Independent examination of a car after an accident - how to choose, where to do it, cost and timing

Why is an independent examination needed?

As we have already indicated above, to assess the cost of material damage caused to the vehicle. But not just estimates, but calculations. Moreover, it can be initiated not only by the car owner himself, but also by the insurance company.

According to the law, the MTPL insurance company, in order to determine how much needs to be reimbursed in the form of payment or repairs, can carry out 2 procedures on the car:

simple damage assessment,
more complex independent technical expertise.

Essentially, these 2 procedures differ little in the order in which they are carried out. But they have the same goal - to obtain a calculation and the final amount for reimbursement. The independent one is carried out according to the Unified Calculation Methodology approved by law.

Despite the fact that the examination from the insurance company is called independent, including by law (Federal Law on Compulsory Motor Liability Insurance), it is essentially not such, since it is carried out at the initiative and choice of the insurance company, although it is carried out by a third-party organization.

And a separate examination initiated by you will be required to oppose the insurance settlement - in court or in pre-trial proceedings. So, the court will not accept your claim for insufficient payment at all if you do not support it with a calculation.

How to choose the right expert or organization to assess damage

Are you looking for an honest independent auto examination? I’ll give you a few tips that I always offer to my clients:

be careful when contacting a company or private expert who cooperates with insurers (this information can be easily found on the Internet);
check that the expert organization has specialists and the necessary equipment on its staff, and does not exist “on paper” and represented by one manager;
The greater the experience and business reputation of the experts, the less the chance of encountering errors and bias.

Please note that the expert company has a network of branches that can issue an opinion without sending documents to the head office. I often see contracts that require an independent examination of a car with a guarantee. In this case, it is meant that experts are ready to appear in court, justify and confirm their conclusions. Although this does not always give a 100% positive result, it is better to get support from experts from an expert organization in advance.

There are also a number of mandatory requirements for expert organizations and specialists that need to be checked before signing the contract. An independent examination of a car can only be carried out by organizations that are members of a specialized SRO. This point can be studied using the documents of the company you have chosen, through the federal registers of SROs.

The organization may also have certificates for the services provided. They are issued after verification according to GOST standards or independent certification systems, i.e. You will receive certain quality guarantees. Serious expert organizations will always show letters of recommendation from previous clients. Whether you trust such documents or be skeptical about them is up to you to decide.

Do I need to seek an independent examination?

A real independent expert assessment is one that can be provided by the policyholder, that is, you. In this case, the expert calculates the damage impartially and without forgetting to calculate anything.

Many car enthusiasts believe that it is necessary to apply for such an examination immediately after the assessment by the insurance company - especially if the car owner did not like the fact that the insurer’s expert, for example, did not remove body parts to look for hidden damage, or there is a suspicion that he I didn’t count everything. But this is completely impractical. Nothing prevents you from waiting for the payment so that your expectations are confirmed... Or they were refuted, and the insurance company paid enough and even more.

Thus, you can determine whether you need an independent examination at all only after you find out the amount for compensation estimated by the insurer. This can be done after the fact of payment or the issuance of a referral for repairs and approval of the work with the car service center or with an application for the provision of a settlement report.

If you have been given a referral for repairs, but the lack of money is determined by the service station employees, who ask you to pay them extra, then there is no point in conducting an independent assessment in this case. But it makes sense to demand repairs from insurance. We described this procedure in more detail in the article about referral for repairs.

Procedure for an independent examination after an accident

The legislation of the Russian Federation has provided for a clear sequence of actions that must be taken to carry out an independent expert assessment of motor vehicles damaged in an accident. Below we will consider in detail the complete procedure and all the nuances associated with this procedure.

When to do it?

It is most rational to order an independent assessment of the damage sustained by a car in an accident after the insurer has carried out an initial inspection and, based on it, has calculated the amount of insurance compensation. If a payment has been received and the car owner sees that it is clearly not enough to restore the vehicle, then it is better to immediately contact independent specialists for additional research.

How to apply?

The very first thing you need to do is decide on a suitable expert institution. It must have a valid specialized license giving the right to conduct this activity. Then you need to come there and contact a specific specialist. To begin with, he will simply conduct an initial inspection of the vehicle and give his opinion whether it makes sense to resort to an independent examination based on how preliminary the damage can be determined, taking into account all the injuries to the car.

If the customer decides that an independent assessment is still necessary, then a date and time are set for it. It is important that it includes not only the owner of the damaged car, but also other interested parties. For example, a representative from an insurance institution. To do this, he needs to send a registered letter to the legal address and indicate in it the date, time and place of the study.

Reference! In practice, it is rare that an insurer sends its employee for an examination.

On the agreed day, an expert technician assesses all damage to the machine and then, within a week, makes all the calculations and draws up a final conclusion.

Reference! When calculating the amount of damage, specially created programs are used: Audatex, Avtobaza, SilverDAT, PS-Complex, EUROTAX. The parameters that are entered into them are the vehicle’s VIN code and its additional options. After the program has processed the entered data, a list of all spare parts with prices and their numbers is displayed on the screen. If the car owner only took out an MTPL policy, then the price for the parts is taken from the RSA. In the case of CASCO, if the car’s warranty period has not yet expired, then the cost of spare parts is found at official dealers, and if the warranty is not valid, then the average market price is calculated.

The expert’s conclusion must necessarily contain:

The exact date when the paper was drawn up and its number.
The full name of the institution, its location and legal address, as well as its organizational form. If the role of an expert is an individual entrepreneur, then he must indicate his full name, when he was born, where he currently lives and when exactly he was registered as an individual entrepreneur (the certificate number is also included).
The reason why the customer decided to also carry out an independent examination.
Customer's personal data.
List of objects received for research (vehicle data, its mileage, date of start of operation, etc.).
Information about the MTPL policies of both participants in the accident.
Examination methods, GOST standards and description of the software used.
Detailed description of the examination performed.
The price of this service.
Signature of the expert technician and signature and seal of the director of the independent institution.

After this, a pre-trial demand is sent to the insurer's office. In it, in your own words, it is necessary to write that the previously issued amount was not enough for restoration and therefore it was necessary to resort to a re-assessment from an independent organization, after which the amount of material compensation was calculated to be greater, and to demand the provision of an additional part of the funds, as well as to pay extra for the expenses incurred for sending a telegram and paying for the examination service itself. There you also need to write within how many days or weeks the additional payment must be made (usually a maximum of 20 days) and the method of receiving it.

If after the expiration of the specified deadlines and the next three banking days no payment has been received, then you will have to file a statement of claim in court along with duplicates of the examination papers.

How does an independent examination take place step by step?

The entire process of carrying out an independent assessment of motor vehicle injuries involves the following sequential steps:

Documentation is submitted to the insurance institution to receive money for car repairs.
The car is provided to a specialist from the insurer for inspection and if, after his decision, he is not satisfied with the amount of damage, then a request is sent for an independent assessment.
An independent organization is selected.
A contract is concluded with her.
The cost of the service is paid.
The date, time and place of the vehicle inspection are agreed upon (most often, the place for the vehicle assessment is a workshop or a special service).
A telegram is generated - an invitation for interested parties (this could be the culprit of the accident or the insurance company itself).
Interested parties arrive at the agreed time for the examination.
The expert creates a report in the form prescribed by law and photographs or films all detected injuries.
The expert prepares an estimate taking into account market prices for materials and parts that need to be replaced.
The customer picks up the completed report and signs the document acceptance certificate.
The issued conclusion is transferred to the insurance institution.
An additional payment to the previously paid insurance compensation is transferred if the provided repeated conclusion on damage assessment is recognized as valid.

Actions after the examination

After the expert technician has provided a completed report, the car owner needs to contact the insurer’s office where the policy was purchased and write a pre-trial claim, which serves as a requirement to pay the missing amount to repair the vehicle. It is important not to lose the paper on which the insurer's office worker established the date when it was registered and the incoming number.

Reference! If the policyholder does not have the opportunity to bring the claim to the office, then he can send it by registered mail with notification.

Within the next 5 working days, employees of the insurance institution must either pay the missing amount of damage or provide a refusal in writing. The federal law “On Osago” states that you can go to court in the following situations:

The insurer responded to the pre-trial claim with a refusal.
After 5 working days after sending the claim, the policyholder was not provided with either a refusal or insurance compensation.

The following points must be indicated in the legal claim:

Date of contact with the insurer, amount of damage and payment case number.
The date when the independent examination was carried out and the full name of the company that carried it out.
Your dissatisfaction with the amount of compensation provided by the insurer.
The requirement to pay the difference between the actual amount of damage determined by the examination and the compensation received from the insurer.
Please compensate the cost of the services of an independent expert and a lawyer.

This claim must be accompanied by a report provided by an expert technician.

When to do it?

As we have already indicated above, it is rational to conduct an independent assessment of the damage after you know the amount of damage. This can be done immediately after receiving an insufficient payment.

To make it easier for you to understand exactly how the examination is carried out, we suggest comparing the insurance payment procedure with further repairs of the car using this money and challenging the payment when the amount is not enough to completely restore the car.

So, if the usual payment procedure looks like this:

insured event - road accident,
the victim's appeal to the insurance company,
inspection of the vehicle and calculation of the amount of compensation,
payment or referral for repairs,
restoration of the vehicle by the victim or service from the insurance company in case of referral for repairs.

The correct order, when an independent examination is required, will look like this:

insured event - road accident,
the victim's appeal to the insurance company,
inspection of the vehicle and calculation of the amount of compensation,
payment or referral for repairs, while the victim finds out that the amount paid is not enough to carry out repairs,
appointment of an independent examination initiated by the victim (search for a suitable organization and payment for services), with an invitation to a representative of the insurance company,
carrying out an examination and new calculation of the amount of damage,
pre-trial demand based on independent expert calculations,
if the insurer refuses to settle the dispute pre-trial, filing a claim in court,
winning the court, the latter issuing a writ of execution, according to which the insurance company is obliged to pay the awarded amount,
another payment from the insurance company in court (usually the difference between what was paid and what was assessed by an independent expert, as well as “bonuses”, which we will discuss below),
restoration of the vehicle by the victim or service from the insurance company in case of referral for repairs.

How long does it take to conduct an examination after an accident?

It is very important for both the guilty party of the accident and the victim to know how much time it takes to carry out the procedure along with drawing up a report. This point in Russia is regulated at the legislative level.

If the person at fault for the accident has a valid MTPL insurance policy, and the victim has collected all the documents necessary to assess the damage and sent them to the insurer, then this procedure will last no more than 5 working days. If the insurance agent deliberately delays the deadline, then this will have a negative impact on the study itself.

The owner of the damaged car can personally turn to an independent expert for help. But in this case, when he receives an official report after completing the study, he must independently submit it to the insurance institution where he purchased the policy in order to receive money for vehicle repairs.

Persons living within the same city must be notified three days before the independent assessment is carried out. If they are from other regions, then they must be notified six days in advance. It is important to note that the day on which the letter is sent and the examination is carried out is not taken into account.

The received report must be sent to all interested parties no later than 10-12 days after its receipt.

What is the price?

The cost of such an examination varies depending on a number of factors:

degree of damage to the car,
the need to assess the commodity value,
region of circulation.

On average, an independent assessment in Moscow and St. Petersburg costs between 8-20 thousand rubles, depending on the above factors. In the regions, the price can range from 5 to 15 thousand rubles.

The main thing to understand is that the amount paid for this is reimbursed if the court wins or is claimed from the insurer in a pre-trial manner.

Loss of marketable value (LCV) is carried out for the purpose of additional payment for the fact that when selling a car after an accident, it loses a little in value. Compensation for TTS is, according to independent firms, on average 7-11% of the total amount of calculated damage.

Types of examinations carried out after an accident

Depending on the circumstances of the traffic accident, as well as the questions that need to be answered, several types of automotive technical examinations are performed. They can be carried out either individually or in combination.

Traceological

When conducting a trace study, independent experts must establish the speed and trajectory of vehicles at the time of the accident. To do this, they analyze vehicle braking distances, road conditions and other parameters that allow them to reconstruct the picture of the incident. It is mandatory to take photographs and videos of the scene of the accident, examine all items and objects that have any relation to the accident, and draw up road accident diagrams.

A trace study of the circumstances of an accident is carried out to identify the culprit of the incident and the circumstances that caused the collision. It also establishes whether the driver who caused the collision had the opportunity to notice the danger in a timely manner and take measures to completely stop the vehicle.

You can find out more detailed information in the article on traceological examination.

Autotechnical

A technical examination of a vehicle is aimed at establishing the technical condition of the vehicle before an accident. She must answer questions about how the car behaved before the collision and whether any of its malfunctions could have caused the accident.

Read more about automotive technical expertise.

Forensic examination after an accident

If there are injuries or deaths as a result of a car collision, a forensic medical examination is carried out at the request of the investigative and judicial authorities. Its task is to determine the severity of the injuries, their consequences, and also to establish the degree of guilt of the defendant. The results of the forensic medical examination directly determine the punishment imposed by the court and the amount of compensation for harm caused to health or loss of close relatives.

Judicial

If, during the consideration of the case, the judge decides that the facts presented are not sufficient to establish the degree of guilt of the defendant or to determine the extent of property damage, he may order a forensic examination and draw up a list of questions to which technical specialists are required to answer. If necessary, the expert who conducted the research may be summoned to a court hearing to give oral answers to questions raised by the judge, prosecutor or lawyer.

Estimated

An appraisal (vehicle inspection) examination of a car or motorcycle is carried out with one purpose - to establish the exact extent of property damage and determine the price of repair work, which includes the cost of spare parts and services of service station employees. Identifying the causes of the accident, as well as its culprits or circumstances, is not part of the tasks of the assessment examination.

How to apply?

First you need to find a suitable expert organization. She must have the appropriate license to carry out such activities.
Next, you contact the selected organization, where a competent expert will first simply look at the car and say, even before payment, whether it is worth or not to do an independent examination based on how much damage to the car can be calculated according to a preliminary assessment, taking into account the damage to the car.
The next step will be to set a date and time for the examination. You will need to invite a representative of the insurer to attend. To do this, it would be correct to send a telegram to the legal address of the insurance company indicating the place, date and time of the event. Insurance companies rarely send their representatives for examinations, but sometimes they are present.
During rush hour, the expert inspects your car, and then it will take him about a week (maybe less) to draw up documents with calculations. You will need to obtain these documents and another duplicate of them.
Now it is necessary to send a pre-trial demand to the insurer, where in your own words indicate all the circumstances of the situation: that the payment was made to you, it turned out to be insufficient, and therefore an independent examination was initiated, which counted so much, to demand compensation for the missing amount of money, as well as expenses for telegram and the cost of the examination, indicate a reasonable period (10-20 days) for payment and write your bank details or desire to receive in cash. The pre-trial request must be accompanied by the original payment documents, a cash receipt for the examination and a receipt for payment for the telegram.
After this period plus 3 banking days, if the required amount has not been credited to the account, you should file a claim in court, where you must attach a duplicate of the examination documents. In this case, it is best to contact an auto lawyer, verified by reviews or by your acquaintances/friends/relatives, since this case is already a little more complicated than a pre-trial claim, and you will also be reimbursed for the costs of a lawyer if you win the trial, the likelihood of which increases when the case is handled well and competent lawyer. However, nothing prevents you from contacting a car lawyer at the pre-trial stage.

The procedure for conducting the examination

The examination of vehicles of any type involves a number of mandatory stages, including:

Advantages of independent examination

The main advantage is the fact that it is truly independent. If in theory there is reason to believe that an expert from an insurance company is interested in calculating the minimum payment, then an independent expert is impartial (also in theory, of course).

Other advantages are provided not by the examination itself, but by the opportunity to “knock out” additional payments through the court, which include:

penalty in the form of a calculation of 1% on the day of late payment (or the difference between the amount paid and calculated by an independent expert),
a fine from the insurance company in favor of the plaintiff in the amount of 50% of the amount of damage (or the same difference) plus all other expenses, including penalties.

In judicial practice in 2021, however, judges often apply the article of the Civil Code on a reasonable reduction of both of the above amounts, down to the very minimum.

For example, if an independent expert calculated your damage at 100,000 rubles, and the insurance company paid 50,000 with a delay of 50 days, you paid 10,000 rubles for the examination, then by law you are entitled to:

50,000 rubles in the form of the missing amount of damage to be paid,
25,000 rubles in the form of a penalty (1% per day of the amount of damage multiplied by 50 days of delay),
10,000 rubles towards reimbursement of examination costs,
a fine of 42,500 rubles (50% of all the above amounts).

In practice, the judge, at his discretion, can reduce the amount of the penalty and fine to 10,000 rubles each and even less.

How much does an independent auto examination cost after an accident?

I am always suspicious of advertising offers such as “the cost of an independent auto examination is from 1,500 rubles.” For such an amount, the expert will probably limit himself to a superficial inspection, or even write down his conclusions from the customer’s words. Also, the real price for expert research may be many times higher, i.e. will have nothing to do with the advertising slogan.

How much does an independent auto examination after an accident cost in practice? It depends on the region and locality, the presence or absence of other experts in the accessibility area. Tariffs for independent examinations are determined at market prices. I recommend studying the price lists in advance and calling several expert organizations. The difference in cost can be up to 30% for the same amount of research.

Kinds

An independent examination of a car after an accident is a procedure for a professional assessment of physical damage caused to a car during an accident. It is designed to identify the exact amount of damage in monetary terms, in accordance with the requirements of Russian legislation and the Regulations on OSAGO (compulsory motor vehicle insurance). The appraiser's report serves as an official document for legal proceedings. If the insurer and the insured presented expert reports on the car after an accident with significant differences in the monetary value, the court is obliged to carry out its own forensic examination.

Assessments are not only carried out in cases of accidents involving other persons. It is also important when assessing the consequences for vehicles of natural disasters, in case of intentional or accidental damage caused by other persons not during traffic (a heavy object falling onto a car from a balcony). Natural disasters are often considered insurance events, and determination of harm from the actions of others is required in court in order to award compensation.

One of the advantages of CASCO insurance is the fact that the car owner does not need to carry out an examination of the damage. If your housemate breaks your glass, the insurance company will take the damage from him and will immediately pay you the money.

But the lion's share of all independent examinations of a car after an accident consists of cases of cars getting into accidents. What types of auto examinations exist?

Automotive: examines the scene of the accident, the vehicle itself and analyzes protocols related to the accident. It recreates the mechanism of an accident and its conditions, analyzes the condition of the vehicle.
Traceological transport examination examines traces of collisions and imprints of vehicles, the conditions of their formation. This helps to accurately determine the location of the accident and the location of its participants, the sequence of collisions.
Automotive merchandising: carried out by auto merchandising experts and determines the market value of the car. Such an examination takes into account wear and tear of the car due to storage, operation and mileage. Automotive product specialists calculate the cost of replacing parts and assemblies and determine the current cost of the vehicle, taking into account shortcomings and defects.
A comprehensive examination uses various assessment methods and often serves to answer questions in court when other types of examinations cannot do this due to their narrow specialization.