The insurance company sued you, how can this happen?

Good afternoon, dear reader.

This article will talk about how to receive payments under compulsory motor liability insurance in the event of a traffic accident and where to apply for them.

I want to say right away that I sincerely hope that this article will never be useful to you. However, thousands of road accidents occur every day in Russia and no one is completely insured against them. So information on how to receive payments under compulsory motor liability insurance may still be useful.

• What risks does OSAGO cover?
• Documents for payment under compulsory motor liability insurance.
• Deadlines for submitting documents to receive compensation under compulsory motor liability insurance.
• How to submit documents to the insurance company?
• Which insurance company should I apply to?
• What to do if the person at fault for the accident does not disclose the MTPL policy details?
• Conducting an inspection or independent technical examination.
• Deadline for receiving compensation under compulsory motor liability insurance.
• What to do if the driver is not satisfied with the insurance payment?

What risks does OSAGO cover?

OSAGO is compulsory motor third party liability insurance. This insurance is mandatory for all drivers, and failure to do so will result in a fine.

Fine for lack of compulsory motor liability insurance

OSAGO does not insure the driver himself who entered into the contract, but his liability to other drivers . This means that in the event of an accident caused by the driver, the insurance company will compensate for the damage instead (up to 400,000 rubles), i.e. The insurance company will pay for repairs to other people's cars.

At the same time, the culprit of the accident will not receive anything under compulsory motor liability insurance; he will have to repair his car at his own expense. But the driver who is injured in the accident can receive a payment from the insurance company. This is what we will talk about today.

What is prohibited to do after an accident

Drivers involved in an accident are prohibited from consuming alcoholic beverages after the accident.

For violation of this rule, a fine of 30 thousand rubles is provided with deprivation of rights for a period of one and a half to two years. Moreover, the insurance company will be able to make a recourse claim against the violator. The amount of damage will be recovered from him even if he has a compulsory motor liability insurance policy.

An exception is if the driver has undergone a medical examination, and the police officer has recorded the results in the protocol. After the examination you can have a drink.

Documents for payment under compulsory motor liability insurance

Let's look at the list of documents required to receive compensation under MTPL:

• application for insurance compensation or direct compensation for losses;
• certified copy of passport;
• power of attorney to represent the interests of the beneficiary (if necessary);
• bank details if you plan to receive a non-cash payment;
• consent of the guardianship and trusteeship authorities, if the payment of insurance compensation will be made to the representative of the person (victim (beneficiary)) under the age of 18 years;
• notification of an accident (only if a paper notification was issued);
• copies of the protocol on an administrative offense, a resolution on a case of an administrative offense or a ruling on the refusal to initiate a case on an administrative offense, if the preparation of documents on a road traffic accident was carried out with the participation of authorized police officers, and the preparation of such documents is provided for by the legislation of the Russian Federation.
• other documents provided for in Chapter 4 of the MTPL rules, if they are necessary to determine the amount of damage.

Let's take a closer look at the required documents:

1. Application for insurance compensation or direct compensation for losses . You can write this document yourself in free form. You can also write an application on the standard form of the insurance company when submitting documents.

If your car is severely damaged as a result of an accident and cannot participate in road traffic, you should make a note about this in the application.

2. A certified copy of your passport is the third required document to receive payment under compulsory motor liability insurance. All other documents are provided depending on the situation.

3. Notification of an accident . An accident notification form is issued to the driver along with the MTPL policy. This document (its front part) must be filled out by drivers together. The reverse side is filled out by each driver separately. This document must be completed by drivers only in the event of an independent registration of an accident. If the documents are prepared by traffic police officers, then the notice is not required to be filled out.

Note. From November 10, 2019, it is possible to fill out the notice electronically (via the application).

4. Bank details are provided to the insurance company only if non-cash payment is planned.

5. A power of attorney will be required only if a representative of the injured driver contacts the insurance company.

6. The consent of the guardianship and trusteeship authorities is needed only when the victim is under 18 years old.

7. Copies of police documents are required if the accident was registered in the presence of a traffic police officer.

8. Other documents are provided to confirm the amount of damage caused to the victim (for example, the cost of evacuating a vehicle from the scene of an accident).

What to do immediately after an accident

According to the traffic rules (clause 2.5 of the traffic rules), a participant in an accident is obliged to:

1. Stop immediately, turn on your hazard lights and display a warning triangle.
2. Do not move objects related to the incident. This will help traffic police officers and road accident participants reconstruct the picture of events.

How to proceed further depends on what is damaged - only property or the health and life of people.

If only cars or property were damaged in the accident

The driver is obliged:

1. If the car creates an obstacle for other cars, clear the roadway

Be sure to first record on your phone or camera:

• the position of the cars in relation to each other;
• the position of cars in relation to road infrastructure (roadway boundaries, signs, etc.);
• traces and objects related to the incident (fragments, braking distance, etc.);
• damage to vehicles.

1. If the participants in the accident do not agree with each other about the circumstances of the incident, you need to write down the names and addresses of eyewitnesses and report the incident to the police and wait for their instructions.

   Since 2021, if there are disagreements, you can file an accident without police officers through the “Compulsory Motor Liability Insurance Assistant” application. In this case, the insurance indemnity limit will be reduced to 100 thousand rubles.

2. If there is no disagreement between the parties involved in the accident, it is not necessary to report the incident to the police. You can fill out the Europrotocol - this is the common name for the procedure for processing documents about an accident without the participation of police officers. You can also file an accident through the OSAGO Assistant application.

If only the culprit's car is damaged in an accident, the police do not need to be called - for example, if the driver drove into a ditch or crashed into a snowdrift. This conclusion follows from the Resolution of the judge of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation dated November 8, 2018 (Case No. 18-AD 18-59).

If people are killed or injured in an accident

If people are killed or injured in an accident, the driver is obliged to provide first aid to the victims and call an ambulance and the police.

In emergency cases you need to:

• if possible, take the victims in your car to the nearest hospital, tell the medical institution your last name, license plate number of the car and return to the scene of the incident;
• if it is impossible to transport the victims in your own car, send them to the hospital by passing transport.

If a car is blocking traffic, a detour should be arranged if possible. If a detour cannot be organized, the roadway must be vacated. Pre-record on your phone or camera:

• the position of the cars in relation to each other;
• the position of cars in relation to road infrastructure (roadway boundaries, signs, etc.);
• traces and objects related to the incident (fragments, braking distance, etc.), damage to vehicles.

Also write down the names and addresses of eyewitnesses and wait for the police to arrive.

If there is no telephone connection, ask drivers passing by to convey information about the accident to the nearest traffic police post and wait for the police to arrive.

Which insurance company should I apply for?

There are 2 possible options:

• submit a claim to the insurance company responsible for the accident;
• file a direct claim claim with your insurer.

In this case, you can contact your insurance company only if the following conditions are met:

• the accident involved a collision between only two vehicles registered under compulsory motor liability insurance;
• damage was caused only to vehicles (cars).

If these conditions are not met, then you must contact the insurance company responsible for the accident.

Direct compensation for damages

Direct compensation for losses is the situation when a victim in an accident applies for payment of compensation not to the insurance company of the guilty party, but to his own, with which he has concluded a compulsory insurance agreement. However, although the law turned its face to drivers, it still limited such compensation for damage to a number of mandatory conditions, which in this case must be fully observed.

Attention! If one of the conditions of the PWU is not met, then in this case it will be impossible to receive payment from your insurance company and you will have to contact the company responsible for the accident.

You may not count on compensation for damages from your insurance company if:

1. You have already submitted an application for payment of compensation to the company where the contract was concluded with the guilty party.
2. If during an accident you and the culprit used the simplified procedure for registering an accident, i.e. You drew up the European Protocol and you did not call the traffic police officers to the scene of the accident, but as a result it turned out that the European Protocol was filled out incorrectly or incompletely.
3. If you and the culprit of the accident have disagreements regarding the circumstances that led to the emergency, and there are also disagreements regarding the nature of the damage.
4. If the client wants to receive compensation only for moral damage, environmental damage or compensation for lost profits.
5. The accident occurred on the road as a result of a competition, training ride or test.
6. In the event that the damage was caused to securities, antiques, items that are of a religious nature, or works of human intellectual property (manuscripts, books, paintings).
7. If the fact of an identified traffic violation is disputed in the courts.
8. You notified the insurers about the insured event that occurred after the established deadline.
9. They may also refuse payment in some other situations that are provided for in the agreement of RSA members.

The mechanism for receiving compensation payments according to the rules of the PES is quite simple. In order to receive compensation from your insurance company, you will need to provide the company with a complete list of documents required in this case. Next, you will need to receive a referral from the Investigative Committee for which you will need to undergo an examination, and you also have the opportunity to order an independent examination.

If you promptly provided the insurance organization with the entire list of necessary documents and passed the examination, then your insurer will have to make a decision on the possibility of paying compensation based on your documents. If a positive decision has been made against you by the Investigative Committee, the amount of compensation will be transferred to you to the account that you indicated in the relevant application. Further actions of the victim's insurance company no longer concern the insurance company and the insurance company independently deals with the culprit's insurance company. You can find out more details about whether an insurance company can recover money from the person at fault in an accident in our article.

Of course, each system has its own nuances and very often insurance companies quickly pay their clients small amounts, but if we are talking about compensation for major damage, then the insurance company is more likely to find a reason to send its client to the insurance company of the culprit.

Conducting an inspection or independent technical examination

To determine the amount of insurance payment, the insurance company must conduct an inspection, an independent technical examination or an independent assessment within 5 business days from the date of submission of documents.

In this case, the insurer agrees with the driver on the time and place of the inspection or examination. The driver must deliver the car to the specified location by the specified time. If the driver does not come for the examination, it will be postponed, and along with it, insurance payments will be postponed.

If the car cannot participate in road traffic, then it is inspected at its location.

If the insurer does not inspect the vehicle or examine it within 5 days, the victim may conduct an examination at his own expense. Subsequently, the cost of the examination will be reimbursed, i.e. included in the MTPL payment.

Attention! From August 24, 2020, the driver is required to notify the insurance company 3 days in advance of the date and time of the independent examination.

Answers on questions

Deadline for receiving compensation under compulsory motor liability insurance

The insurance company must review the victim’s documents within 20 calendar days (except for non-working days and holidays) and issue a referral for repairs. Or calculate the amount of insurance payment and make it. However, in 2021, renovations take priority.

If the insurance company does not make a payment or does not issue a referral within the period specified above, it must pay a penalty to the victim. For each day of delay - 1 percent of the amount of insurance payment. To receive a penalty, you need to write a corresponding application to the insurance company.

Is it possible to report online on the insurer's website?

Yes. The main thing to remember is that if you fill out a European protocol, this will not constitute proper notification to the insurance organization. As we noted above, in this case you need to send your copy of the notice to the insurer. But you won’t be able to take a photo or scan it and upload it on the official website of the insurance company. Although, again returning to the lack of consequences, in fact in 2021 you can do this, but not by law.

In fact, not all insurance companies can report an accident on the websites. For example, Rosgosstrakh has such forms, but we did not find the opportunity to transmit information about an accident online to AlfaStrakhovanie or VSK.

Something else useful for you:

• Mutual fault under compulsory motor liability insurance - how is payment made?
• What is the maximum payment under compulsory motor liability insurance?
• What payments can you receive under compulsory motor liability insurance after an accident?

What to do if the driver is not satisfied with the insurance payment?

If the driver is not satisfied with the amount of the insurance payment, he can first receive a payment, the amount of which is determined by the insurance company, and then try to get the rest of the money.

In practice, it happens that the payment to the insurance company is several times less than the amount required to repair the damaged vehicle. In this case, I recommend contacting a competent lawyer who deals with traffic accidents. If the case is won, the costs of the lawyer will subsequently be reimbursed by the insurance company, so you will not lose anything.

In conclusion, I would like to note that the receipt of payments under compulsory motor liability insurance is regulated by Chapter 3 and Chapter 4 of the rules of compulsory insurance of civil liability of vehicle owners. So if you still have any questions, please refer to this document.

Good luck on the roads!

What is considered an accident?

According to clause 1.2 of the Traffic Rules, an accident is an event that occurred while a car was moving and with its participation, in which people were killed or injured, vehicles, structures, cargo were damaged, or other material damage was caused.

In other words, if a pedestrian is hit by a car, it is an accident. If a car leaves the road and collides with a tree or fence, property or cargo is damaged - this is also an accident. If a driver hits an animal, for example, a moose, this is an accident.

Hitting a pet is also considered an accident. The courts recognize that the culprit must compensate the owner of the animal for its cost, and if he leaves the scene of an accident, they can even deprive him of his rights (Resolution of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation N 29-AD17-2).

Registration of an accident with a European protocol

If you get into an accident, what to do is worth figuring out depending on the circumstances. Sometimes the culprit and the victim can take advantage of a simplified registration procedure without even calling the traffic police. The European protocol is used for this. The convenient fact is that it can be applied for online. Go to the public services portal through the mobile application, but you can use the form in question only if there are certain conditions :

• There were no injuries in the traffic accident;
• No other cars were damaged (only cars involved in accidents were damaged);
• Only two cars were involved in an accident;
• All drivers are included in the MTPL policy or “Green Card” for the car;
• Both drivers agree to report the accident and not call the traffic police.

Sample Europrotocol: