The culprit of an accident without compulsory motor liability insurance

Every driver in the Russian Federation must take out insurance. If the culprit of the accident does not have it, the victim will not be able to receive monetary compensation from the insurance company, and then has the right to claim it from the culprit of the accident. Most disputes regarding the circumstances of an accident without insurance must be resolved in court. According to Article 12.37 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation, driving a car without civil liability insurance faces an administrative fine of 800 rubles. But penalties are not as bad as not having a policy. After an accident, some drivers ask the question: “What to do if you get into an accident without insurance and it’s my fault?”

Let's find out how the procedure for collecting damages from the culprit of an accident without compulsory motor liability insurance goes, and also what to do in 2021 if the culprit refuses to compensate for the damage?

Recovery of damage The principle of insurance is simple and is based on the following: if an accident occurs, the insurance company of the culprit pays a certain amount of money to carry out repair work to the victim. But what to do if an accident occurs and the culprit does not have compulsory motor insurance? And most importantly, who will pay for the damage? According to Article 1064 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation, the damage caused is subject to full compensation by the person who caused the damage. Even when the motorist does not have civil liability insurance. Based on this, the person responsible for the accident, who does not have compulsory motor insurance, pays for the repair of the injured person’s vehicle independently. In addition to the amount for repairs, the culprit will pay a fine for driving a car without insurance, and may also have to compensate for moral damages if this clause is included in the court order.

What to do if the culprit of the accident does not have compulsory motor insurance?

Immediately after an accident occurs, the victim should request a policy from the culprit and make sure that the latter appears in the OSAGO policy database. According to the first paragraph of Article 11 of the Federal Law No. 40, upon the occurrence of an insured event, the culprit of the accident is obliged to provide all information about compulsory motor liability insurance upon the first request of all participants in the accident.

If the culprit of the incident does not have a policy or is not included in it, he will have to pay a fine of 800 and 500 rubles, respectively. And recently they started issuing claims for insurance.

There are several options for the development of events if the person at fault for the accident does not have insurance or is not included in it:

if the culprit has a policy, but is not included in it, the payment to the victims will be made by the insurance company that issued the compulsory motor liability insurance (and then the culprit will be subject to recourse for the amount of compensation),
If the at-fault driver was driving a car without insurance during an accident, payment to the victims will be made personally by the at-fault driver without the involvement of insurance companies.

Will there be a payment if the person at fault for the accident is not insured?

In the event of an accident on the road, its participants are faced with the task of correctly assessing the damage to cars and compensating for it. In this matter, a significant role is played by the presence of compulsory insurance policies on both sides, which is a guarantee of damages compensation (what will happen if none of the participants in the accident has a compulsory motor liability insurance policy, read here).

According to the law, in the absence of insurance, the car owner must pay a fine of 500-800 rubles (Article 12.3, 12.37 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation). In this case, payments to the victim are still due, but in most cases they will have to be collected not through the insurance company, but through the court, and they will be from the culprit, not the insurance company.

Checking the culprit of an accident for the presence of a policy

The authenticity of the policy is verified through the official RCA website using the following algorithm:

follow the link: https://dkbm-web.autoins.ru/dkbm-web-1.0/bsostate.htm,
enter the series and number of the insurance policy form in the appropriate text fields,
complete the verification by clicking on the button that says “I am not a robot”,
Click on the “Search” button and select the appropriate option from the list.

As a result, you should be presented with the search result in the form of a table, where the status column should indicate “Loved by the policyholder.” Only in this case, the insurance of the person responsible for the accident is valid and not fake.

Note! If an error window appears during the search, then the policy may have expired at the time of the request and is expired. In this case, the victim has no right to receive compensation from the insurance company.

Complete instructions with pictures and explanations are available in our special article.

Pre-trial compensation for losses

To resolve a dispute, you must try to resolve it peacefully without the participation of the court. To do this, during the registration of the accident, you need to make sure that the inspector makes a note that the person responsible for the accident does not have insurance.

The next step is to record the details of the culprit:

last name, first name and patronymic;
registration and residence address;
telephone.

Then documents are prepared and a legal claim is drawn up.

To properly prepare the paper you need to prepare:

Conclusion of an independent expert on damage and calculation of damage.
If the car cannot be restored, a report on its value.

The legislation does not contain a standard legal claim form. The document is drawn up in writing in free form.

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The claim must indicate:

route;
accident location;
date of incident;
participants in the collision;
circumstances of the accident;
amount of damage.

The facts presented in the text of the claim must be supported by references to regulations, expert conclusions, and available documents. The circumstances of the accident should not contradict the data contained in the traffic police documents. Therefore, all information provided in the claim should be carefully compared for compliance with the protocol and certificate from the State Traffic Inspectorate.

The amount of damages must be equal to that indicated in the conclusion of the independent expert. The excess is permissible by including the costs of conducting examinations, storage services, transportation, the work of a lawyer and expert, as well as moral damage. All amounts must be documented or accompanied by calculations.

The following are attached as evidence to the claim:

traffic police documentation (protocol, certificate of incident, resolution on an administrative offense);
notification letters inviting the culprit for inspection or examination;
conclusion of an independent expert appraiser;
title and registration documents for cars;
receipts confirming expenses.

The claim is sent to the person responsible for the accident by mail. The document should be sent by registered mail with acknowledgment of receipt and a list of the contents. Receipts issued by the post office should be kept in case of legal proceedings.

Most of the perpetrators of accidents, after receiving a legal claim, prefer to compensate for the damage voluntarily, without bringing the case to court. Otherwise, when filing a claim, the culprit will be charged legal costs and moral damages.

What to do if the culprit has a fake MTPL?

A fake insurance policy from the person at fault is not a reason to panic. In some cases, even under fake compulsory motor liability insurance, the insurance company makes payments.

Receiving compensation from the insurance company for fake compulsory motor liability insurance

The victim has the right to contact the insurance company indicated in the fake OSAGO. Only if the policy is issued on an official form. The fact is that, according to the resolution of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation No. 2 of January 29, 2015, policies printed on the official letterhead of insurance companies automatically become valid, and it is possible to make compensation for them.

Note! If the insurance organization has declared the form lost, then it will be possible to receive compensation for it.

It is possible to obtain complete information about the relevance of the counterfeit form by entering its data into the form on the RSA website. If, as a result of the search, the system produces information about the policy, then the victim has the right to appeal to the insurance company or to court if he receives a refusal.

Compensation for damage if the policy is not owned by the insurance company

If the OSAGO is indeed fake and issued on an unofficial form, then it is necessary to demand compensation for the damage caused directly from the culprit of the accident.

How did I get money instead of repairs?

The insurance company calculated compensation at 8,000 rubles, taking into account wear and tear - my car was already 10 years old. At the time of the accident, I had had new bumpers and headlights stored in the garage for about two weeks. I've been meaning to change them for a long time, but I kept putting it off.

I didn’t see the point in repairing: I already had the necessary spare parts. It was more profitable to receive money, so I wrote an application for compensation in monetary terms. The application form was provided by employees of the insurance company.

Perhaps the money would have been given to me at the branch of the insurance company in Orekhovo-Zuevo, but the employee there who was responsible for these operations quit. The insurer suggested contacting the company's head office in Moscow. This is inconvenient for me, but there were no other options. I went to Moscow, wrote an application for compensation, and a few days later they transferred 8,000 rubles to me using the specified bank details.

Can I contact my insurance company?

No. It is not advisable for a person injured in an accident to contact their insurance company, since compulsory motor third party liability insurance exclusively covers motor vehicle liability to other drivers. In other words, if the victim applies to his insurance company for compensation for damages under compulsory motor liability insurance, he will receive a natural refusal.

Contact RSA

But the legislation of 2021 prescribes that if people are killed or injured in an accident, and such persons are not the culprits, and the harm-doer does not have compulsory motor liability insurance, then you can receive payment for damage to health or death from the Russian Union of Auto Insurers.

This is what clause 1 of Article 18 of the Law on Compulsory Motor Liability Insurance says, and such payment is called “compensatory”.

To do this, submit a corresponding application to the RSA.

Is it possible to recover damages from the culprit without compulsory motor liability insurance?

The insurance company, according to Federal Law No. 40, is obliged to compensate for damage caused to the property and health of the injured party in an accident. But for this, the culprit must have a valid contract for the provision of insurance services in the MTPL system. In its absence, the damage caused will have to be recovered not through the insurer, but by other means.

The legislation provides for several options for compensation for damage in an accident without insurance:

By mutual agreement of the parties.
As a result of filing a pre-trial claim.
Through the judiciary.

Each of these methods has its advantages and disadvantages. The victim may demand compensation:

Caused harm to health or life.
Damage to property.
Compensation for moral damage.
Other expenses incurred in connection with a car accident. For example, calling a tow truck, the services of independent appraisers, TC, legal costs.

Who will pay compensation for damage if the person at fault for the accident does not have a policy?

In a situation where the person at fault for a traffic accident does not have an insurance policy, victims have the right to claim compensation directly. To do this, do the following.

Make sure that the person responsible for the accident is indeed the culprit: a decision (or a refusal) has been issued against him.
Ask for passport information from the person responsible for the traffic accident and all victims (but they can legally refuse to provide it).
Specify the amount to be reimbursed.
Negotiate the timing of refunds.

It is imperative to require the culprit to write a receipt indicating the information described above. Such a document will serve as a guarantee that the person at fault for the accident has unfulfilled obligations to you. You will find the form for such a receipt below.

How to prove your innocence?

Evidence is always a tricky issue, especially in relation to road accidents. The methods of persuasion of innocence are as follows:

recordings from the video recorder or recorders of road accident participants or eyewitnesses;
recordings from street surveillance cameras, if the accident occurred within a populated area and is located in the video surveillance zone of cameras located on buildings or other stationary objects;
eyewitness testimony.

In the absence of witnesses and video recordings, it will be very difficult to prove your innocence.

Registration of an accident

According to Article 11.1 of Federal Law No. 40, registration of a traffic accident, if one of the participants does not have a compulsory insurance policy, is carried out exclusively in the presence of law enforcement agencies.

Is it possible to issue a European protocol?

No. Registration of a European protocol is possible only for drivers who have a compulsory insurance policy. If one of the participants does not have insurance, registration of a European protocol is impossible.

Note! If in such a situation, due to ignorance or inattention, a European protocol was drawn up, then the insurance company has the right to refuse compensation for damage and it will be extremely difficult to obtain such compensation from the culprit.

Normative base

The main regulations governing road accidents without compulsory motor liability insurance for the victim:

Attention! If you have any questions, you can chat for free with a lawyer at the bottom of the screen or call Moscow; Saint Petersburg; Free call for all of Russia.

Civil Code of the Russian Federation.
Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation.
Federal Law “On compulsory civil liability insurance of vehicle owners” dated April 25, 2002 N 40-FZ.
“Regulations on the rules of compulsory civil liability insurance of vehicle owners” approved by the Bank of Russia on September 19, 2014 N 431-P.

CASCO

In a situation where the culprit of the accident does not have compulsory motor liability insurance, but the victim purchased CASCO insurance in advance, then the latter will not have to collect compensation on his own. Thanks to voluntary insurance, in this case the victim has the right to apply directly to his insurance company to receive funds to repair the vehicle.

At the same time, the insurance organization has the right to recover damages from the victim through the process of subrogation. In other words, the culprit will still have to pay for the repairs, but in this case not to the victim, but to the company insuring him.

Who should pay if there is no policy?

If during an accident the culprit does not have insurance, then the legislation does not imply an obligation of compensation for the insurer, since the mechanism for compensating costs for him presupposes the presence of another insurance company with which the culprit has an agreement.

If there is compulsory motor liability insurance, the culprit's company compensates the costs to the victim's insurer . However, in the absence of a second insurance company, there is no one to do this. At the same time, the law does not provide for the obligation of direct recovery from the culprit by the insurer of the victim. In most cases, if the person at fault does not have insurance, he will pay for all the damage.

What to do? Collection procedure without court

If you get into an accident, the culprit of which is a driver without compulsory motor insurance, the injured parties should do the following:

Registration of an accident in a legal manner. In such a case, it is impossible to independently register an accident without authorized police officers.
Find out whether the culprit is going to compensate for the damage voluntarily.
Discussion of the method of payment of damages.

According to the new registration rules in 2021, if one of the participants does not have insurance, you cannot drive away without calling the traffic police officers, since the current traffic regulations allow this to be done only if the conditions for registration upon notification of the European protocol are met.

By law, the culprit has the right to pay for losses in several ways:

Directly at the scene of the accident. If the culprit has a sufficient amount of money with him, the parties to the conflict have the right to settle all claims on the spot. To do this, the victim should declare the amount of damage and, upon receipt of funds, write a receipt stating that compensation was received.
Some time after the accident occurred. If the culprit does not have the required amount with him, he has the right to pay for the damage later. To do this, victims should request a receipt indicating all requirements.

Important! To receive guarantees, victims must request a receipt. If the document was not completed and the culprit refuses to pay, victims will have to work harder to obtain compensation.

Correct receipt

A correct receipt for damages must necessarily contain the following information:

Full name of both parties to the conflict;
full passport details of the culprit and the victim;
accident location;
damage to the car that needs to be repaired at the expense of the culprit;
estimated amount of damage;
the time frame within which the culprit undertakes to pay money or make repairs himself.

In addition, we recommend recording a video confirming the obligations of the tortfeasor set out in the receipt.

If the culprit offers to go together to a car service for repairs

The parties to an accident have the legal right to agree not on monetary compensation, but on payment for car repairs at a service center. Details of the provision of compensation in this manner must be indicated in the receipt. After the repair, the victim should write a response receipt indicating receipt of full compensation and the absence of claims.

Algorithm of actions in case of an accident

The driver turns on the alarm and gets out of the car. Places emergency signs at a distance of 15 m.
If there are victims, they need to provide first aid or call an ambulance. Those involved in the accident call the police.
Drivers inspect the damage, record the scene on video or take photographs. Do not move the car or elements of the accident.
Participants exchange contacts. If possible, you need to find witnesses to what happened.
You need to wait for the traffic police. They will document the fact of the accident and issue all the necessary documentation for further registration.

If the second driver promised to compensate for the damage, but disappeared

If the culprit of the incident wrote a receipt for compensation for damage, but disappeared, the victim should:

Send a pre-trial claim to the culprit demanding compensation. The document must contain information regarding the possible consequences of non-payment of obligations and is written in free form.
If there is no response from the culprit, the victim will have to file a claim in court demanding the forced recovery of funds.

Damage recovery options

What options are there for recovering damages if I am involved in an accident without insurance and I am at fault? There are three ways:

-the issue is resolved on the spot without further proceedings, i.e. the culprit immediately agrees to cover the costs of repairs;

- pre-trial claim, which will be discussed below (the culprit also agrees to pay all losses associated with the accident);

- a lawsuit is the least favorable outcome; the culprit will be forced to pay monetary compensation.

How to recover through court?

To recover funds for car repairs through the court, the victim must file a statement of claim and prepare the following documents:

road accident diagram and all other documents received after the accident;
resolution on the guilt of the second participant/decision on refusal to initiate a case, as well as a protocol on the violation (if drawn up);
certificate of accident (if issued),
a receipt confirming the fact of payment of the state duty.

Before filing a claim, the victim must determine the amount of damage. This can be done by contacting one of the companies providing independent examination services. Yes, you will have to pay for these services, but if you win, they are reimbursed by the losing party, as well as the services of a representative car lawyer.

It is also highly desirable (but not required by law) to invite the person responsible for the accident for an examination.

Is a pre-trial claim against the culprit of an accident necessary?

A pre-trial claim under the 2021 law in the case of a claim directly from the tortfeasor is optional, unlike a similar claim against an insurance company.

But highly desirable! In some cases, it allows you to resolve issues amicably without involving government agencies and unnecessary legal costs.

But even more important is the fact that the presence of “pre-trial” against the culprit of the accident will be an additional advantage for you, since judges in practice like the fact of trying to resolve the issue out of court.

The following must be attached to the pre-trial claim:

copies of all documents about the accident;
a copy of the administrative violation resolution;
expert assessment of the cost of restoring the car with a receipt and report (a copy certified by the seal of an expert organization);
checks confirming other expenses of the victim (representative, letters, telegrams).

Note! The victim has the right to include in the final amount specified in the pre-trial claim the costs of evacuation, legal services and even moral damages.

It is at this stage that we recommend seeking the help of an experienced motor vehicle lawyer.

We file a claim against the culprit without compulsory motor liability insurance

Correctly filing a claim is the key to successful conflict resolution.

The claim is filed at the defendant's registered address:

in case of declared claims in the amount of less than 50 thousand rubles - to the magistrate's court,
if the claims exceed 50,000 - to the district court.

A claim in court demanding the recovery of funds from the culprit of an accident without compulsory motor insurance must contain the following information:

details of the judicial institution;
all the circumstances of the incident,
Full names of all participants in the accident, their residential addresses;
list of requirements;
description of damage caused to vehicles.

The following must be attached to the claim:

copies of passports and application;
a copy of the accident scene inspection report (if available);
a copy of the protocol (if written out) and the resolution/ruling;
all available materials about the incident;
witness statements;
a document confirming an attempt to peacefully resolve the issue with a mail check (if sent by mail);
act of expert assessment of damage;
conclusion of a forensic medical examination, if in the accident, in addition to cars, people were also injured.

What will happen in court?

In most cases, the court satisfies the victim's claim in full. However, in some cases the amount of compensation risks being reduced due to:

conducting additional forensic examination, more precisely, its results;
the judge’s opinion that, as a result of the full satisfaction of the claim, the victim will receive unjust enrichment.

Can I claim other expenses?

Yes. During the court hearing, the plaintiff has the right to demand compensation for:

the cost of vehicle restoration without taking into account wear and tear of replaced parts;
loss of market value of the car;
moral compensation.

Unlike compensation under compulsory motor liability insurance, when a claim is made directly against the person causing harm from an accident, the expert has the right to calculate the cost of spare parts not according to the unified RSA method, but at average market prices. But in this case, the final amount is not always greater.

Is it possible to recover moral damages?

Very rare if only property damage is caused.

Compensation for moral damage is possible only if, as a result of an accident, not only cars, but also people were injured. In other situations, the victim, of course, also has the right to demand compensation for moral damage, however, based on judicial practice, he is unlikely to be able to achieve a decision in his favor.

Statement of claim

If an amicable agreement cannot be reached, the victim, without compulsory motor liability insurance, has to go to court. The victim is given three years to file a claim for compensation for damage caused in a traffic accident. After the end of this period, consideration of the case will be refused (Article 208 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation).

A claim may be brought:

The insurance company that entered into an agreement with the person responsible for the accident, in case of refusal to pay.
To the culprit of the accident to receive the difference between the actual damage and the insurance payment.
The culprit of the accident, if he does not have compulsory motor insurance.

Attention
Which court to go to depends on the amount of compensation:

up to 50 thousand rubles – global;
over 50 thousand rubles - district.

The application can be drawn up by a specialist or independently. In addition, in many regions, courts offer to fill out their own ready-made forms.

The document states:

Full name of the body to which the claim is being filed.
Details of the plaintiff and defendant (first name, patronymic, last name, address, telephone number).
Reimbursement amount.
Duty.
The name of the document (for example, an application for recovery of compensation for damage received as a result of an accident).
Brief description of the incident.
A complete list of what the claim price consists of.
The reason for going to court (for example, the culprit of the accident does not have compulsory motor insurance).
Request to recover costs incurred from the defendant.

If a driver is injured without compulsory motor liability insurance, relevant documents are attached to the application, including a copy of the pre-trial claim, if it was sent and remained unanswered or a refusal was received.

It is permissible to include in the cost of the claim any expenses, in the opinion of the defendant, arising from the accident that occurred, including moral damages and legal expenses. The final amount must be justified and supported by evidence.

claim for damages.

How to completely protect yourself from problems in 2021

The only option that allows you to receive compensation for damage without the need to draw up a pre-trial claim or go to court is, unfortunately, a voluntary CASCO policy, which in 2021 is very expensive for almost all – even the most inexpensive – cars.

Drivers who have a CASCO policy, if they get into an accident, the culprit of which is a motorist who is not insured under MTPL, have the right to receive full financial compensation from their insurance company and not waste energy on litigation.

Features of receiving payment

If the victim is not insured, he should be especially careful not to leave the insurer any chance of refusing to pay. It is important to consider the following nuances:

It is worth preparing for an independent examination, since the insurance company will most likely deliberately underestimate the amount of payment;
you need to immediately obtain the insurer’s details from the guilty party, since it is the victim who will have to deal with him;
it is necessary to prepare all the documents for pre-trial claims and trial, since disputes with the insurer can rarely be avoided (to do this, immediately at the scene of the accident you need to take care of obtaining a copy of the report and certificate of the car accident);
The insurance company may not only immediately refuse to pay, but also deliberately delay the response so that the application deadline expires.

On-site problem resolution

The option of resolving the issue of compensation for damage directly on the spot is acceptable if the approximate cost of repairs is not too high and the culprit does not mind paying for it. In addition, he is unlikely to want to pay a fine for not having a compulsory motor liability insurance policy, and you will waste time filling out documents and collecting the amount due from him. If both parties agree, confirm receipt of the money with a receipt.

But if the damage to the car is significant, and the driver who caused the collision does not agree with your approximate assessment of the damage, you should proceed to the stage of pre-trial resolution of the issue.

Examination of vehicle damage

Once all procedures at the scene of the accident are completed, the damaged vehicle must be shown to specialized experts to assess the injuries caused. This procedure can be performed by any institution that has passed state certification and has the right to issue opinions with legal force.

For example it could be:

Service center.
Expert Bureau.
Science Center.
State assessment institution, etc.

You need to order two reports from one of the listed institutions:

Independent examination - the cost varies between 2 thousand - 7 thousand rubles.
Loss of marketable value (if the damaged vehicle is not yet 5 years old) - the cost varies between 2 thousand - 5 thousand rubles.

Private appraisers are not authorized to conduct an examination of a vehicle and issue reports with legal force.

In order for the result of the expert assessment to have legal force, it is necessary to invite the culprit of the incident on the road by postal invitation so that he can see for himself how the examination is carried out. The telegram must be sent with notification of receipt. If the culprit does not receive it and is not present at the examination, then he can easily challenge the amount of repairs and then he will have to go through the procedure again.

Moreover, if the culprit is delayed by more than 15 minutes from the time indicated in the telegram, then they may no longer be expected. In this case, he will be to blame himself.

Victim of an accident without compulsory motor liability insurance

In the case where the victim does not have a compulsory motor liability insurance policy, things are somewhat simpler. Of course, he cannot avoid an administrative fine, but there may not be any judicial ordeals regarding compensation for damage. If the victim does not have a compulsory motor liability insurance policy, he is not deprived of the right to receive insurance compensation. But he will have to apply for it to the insurance company of the culprit. This state of affairs is due to the fact that under compulsory motor liability insurance it is not the property that is insured, but the liability of its owner to third parties for causing harm as a result of using the vehicle.

Basically, the algorithm for contacting the culprit's insurance company is similar to that when filing an application with your company for direct compensation for damage.

The victim is required to provide a similar package of documents, the damage received is also assessed, and insurance compensation must be paid within the twenty days allotted by law from the date of application. Moreover, the victim’s absence of a compulsory motor liability insurance policy does not affect its size. The absence of a compulsory motor liability insurance policy for a victim in a traffic accident also cannot serve as a basis for refusing to pay him insurance compensation. Such a refusal can be appealed in court with a fairly high prospect of a decision in favor of the plaintiff.

Important!

If the victim of an accident does not have a compulsory motor liability insurance policy, he has the right to apply for payment of insurance compensation to the company of the culprit.