the second reading of a bill defining that drivers will be fined no more than once a day for the absence of a CTP contract. We believe that this bill will be one of the key steps towards the introduction of camera—based CTP verification in 2026," the press service of the RSA said.
Fundamental problems
The problem should be solved not only and not so much by introducing control over the availability of a policy using cameras, says Anton Shaparin, vice president of the National Automobile Union (NAS). First of all, it is necessary to eliminate fundamental distortions in car insurance, and then the issue of cars without policies will be resolved by itself, he believes.
— Drivers refuse to apply for CTP because they do not believe in this system, faced with meager payments, for which it is simply impossible to restore the car. If the prices for spare parts and prices for work in price directories, on the basis of which the amount of compensation is determined, correspond to the real state of affairs in the market, and experts give really fair and independent conclusions about the amount of damage, then motorists themselves will come to insurance companies for policies. And they won't have to be driven into insurers' offices with cameras and fines," the NAS Vice president is confident.
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