On a short shoulder: taxi drivers will be able to issue one-day insurance policies
The State Duma has approved amendments to the OSGOP law, allowing taxi drivers to take out "short" insurance. These changes will not apply to all taxi drivers. Nevertheless, experts believe that they will help to increase the number of insured taxi cars and "whitewash" this area. The carriers themselves are ambivalent about the adopted amendments. Details can be found in the Izvestia article.
Insurance for a day
The State Duma immediately adopted amendments to the law "On Compulsory Insurance of Civil Liability of the carrier" (OSGOP) in the second and third readings. The document is posted in the legislative support system of the Parliament. The changes approved by the deputies enable taxi drivers to apply for short-term insurance policies.
The amendments, which come into force on September 1, 2026, provide that "when transporting passengers and luggage by passenger taxi, the validity period of the compulsory insurance contract may be less than a year, but not less than one day." According to the current version of the OSGOP Law, the relevant agreement cannot be concluded for a period of less than a year.
The adopted amendments apply only to cases when "the carrier is an individual or an individual entrepreneur who <...> has been granted the right to transport passengers and luggage by a passenger taxi."
In the original version of the bill, it was assumed that the short-term insurance policy would become effective only three days after the contract was signed and the insurance premium was paid. In addition, the minimum period of validity of this insurance was scheduled to be limited to ten days. However, in the final version of the amendments, it was decided to abandon this proposal.
"The analysis of law enforcement practice has shown that in a number of cases, persons engaged in passenger taxi transportation are interested in the shortened validity periods of OSGOP contracts. The term of the contract is not always optimal for individual carriers, who often carry out such activities not on a permanent basis, but periodically, as a side job," the explanatory note to the document says.
More flexibility
The emergence of short-term insurance policies creates more flexible insurance conditions for carriers, said Irina Zaripova, chairman of the Public Council for Taxi Development and a member of the Public Council under the Ministry of Transport of the Russian Federation. Using the example of "short" CTP policies, it is clear that such solutions have become widespread due to their more affordable cost, and they are in demand by the market, she notes.
— In taxis, a significant part of carriers do not work on a permanent basis — first of all, these are self-employed drivers who come on line several times a week or a month. For them, it is often economically impractical to purchase an annual insurance policy. The opportunity to issue a short—term policy will allow such carriers to operate legally without excessive workload," Irina Zaripova told Izvestia.
According to her, insurance remains one of the key problems of the industry. The cost of annual CTP policies can exceed 30-50 thousand rubles, in addition, an annual CTP costs about 3.5 thousand rubles, which is a significant burden for businesses, the expert believes. In these circumstances, any tools that increase the availability of insurance play an important role, emphasizes the chairman of the Public Council for the Development of Taxis.
— We expect that the emergence of short—term insurance policies will contribute to the growth of car insurance in taxis and reduce barriers to entry into legal transportation, - predicts Irina Zaripova.
The need to introduce "short-term" insurance policies is long overdue, says Anton Shaparin, Vice President of the National Automobile Union. This is evidenced by the popularity of short-term CTP contracts among taxi drivers, he notes.
— According to statistics, last year taxi drivers issued almost 9.4 million CTP policies for one or two days. With a high degree of probability, it can be assumed that approximately the same amount of insurance is in demand by the market in terms of OSGOP," believes Anton Shaparin.
It is extremely important that the adopted amendments do not contain the originally proposed clause that the "short" insurance of the OSGOP begins to operate only three days after payment of the policy, emphasizes Stanislav Shvagerus, head of the competence center of the International Eurasian Taxi Forum.
— This insurance, like the short-term CTP for taxis, should be valid as soon as the driver has signed the contract electronically. This is the main point of such "short" insurance," he stressed.
At the same time, Stanislav Shvagerus does not see any problems in the fact that the adopted amendments will apply only to carriers-individuals or sole proprietors. According to him, "short" insurance is in demand primarily by these categories of carriers in the taxi industry. In the future, it makes sense to think about the introduction of hourly CTP and OSGOP policies, as in some cases it works in relation to casco insurance, he believes.
Pros and Cons
The opinions of the carriers themselves regarding the amendments adopted by the State Duma differed. For example, Yandex Taxi believes that the introduction of short-term CTP policies will be a logical continuation of "short" CTP contracts and will allow drivers to comprehensively cover the need for travel insurance.
—Part-time drivers will be able to apply for insurance only on the days they actually go on the line — this will reduce the financial burden on them, simplify entry into the industry and make the technical process of issuing a policy easier," the company said.
The problem of OSGOP lies not in the validity period of the policy, but in the conditions of its application, according to Maxim taxi. As long as there are requirements that cannot be massively fulfilled, changing the deadline does not fundamentally change the situation, the company believes.
— The main problem of OSGOP in taxis is the mechanism of regression. If the driver has not fulfilled formal requirements, such as pre-trip inspections or documentation, the insurance company has the right to recover the entire amount from the victim after payment. As a result, the driver, by paying for an insurance policy, does not solve the problem of financial risks for himself. It is this factor that makes the purchase of an OSGOP economically meaningless for a significant part of market participants, regardless of the cost of the policy and its validity period," Maxim Taxi said.
The company reported that, according to the National Union of Liability Insurers (NSSO), as of March 23 of this year, slightly more than 301.1 thousand OSGOP policies for cars with "checkers" were issued in Russia. At the same time, FGIS Taxi had more than 1,138 million vehicles with appropriate permits on the same date. Thus, in reality, the OSGOP covered only 26% of registered taxi cars, Maxim notes.
"With this level of penetration into the taxi industry, OSGOP has little effect on passengers and fares," the company emphasizes.
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