What is the difference between an electronic OSAGO policy and a paper one?
First of all, the electronic policy differs from the paper one in its format. It is provided as a PDF file electronically signed by the insurer. The electronic policy contains the same data and details as the paper one. Information about it must be entered into the AIS RSA database.
You can apply for electronic MTPL on the insurance company’s website. To do this, you need to fill out an application on the official website of the insurer, upload scanned copies of the required documents and pay the cost of insurance using one of the available methods. To apply for an electronic policy, you will need standard documents - passport, PTS and STS, driver's license and diagnostic card.
The principle of operation of an electronic policy
An electronic policy is no different from a regular one; it has the same structure, format and method of filling out, both require the provision of the same data. E-OSAGO also has a seal, car insurer data, document number and series.
Main elements of the insurance policy:
- header (document name, series, number);
- term and period of car insurance;
- details of the car insurer and the car owner (two fields if these are different persons);
- information about the vehicle;
- list of approved drivers;
- amount of the insured amount, special marks;
- dates, signature, seal.
Both regular and electronic policies have the same functionality and capabilities. When an insured event occurs, the premium is paid in the same amount.
If an accident occurs, the car owner is obliged to notify his insurance company about the incident and call the police (if the issue is resolved using the European protocol, the police do not need to be called). The insurer, which has received an application for payment for an insured event, checks the car owner’s data in the RSA database. The main thing is that the insurance is available in the system and is valid at the time of the traffic accident. In this case, the further work of the insurance company will be standard, and it does not matter what type of policy the participants in the accident have.
Which policy is cheaper
An electronic MTPL policy is calculated in the same way as a paper one. When registering it, all tariffs and coefficients established by law are used - territorial, KBM, age-experience, vehicle power and others. When taking out such insurance, the insurance company does not have the right to change their values or introduce its own coefficients.
The cost of an insurance policy does not depend on the method of its registration. The law does not establish discounts or surcharges when applying for electronic compulsory motor liability insurance. However, the insurer can choose a larger base rate when applying for e-MTPL. Before purchasing insurance, check the rates of the insurance company you are interested in and calculate the cost of insurance using an online calculator.
When does E-OSAGO come and start operating?
Speaking about how a cheap electronic OSAGO policy differs from a paper one, it is worth noting that E-OSAGO does not begin to operate immediately after registration. Usually it becomes valid only 48-72 hours after it has been issued. This is due to the fact that car owners who drive without a issued policy do not have the opportunity to promptly obtain a document immediately after getting into an accident. In other words, if the driver caused an accident, he will not be able to apply for a cheap E-OSAGO on the spot from a smartphone or tablet (more precisely, the registration process will be possible, but the document will be invalid within a few days).
Related article: Who are the policyholder and the owner of the car in MTPL and what rights do they have?
E-OSAGO is sent to the email address specified on the insurer’s website immediately after registration. You need to wait no more than 5-10 minutes.
What should be indicated in E-OSAGO
The electronic MTPL policy is issued on the XXX series form (for paper policies, the KKK and MMM forms are used). The color of the document is usually orange-pink, like the paper version. Unlike a paper policy, an electronic policy does not contain a QR code for document verification.
The electronic policy contains the same data as the paper one:
- Insurance premium amount
- Validity and periods of use
- Information about the policyholder
- Information about the vehicle and its owner
- Information about drivers and their number
- Information about the amount of insurance premium
- Information about insured events
- Date of conclusion of the contract
The document also contains a note that the policy is electronic and that it is certified by the insurer’s electronic signature.
Appearance of e-OSAGO
Since electronic OSAGO is the same as printed one, just in a different form, there is one main difference - the absence of security measures on the form itself, because there is no point in forging it.
An ordinary e-policy form should not have degrees of protection, because All information is checked through the database. Therefore, only the database itself needs to be protected from fraudsters, and this is an IT task.
Apart from protective measures, there are practically no differences. It has the same pink color, but this is not always noticeable when printed, because... many do this on b/w printers, and have the right to do so.
You can print a document right at home or at work, either in color or in black and white. This will not prevent the inspector from checking the data.
Keep in mind that drivers are legally required to carry a paper document (printout) confirming registration. Some people think that the b/w document is not serious, but this is not at all the case.
How to distinguish a fake policy
When purchasing e-OSAGO, there is a chance to purchase a fake policy. Such a document will not be able to protect your liability in insurance cases, and if you present it, you risk receiving not only a fine, but also punishment for forgery of documents.
You can distinguish a fake MTPL policy both before and after the purchase. First, pay attention to its price - if insurance is noticeably cheaper than in other insurance companies, this may raise suspicions. Pay attention to the website where you buy the policy - it will differ from the official website of the insurance company. Study the form and compare it with the sample from your chosen insurer - the design and details may differ.
After purchase, check for an electronic signature certificate - you can use it to verify the authenticity of the document. Some insurers send them along with the policy. Also, after purchasing a fake, you will not receive confirmation from RSA. When you try to find a fake policy in the official database, you will receive an error or a message about an expired document.
Do I need to print out and certify the electronic policy?
After registration of E-MTPL, information about this is immediately transferred to the AIS RSA, so the car owner is already insured, even if he has not printed a copy of the policy.
At the same time, the traffic police recommends printing out an electronic MTPL policy so that there are no difficulties when communicating with employees (not all of them have the technical ability to check on the spot whether a particular driver has a policy). But this is only a recommendation, not an obligation. There is no need to certify a printed paper copy of the cheap E-OSAGO.
How to present an electronic traffic police policy
The electronic MTPL policy can be saved to any smartphone or tablet with an installed application for viewing PDF files. Now, if a traffic police officer asks you to show your policy, open the document on your device. The inspector will be able to check the authenticity of the document using the internal database - for this, traffic police officers are issued working tablets with Internet access.
However, many inspectors still do not trust electronic documents and may not recognize them. Problems may also arise in remote regions with unstable or non-existent Internet. For these cases, you can print out an electronic policy and take it with you. There is no need to have the printout certified by the insurer - it is enough that it is legible and contains all the required data.
However, inspectors often continue to issue fines when attempting to present an electronic policy. Such fines are unlawful: you have the right to appeal them in court. It will be necessary to confirm the authenticity of the policy with information from the RSA.
Electronic MTPL VS paper MTPL.
Of course, the most important news of this year is that the electronic MTPL policy does not need to be printed after registration. And if previously most motorists were embarrassed by the uncertainty in the dialogue with the traffic police inspector when they were required to present a document, now there is no reason left to refuse the electronic version of OSAGO. You can take out a policy at home, without leaving the sofa or taking off your favorite slippers. Without unnecessary contacts and loss of time. However, how to determine the authenticity of the policy? What should an electronic MTPL look like? And how do you know that you have formatted it correctly? We will talk about this in this article.
What does an electronic OSAGO policy look like?
One of the most popular questions. And the answer to it is very simple - electronic MTPL looks the same as its paper version. The policy form has the same color, document name, series, number and field for personal data. The only difference is the absence of a hologram in the upper right corner.
The document form must contain the series and policy number. Without this data, the policy will not be valid. But the correct execution of a document does not guarantee its authenticity. How then can you check the policy after it is issued?
How to check the authenticity of an electronic policy?
There is only one reliable way to determine that you have a valid policy. On the website of the Russian Union of Insurers, in the “OSAGO” section, you can check the authenticity of the policy by its number. The system should provide information that the document is in the possession of the policyholder. If, after checking, the system determines that the MTPL policy with the same number is held by the insurance company, then your insurance definitely does not have legal force.
Today, the number of fake policies has decreased significantly. Even 5 years ago, after increasing tariffs for compulsory motor liability insurance, the number of counterfeit documents, according to official data, was more than 1 million. Despite the fact that the design of the policy form has changed and additional security elements have appeared, unfortunately, there are still a lot of counterfeits on the market. Common sense and your attentiveness will help you save yourself from scammers.
Advice - do not use dubious sites, do not apply for a policy after suspicious phone calls from an insurance company representative, are still relevant.
Do I need to print an electronic MTPL?
So, at the very beginning of the article, we determined that the law does not require that electronic compulsory motor liability insurance be presented to a law enforcement representative in printed form. Until January 2, 2021, the electronic policy had to be printed, since traffic police officers required a printed version when checking documents.
But even though the situation has changed, it has become possible to present an electronic insurance policy on a tablet or phone, we still recommend printing the document and taking it with you. Why?
So far, the electronic database where information about each insured person is stored periodically fails. And it makes no sense to talk about the unstable operation of the mobile Internet, and the phone or tablet may simply run out of power, break, etc. For complete confidence in the timely presentation of the insurance document to the traffic police officer, we still recommend having an MTPL policy in printed form. Therefore, it would be better to always carry one copy with you in the glove compartment of your car.
By the way, you can print the policy on a black and white printer. The color of the document does not matter. The main thing is that the data is clearly readable, including the series and policy number.
How do traffic police officers check your insurance policy?
Each issued policy falls into a single database. In fact, this is a joint electronic database of the traffic police and insurance companies. A police officer only needs to know the policy number, registration plate and VIN of the car. The policy data is also checked against the passport data and the driver’s license.
How to apply for e-MTPL?
You can apply for an e-MTPL policy on the insurance company’s website. Elementary? No, it's not that simple. First, the insurance company must have a license to issue electronic policies, issued by the relevant authority. Insurance companies post all licenses to provide services on their official websites.
Secondly, if you analyze the offer of each company, you can spend an hour, a day, or even a week. This is where we come to the rescue. Polis.online! Our process of analyzing proposals from insurance companies is fully automated, and all insurance companies have already been checked for the legality of their activities.
By the way, according to our analysis, on average our client spends no more than 15-20 minutes choosing an offer and applying for a policy. After all, the process is simple and clear: enter the car data, receive a quote, select the one that suits you, fill out the data, pay for the policy, and receive an electronic MTPL to your email.
It is important to remember that the electronic policy begins to operate only 48-72 hours after registration. This is done to ensure that a driver involved in an accident does not apply for insurance retroactively.
What is the difference between an electronic and a regular OSAGO policy?
The electronic policy should be no different from the policy that you issued offline. As you already understood at the very beginning, visually the electronic policy is identical to its paper counterpart and has the same legal force.
Is the electronic OSAGO policy cheaper?
A myth that exists among car enthusiasts
. The cost of the policy you purchased online cannot be cheaper than a paper policy. The price of compulsory motor insurance depends on: the power of the car, the region of registration of the car, the accident-free period, the age and length of service of the driver, as well as the number of drivers included in the insurance. Here the standards have remained unchanged. Good luck!
Apply for insurance online. It's simple and convenient. And be careful on the road! Your Polis.Online
Question answer
Why can’t I apply for e-MTPL when buying a new car?
Information about the new car is not yet in the RSA database, so it will not be possible to issue an electronic policy for it. You can buy the first MTPL policy for your car only at the office of the insurance company.
What to do if the electronic policy was not found in the database?
If insurance is not detected, then most likely you bought a fake policy or the data was entered into the PCA with an error. In the second case, you need to contact the insurer and find out the reason. If the data is entered incorrectly, make corrections. If the insurance company does not have a license, you will have to purchase a new MTPL from a trusted insurance company. You can also tell your insurance company about a scammer who is selling fake policies.
Can an electronic policy be purchased from any company or only from the one where the paper one was already purchased?
You can buy insurance online both for the first time in the company and for subsequent requests. The main thing is that the insurer has an appropriate license.
How can I get a motor vehicle license?
By law, insurance companies are required to provide Russian car owners with the opportunity to issue electronic MTPL policies online via the Internet.
Important! In 99% of cases, all these problems are artificial - insurers specifically integrate them into their services so that car owners cannot apply for E-MTPL. This is due to the fact that compulsory motor liability insurance for insurance companies is an unprofitable line of business, and they cannot refuse it - the state has obliged insurers to issue such policies on a mandatory basis.
To purchase cheap E-OSAGO online, you need the following:
- Russian passport of the owner of the car and the person who insures the car (in situations where these are different persons);
- PTS, STS;
- driver's license of each person who is enrolled in the policy;
- diagnostic card (passed technical inspection), if the car is more than 3 years old.
Article on the topic: Features of registration of compulsory motor liability insurance for a car, rules and procedure for obtaining a policy
To purchase an electronic compulsory motor liability insurance policy, it is necessary that information about the car owner and his car be in the RSA (Union of Automobile Insurers) database. In other words, in order to issue an E-OSAGO, it is required that all information about the driver and the car has already been previously entered into this database (that is, everything will work out if the car owner has already insured his car and bought a paper policy).
For example, if the car owner has changed the registration address or the car’s registration certificate has changed, then it will not be possible to buy insurance online. The exception is those cases when drivers independently and in advance notified the Russian Union of Auto Insurers about the changes. But only a small part of car owners resort to this practice.
To enroll another driver in the MTPL electronic policy, you need to contact the insurance company’s office or do everything again via the Internet. It should be taken into account that not all insurers provide the ability to update data in E-OSAGO online. This can be clarified through the company's hotline.
If such an opportunity is provided, then you need to go to the insurer’s website, go to the electronic policies section, click on the “Make changes” button (or something similar), then enter the details of the new driver and make payment. Confirmation of changes made should be sent by email.
