How many days after an accident can the person responsible for the accident have their car repaired?

What can and cannot be done immediately after an accident in 2021?

So, the first actions in the event of a traffic accident are quite clearly regulated, although they contain some unexpected requirements (you will soon learn about them):

first of all, paragraph 2.5 of the traffic rules requires you to stop, turn on the hazard lights and put up an emergency sign,
then it depends on the situation - if there are no victims, you need to decide: either call the traffic police, or draw up a European protocol, or leave altogether, if a number of conditions are met,
if damage is caused to more than just property, then there is only one option left - call the police,
Then you will be told to either come to the nearest traffic police department or post for registration, or the employees will come themselves.

There are a number of other conditions if there are victims of an accident, as well as individual requirements listed in paragraphs 2.5-2.6.1 of the Rules. We strongly recommend that you study them carefully, even for repetition.

In order to be able to fill out a European protocol without calling the traffic police, there are separate conditions listed in Article 11.1 of the Law on Compulsory Motor Liability Insurance. But pay attention to paragraph 2.6.1 of the traffic rules. It states that you have the right not to file an accident after an accident, but not at all on the condition that you have no claims against each other, but also if the same conditions for drawing up a European protocol are met: no disagreements, damage was caused only to property, There are only two people involved in the accident, and both have valid insurance policies.

Below we will touch on this subtlety of legislation more than once. In the meantime, let's talk about individual actions - what can and cannot be done immediately after an accident.

Don't stop if it's dangerous

There is some contradiction here within the traffic rules:

Place another object instead of an emergency sign

It is rational, in order to warn other drivers about a parked damaged car, in the absence of a warning triangle, to display any other object: a canister, a bottle of water, whatever. But, unfortunately, it is illegal.

Clause 2.5 clearly states that you are required to put up an emergency sign, and clause 7.7 of the List of Faults obliges you to always carry it with you.

For this violation, a fine of 1,000 rubles is provided under Part 1 of Article 12.27 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation.

Remove car

Returning to 2.5-2.6.1 of the traffic rules, please note that this is the responsibility of the participants in the accident. But you can remove the car only after photographing all the circumstances of the accident, and if there are victims, including after calling the traffic police, providing first aid and sending them in a passing car to the hospital, if necessary.

Please note that if your car creates an obstacle on the road, but you have not fulfilled the obligation to remove it after stopping, this may also result in a fine of 1,000 rubles under Part 1 of Article 12.27 of the Administrative Code.

Start a car

And this is no longer prohibited. Of course, you can warm up (or, conversely, cool down) in a running car or simply start it without objective reasons.

However, there is a nuance here too. If the accident occurred in a yard or residential area, then parking with the engine running in such places is prohibited by clause 17.2 of the Rules. True, in this case you are certainly unlikely to be fined.

Is it possible to drive away from the scene of the accident?

This issue is also very controversial. Many motorists know that for leaving the scene of an accident you can lose your license - such a punishment is provided for in Part 2 of Article 12.27 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation. So, the line between such concealment and excommunication is very thin.

The fact is that, according to judicial practice in 2021, deprivation of rights for 1-1.5 years goes against the deliberate goal of fleeing the scene of an accident in order to avoid liability. For example, for victims who are not guilty of an incident, such punishment is rarely used.

However, even if you decide to go, for example, to a nearby store for some water or cigarettes and then immediately return to the scene of the incident, we strongly do not recommend doing this. It is also extremely undesirable to go somewhere on foot, even leaving your car where you are (for example, going home to eat while waiting for the traffic police inspectors to arrive).

At the same time, if you simply decided to remove the car from the road, even contrary to the requirements of the traffic rules (you did not photograph the circumstances of the accident before or your car did not create interference), then in this case the article with deprivation of rights should also not apply, since you did not left the scene of the accident. Here only part 1 of the same article should be legally applied with a fine of 1 thousand rubles.

Drink

The use of alcoholic beverages and drugs is strictly and expressly prohibited by the Rules during the period immediately after an accident and before the arrival of traffic police officers (or before your arrival at the department for registration). This is dictated by paragraph 2.7 of the traffic rules.

But in practice, there were cases when an incident was registered, for example, by filling out a European protocol during the day, but in the evening of the same day, traffic police officers came to the participant and examined him for intoxication, and then deprived him of his rights. These are rare and exceptional cases, and also illegal, of course. However, they exist in 2021.

Put another driver behind the wheel

Is it possible to substitute another driver in your place if, for example, you do not have a driving license, are not included in the MTPL insurance, are drunk, or for other reasons? According to the law, of course, the causer of such damage must, of course, be held accountable for damage caused in civil and administrative (and sometimes criminal) fields.

However, if the second participant is not against this situation, there are no witnesses who are willing to confirm that another person was driving during the accident, then in fact nothing prevents a dummy from taking the blame. The traffic police have no way of knowing who was actually driving the car at the time of the collision.

Take the victim to the hospital

Let's return to the above-mentioned main three points of traffic rules - more precisely, to one of them. In our case, 2.6 not only allows, but also obliges us to take victims to a medical facility, but under certain conditions. In descending order of priority, you must complete the following steps:

call an ambulance immediately after the accident, as soon as you know about the harm to people’s health and the need for medical assistance,
if necessary, you need to first of all not take the victim to the hospital in your car, but send him on a passing one,
and only if it is impossible to fulfill point 2 (for example, you are standing on an empty road), then you are obliged to take the injured person in your own car, but then be sure to return to the scene of the accident.

Well, in all 3 cases, before this you must fulfill the requirements of paragraph 2.5 of the Rules: stop (otherwise, how will you find out if there are victims), turn on the emergency lights and put up an emergency sign, call the police and report the incident.

What after 15 days?

The most important rule in this article is that many motorists believe that after 15 days all their responsibilities for this accident are over. This is wrong!

Even after 15 days, the obligation remains to show the car to the insurer at the latter’s request within 5 days after receiving such a request. This may be an already repaired car, but there is an obligation to provide it for inspection. Otherwise, the same regression.

This norm is indicated in the same paragraph 3 of Article 11.1 of the Federal Law quite clearly:

3. In case of registration of documents about a road traffic accident without the participation of authorized police officers, the owners of vehicles involved in the road traffic accident, at the request of the insurers specified in paragraph 2 of this article, are obliged to present the specified vehicles for inspection and ( or) an independent technical examination within five working days from the date of receipt of such a requirement.

Please note that not only your insurance (if you are the culprit of the accident), but also the victim’s insurance can demand that the vehicle be inspected, and this requirement is legal.

Is it possible to separate and leave the scene of an accident without consequences?

As we already wrote above, clause 2.6.1 (paragraph 2) allows you to leave the scene of the incident and not report it anywhere or to anyone. But only if the following conditions are met:

as a result of an accident, damage was caused only to cars, and there are 2 of them - no more and no less,
the circumstances of the incident do not give rise to controversy,
both have valid MTPL policies.

In general, 2.6.1 was probably written in such a way that participants fill out a Euro protocol before driving away after an accident. However, literally this point was described only in the form of criteria for drawing up a European protocol as conditions for leaving the scene of an incident - that is, it is not necessary to fill out a notice.

If I am a victim and just don’t want to wait, is it possible to leave the accident?

Of course, it is not for nothing that one of the criteria was mentioned above - the absence of disagreements regarding the circumstances of the accident. If the second participant wants to call the police, then you should not leave either. Moreover, now you think that it was not your fault that you got into an accident. However, inspectors may decide otherwise. And then it is no longer possible to avoid deprivation of rights for a long period.

If there are victims

In all cases, if after an accident there is harm to people’s health, you should call the traffic police and follow their instructions. Clause 2.6 precisely contains the requirements in the presence of victims, and it clearly states this obligation.

It also happens that you got into an accident and decided to separate from the second participant, deciding that he was at fault, and you have no claims against him, or if he compensated you for the harm caused on the spot. But he returned to the scene and called the police. As a result, the original culprit presented the circumstances in a light favorable to himself, and... you already become the culprit. And, since you left the scene of the accident, you will face deprivation of your license. The best “cure” for such auto frame-ups is a receipt indicating all the data: the date and time of the accident, damage, the culprit, fulfillment of the conditions for drawing up a European protocol, the absence of claims from each of the parties and compensation for damage by one of the participants to the other, indicating the amount.

Nuances of the independent examination procedure

The independent examination procedure takes from 3 to 5 working days.
When the car has received serious damage and hidden defects, the examination may take up to 7 working days. Next, the car owner prepares and submits a pre-trial claim to the insurance company and waits 10 days for a response. After this, he files a claim in court.

Many auto lawyers advise starting to repair the car after receiving the results of an independent examination.

When performing repair work, you need to carefully collect: receipts, calculations, contracts, etc. Then, during the trial, it will be possible to present not only an independent expert report, but also documentary evidence of the cost of restorative repairs of the damaged car.

Some lawyers specializing in such cases recommend not to begin repairing a car severely damaged as a result of an accident until the court decision comes into force. If a forensic examination is ordered, you will be able to provide not only documents, but also the vehicle itself. Of course, the decision is always up to the car owner!

What happens if you file an accident report after an accident?

If for one reason or another you were unable to register the accident immediately (and this can happen for completely different reasons), then nothing prohibits, if all participants agree, to register the accident later: after a few hours, the next day, after a few days, a week, etc. etc. The main thing is not to exceed this deadline, so that the insurance company does not refuse for the reason that the damage was clearly received earlier than the date of the incident.

But it won’t be possible to register an accident retroactively if you call the traffic police. In the case of the European protocol, nothing prevents such fraud from being carried out.

Important note!

This article describes the basic principles of how legislation works. Meanwhile, in judicial practice everything depends on specific circumstances.
In 96% of all cases there are subtleties that can affect the outcome of the entire case.
Therefore, we recommend entrusting the matter to professionals who will study your business and select the right winning strategy.

The TonkostiDTP website employs professional road accident lawyers with experience in all major types of disputes (MTPL, guilt, administrative penalties).

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What should a car owner do after an accident?

Guided by Article 12 of the Law “On Compulsory Motor Liability Insurance”, a car owner whose car was damaged as a result of a traffic accident must contact the insurance company no later than 15 working days from the date of the insured event. Otherwise, the driver of a car involved in an accident may be legally denied insurance benefits.

Prices for body parts.

Along with the application, the policyholder must attach the following documents:

certificate of accident;
passport;
driver's license;
a valid MTPL policy;
notification of an accident;
car registration certificate;
technical passport of the vehicle;
bank account number to which the insurer will transfer the compensation payment.

In the event that the accident was registered according to a simplified scheme (registration of the Euro Protocol as agreed by the parties to the accident), then this document is delivered to the insurance company within five days, excluding holidays and weekends.

Along with the European Protocol, the motorist must provide all the documents described above with the exception of a certificate of an accident, which is issued by an employee of the State Traffic Inspectorate.

If controversial issues arise between the insurer and the policyholder regarding the amount of compensation, then at the request of one of the parties (as a rule, this applies to the injured car owner), an independent examination is organized.

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Who can get insurance in case of an accident?

In 2021, insurance works in such a way that the following can receive compensation for damage caused:

the victim under compulsory motor liability insurance, if the culprit has a valid insurance policy,
the culprit if he has Casco insurance.

Of course, the culprit under compulsory motor liability insurance will not be able to receive anything, because this type of insurance provides for the risk of liability after an accident, and does not insure his own property. The exception is mutual guilt. In this case, each participant receives payment in equal shares according to the number of participants (for example, 50% of the amount of compensation if there are two participants), or according to the degree of guilt, if it was established by the court.

Is it possible to recover from the culprit and what?

The perpetrator of the harm directly compensates the damage to the victim in the following cases:

the culprit did not have compulsory motor liability insurance (in this case, it does not matter whether the victim has it) - if the culprit was simply not included in the current insurance, then there will be a payment (and then there will be recourse),
if we are talking about the difference between the actual amount of damage to the car and the insurance calculation taking into account wear and tear - alas, the Constitutional Court recently ruled that it is legal to recover the difference in wear and tear,
when we are talking about moral damage when causing damage to the health or death of victims (MTPL does not compensate for moral damage).

Is it possible to drive a car after an accident?

And again we return to the traffic rules - more precisely, now to one of its applications - the List of faults under which the car cannot be operated. You can simply read all the points and find out whether, given your particular injuries after an accident, you can drive a car.

But there is good news here - paragraph 2.3.1 of the traffic rules indicates that you can drive from the scene of the accident to the parking lot or to the repair site with defects that arose as a result of this accident. But there are exceptions here: if after an accident the headlights do not work (at least one headlight is not on or you are driving without it) or the rear lights at night, the brake or steering system, then you cannot drive in any way. Tow truck only!

Thus, there are 2 options for moving:

immediately after an accident, in order to get home or to a car service center, you have the right in case of any malfunctions, except if you are driving without headlights, tail lights in the dark, as well as with non-working brakes or steering,
You can then drive if the damage after the accident is not listed in the List of Faults.

For example, if you have the following consequences after an accident, you can drive a car:

if the bumper, fender and almost any other body parts are damaged,
if the airbags are fired (but you can’t drive with non-working seat belts),
broken glass (only if missing, moving is prohibited).

Otherwise, you may face a fine of 500 rubles under Part 1 of Article 12.5 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation.

A separate epic is happening with license plates. It is prohibited to travel without them. If you have a missing bumper or a damaged trunk lid, then it is better to attach them approximately in the place where they should be, with the part to which they are attached in place. The main thing is not to drive with a license plate under the windshield or rear window - this may result in deprivation of rights for 1-3 months or a fine of 5,000 rubles under Part 2 of Article 12.2 of the Administrative Code of the Russian Federation.

Is it possible to repair a car?

And this will depend on who you are recognized as a result of an accident: the culprit or the victim, as well as on the method of registering the accident.

If you have become an injured party as a result of an accident and are going to receive insurance compensation for the damage caused, then you cannot repair the car yourself. In this case, there are 2 possible scenarios:

in any case, you are prohibited from restoring the car after an accident and until an inspection or examination of the damaged vehicle is carried out (clause 11 of article 12 of the Federal Law on Compulsory Motor Liability Insurance),
and after assessing the car, if you have not yet figured out the form of compensation for damage, you also cannot begin repairs yet; Only after the payment has been made in money can you begin to restore the car, but if you are given a referral for repairs, then the car repair shop will repair the car for you.

Otherwise, there will be a completely legal refusal of insurance compensation under OSAGO on the basis of paragraph 20 of Article 12 of the law.

How long before the culprit is allowed to start repairing the car?

For the culprit, everything is somewhat stricter in terms of possible consequences. Although, most motorists do not fully understand how legislation works in 2021. But this applies only to the European protocol.

Here, as the culprit of the accident, you have 2 main responsibilities, already regulated by Article 11.1 of the above Federal Law:

not to repair your car for 15 calendar days, except non-working holidays, after an accident and provide it for inspection at the request of your insurance company,
after the specified 15 days, you have the right to restore the car, but you still have the obligation to show it to the insurer upon his request - even if it has already been repaired.

And the culprit for failure to fulfill one of these duties may face recourse. Clause 1 of Article 14 of the Federal Law gives such an opportunity to an insurance organization. But let us remind you that we are only talking about registering an accident using the European protocol.

According to the law, you cannot repair your car within 15 days

Under no circumstances should the person at fault for the accident repair the car earlier than 15 days from the date of the accident. Otherwise, he also faces regression. Some time after the accident, the person at fault must be notified that he must provide the car for inspection to the insurance company. This is necessary to correlate the nature of the damage with the victim’s car and calculate the amount of payments.

The inspection of the damaged vehicle can be carried out earlier than 15 days if you independently come to the victim’s insurer ahead of schedule. After the inspection, you need to request written permission from him, and only then repair your car. This interaction scheme is designed to exclude cases of fraud on the part of the insured persons.

How else is the European protocol dangerous for the culprit?

If both drivers have agreed to register an accident according to the European protocol, you can use the sample without calling the traffic police, the culprit should think a thousand times whether to resort to this method. Even if the victim assures that he will have enough of the maximum amount of payments for repairs, all the pros and cons must be weighed.

After all, if it turns out that the victim does not have enough maximum payment for repairs established by the government of the Russian Federation, he, on completely legal grounds, can demand compensation for the missing amount from the culprit. The law on compulsory motor liability insurance also provides for this scenario, so predicting what is on your opponent’s mind is a very ignoble matter.

Should the person at fault for an accident provide his car to the insurance company for inspection? I was found guilty of an accident, my car was damaged, and insurance will most likely not pay. But they demand that I present the car for inspection. Do I need to do this or can I ignore the requirement?

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Answer: Unfortunately, you did not indicate one essential detail that determines whether your car needs to be presented to insurers for inspection: you did not indicate whether a police officer was involved in the registration of the accident. If you participated, then you don’t need to show the car, but if you and the victim used the so-called Euro Protocol (you drew up a diagram of the incident yourself), then showing it is in your interests.

Let's explain what's going on here. Insurers completely trust the police officers who registered the accident and accept their reports without additional checks.

However, in 2014, the law on compulsory motor liability insurance introduced new provisions according to which drivers, subject to certain conditions, have the right to file an accident on their own, that is, without the police. This was done with one purpose - to make the work of traffic police officers easier, who are forced to file even minor accidents with minor damage.

However, insurers took advantage of the opportunity and immediately began to slow down payments for accidents registered without police officers. Moreover, as it turned out, it is easy for them to find fault with protocols prepared by consent.

They, indeed, have the right to demand that the culprit’s car be inspected. But subject to one condition:

The incident diagram was drawn up by the participants in the accident independently and, most importantly, without the participation of police officers.

This rule is contained in Art. 11.1 of the Law “On Compulsory Motor Liability Insurance”. Moreover, first in paragraph 2 of this article it is noted that participants must send notifications of road accidents to their insurers. Then in the 3rd paragraph there is a rule according to which the person responsible for the accident must, at the request of the insurer, present his car for inspection or examination . This must be completed within 5 days from the date of receipt of the request.

If this condition is not met, the insurer has the right to file a recourse claim against the culprit of the accident . In other words, after paying the entire insured amount to the victim, the insurers will sue the culprit and recover from him all the funds paid.

Results

The insurer has the right to claim your car only if:

The accident was reported without the participation of the police.
The participants drew up an agreed scheme and sent notice to their insurers.

If the culprit ignored the requirement to present the car for inspection, he will be presented with a recourse claim in court.

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Having your own car is a very good help in some life situations. Moreover, many drivers cannot imagine their life without a car.

An unexpected accident brings a lot of inconvenience to your usual way of life. Therefore, most car owners are interested in the question of when it is possible to repair a car after an accident. This is what we will try to figure out in our publication.

Is it possible or not to sell the car without restoring it?

Now let's complicate the issue. For the victim, everything remains simple here - you can sell the car, and then the right to claim restoration passes to the new owner.

For the culprit, everything is more complicated. Clause 3 of Article 11.1 of the law does not directly speak about the obligation not to sell a car. There are only 3 responsibilities:

provide the car at the insurer's request,
do not repair for 15 days,
do not dispose of residues during this time.

But there is no talk of alienating the car. And yet, it is better not to sell the car within the specified period, because the obligation to provide the car to the insurance company will in this case be unfulfilled. And then the issue of regression may be relevant.

What is the law about 15 days?

The most important obligation associated with a great risk for the person at fault when drawing up a European protocol is to properly notify his insurance company within 5 working days about the insured event. We discussed this in a separate topic.

This obligation is prescribed by the Federal Law on Compulsory Motor Liability Insurance (MTPL) - the most important priority legislative act for 2021 regulating motor vehicle liability in Russia.

And also, in particular, Article 11.1 prohibits, without the consent of the insurance company, both the victim and the culprit of the accident cannot repair their cars before inspection by the insurance company. This is the official interpretation of paragraph 3 of this article:

To ensure the possibility of inspection and (or) independent technical examination of vehicles involved in a traffic accident, in the event of registration of documents on a traffic accident without the participation of authorized police officers, the owners of the specified vehicles without the consent in writing of the insurers specified in paragraph 2 of this article, must not begin their repair or disposal until the expiration of 15 calendar days, with the exception of non-working holidays, from the date of the traffic accident.

That is, when registering an incident using the European protocol without calling the traffic police officers, it is prohibited:

repair the car within 15 days,
dispose of it (including in case of total destruction).

The countdown starts precisely from the date of the accident - not from the time the victim or culprit provided their copy to the insurance company and did not apply for compulsory motor liability insurance, but precisely from the day of the accident.

Will it be possible to withdraw the application and close the case after an accident?

No. Administrative proceedings, unlike criminal ones, do not make it possible to terminate the case by amicable agreement of the parties. This means that if the traffic police, for example, is aware that the culprit has fled from the scene of an accident, then it will not be possible to revoke the protocol against him either at the request of the victim or in any other way.

Another thing is that in practice in 2021, sometimes employees meet the needs of those involved in the accident, and the punishment can be reduced if the victims testify. But not always.

Is it possible to challenge guilt in an accident and appeal the European protocol?

Yes, sure. Here you need to understand the most important thing - traffic police officers never determine the culprits of the incident, only the court does this. The first ones only make decisions. However, in general cases, this document is sufficient to contact the insurance company for payment.

However, if you do not agree that such a decision has been made against you, you can appeal it. This is done in exactly the same way as if you were simply given a fine on the road, or even if it came to you from auto-recording cameras. On the back of the copy of the decision you received (or the ruling, depending on what exactly was written out) there are details for filing a complaint.

If you manage to cancel the decision, then the case must be sent for a new trial, where the second participant will become the culprit.

When can a car be repaired after an accident?

Most drivers after a traffic accident strive to arrange repairs for their four-wheeled “friend” as quickly as possible. However, this decision is wrong.

First of all, an assessment of the damage received and its cost is communicated to the owner of the vehicle from the insurer where the MTPL policy was purchased. With such a document, the car owner must contact repair shops.

In turn, a specialist at a service station assesses the complexity and amount of work required to return the car to the original condition it was in before the accident.

If the results of the damage assessment and the cost of repair and restoration work coincide, then you can begin restoring the car. But before repairing a car, it is necessary to obtain the consent of the party at fault in the emergency.

In the event that the person at fault for a traffic accident does not agree with the assessment of the insurance company, he must go to court and file a claim to have this case considered. This is the only way one of the participants in the precedent can defend his point of view on the road surface.

Wear calculation

How to evaluate vehicle repairs after an accident? After the car owner contacts the insurance company or an independent expert, specialists will carry out calculations and determine how much the car was damaged as a result of the traffic accident. The purpose of such manipulations is to determine the amount of costs for repair and restoration work.

Expert assessment always causes a lot of dissatisfaction, so the authorities in 2010 developed a regulatory document called “Rules for establishing the amount of costs for materials and parts for the restoration of transport vehicles.”

This regulatory document sets out the rules and procedure for determining the wear and tear of vehicle spare parts. If the car owner carefully studies the document, he will be able to calculate on his own how much money will need to be spent on restoring the car after the incident on the road surface.

Wear and tear of vehicles is a quantitative measure of physical aging under the influence of external or internal factors. Wear occurs during direct use of the vehicle and is characterized by the condition of the vehicle itself and its structural elements.

When assessing wear, experts distinguish the following types:

moral type;
physical (natural).

Any spare part of a car is subject to wear in several stages:

study of rubbing parts;
the time period when the parts are fully functioning (as a rule, this is 80-90% of the entire period of operation of the vehicle);
increased wear (accidental wear).

To calculate wear, experts use the following formula: Car body wear as a percentage = 100 * (1 – natural logarithm base – ((4 * body age) / (20 + 4 * warranty period against corrosion processes)).

To calculate tire wear, you can use the following formula: Wear = ((height of the tread pattern - the actual height of this indicator) / (height of the tread pattern - the minimum height of this indicator according to legal regulations)) * 100%.

In addition, wear will increase depending on the service life of the machine:

3-5 years – by 15%;
over 5 years – by 25%.

If we take into account the coefficients that were approved by legislative documents, we can conclude that during the year of operation of the car, its cost will decrease by 5.5%. That is, over 10 years, the depreciation of a vehicle in the domestic automobile industry will be as much as 55%.

Therefore, experts recommend giving preference to more reliable cars, which are Japanese cars.

When calculating the wear and tear of a vehicle and its component parts (when assessing damage caused as a result of a traffic accident), it is necessary to be guided by the standards of Resolution VR No. 361 of May 24, 2010.

But at the same time, it is possible to apply the prescribed provisions in reality only after the availability of documentation, a list of components for which correction factors have not been applied.

Independent examination

Any car owner can legally resort to the help of independent experts in the following cases:

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if you disagree with the examination carried out by the insurance company employees;
if it is necessary to determine the real value of the car after an accident;
to assess the damage caused by an accident in order to determine the amount that needs to be paid for restoring the car.

Steps to payment under compulsory motor liability insurance.

Experts from expert companies carry out the entire independent research procedure - from signing an agreement with the customer to handing over the finished result within three to five working days. When the vehicle has received very serious damage that suggests hidden defects, the examination can be carried out within seven working days.

Court cases

A car owner can go to court if he is not satisfied with any results of a car assessment, either from the insurer or the party at fault in the accident. It is the court that can put the finishing touches on determining the amount of insurance payments.

As a rule, when filing a claim, the car owner demands compensation, which can be used to cover:

repair and restoration work of the car after an accident, assessed as a result of an independent examination;
costs of paying for the services of an expert firm;
costs of sending postal notifications to interested parties.

What if you transfer the property so as not to compensate for the damage?

No one will forbid you to re-register your property. However, this will not save you from compensation for damage. The saddest thing that can await you in this case is that the court will recognize the alienation agreement (sale, donation, exchange, and so on - depending on how exactly you got rid of the property) as fictitious and, as a result, void. This can happen if the judge believes that you really wanted to get rid of ownership in order to avoid paying damages to victims of an accident.

In addition, even at the stage of civil court, when filing a claim, the victim can file a petition for a ban on alienation during the trial.

Is it possible to restore a total car and continue driving?

Yes. And any machinations of insurance companies in this case will be illegal. The fact is that if your car is considered a total loss after an accident, this does not mean its actual constructive loss, and insurers know about this, they are simply carefully trying to manipulate clients.

The term “total destruction” is generally purely economic. It means that the cost of repairing a car exceeds the price of the car itself (or is close to it). But in no case does this mean that the car only needs to be disposed of after receiving the “total” payment. This is also confirmed by the Supreme Court in Resolution of the Plenum No. 58 of December 26, 2017 (paragraph 42).

Thus, according to the law, after recognizing the total loss of the car, you have the right:

restore it,
register with the traffic police,
sell or buy,
issue a new MTPL policy.

However, it is with the last action that problems may arise, according to established practice - insurance companies are very reluctant to sell policies and refuse to conclude a contract on the grounds that the car was recognized as total. This, as we have already indicated, is illegal. But you may have to go to court to restore your legal rights.

When to start

Many car owners try to repair their car as quickly as possible after an accident.

But this cannot be done: first, the damage is assessed and the amount of damage is calculated. This is the only way to receive payment from the insurance company.

Often, car owners carry out repairs first and then present the bill to the insurance company. Such actions are beneficial only in terms of time: the car gets on the road faster.

But the insurance company has the right to refuse compensation to the policyholder for the money spent, since it is impossible to adequately assess the amount of damage caused in the accident.

Repairing a car after an accident under compulsory motor liability insurance is carried out after performing a number of actions:

Preparation of required documents.
Contacting the insurance company.
Damage assessment.

All of the above actions take several weeks, and sometimes even months. But in order to receive compensation in full, you will have to spend the specified time period.

Restoration of the car begins after agreeing on the indicated amount of compensation and the cost of repair work.

If the policyholder agrees with the terms of the insurer, he is given a referral to a service station or compensation is paid.

In cases where the car owner is not satisfied with the announced amount, he can go to court to appeal the decision.

If the policyholder has made a choice in favor of receiving monetary compensation, then he will also need to wait for the examination.

The process of issuing money itself consists of several stages:

Notifying the insurance company about the occurrence of an insured event. This must be done immediately, after calling the traffic police and providing medical assistance to the injured people.
Contacting the insurance company. The deadline is 5 days. If the policyholder, for good reason, cannot visit the insurer’s office, one of the relatives can do so, subject to the provision of a medical certificate.
Appointment of examination. The car owner and the person responsible for the accident must be present. After the examination, the amount of damage and repairs is announced. If the policyholder agrees with the amount of compensation, all necessary documents are signed.
Receipt of funds within 20 days from the date of issue of the decision. Compensation is transferred to a bank card or account using the specified details.

What if you get into another accident after the first?

How many times can you get into an accident within a certain period of time - for example, a year? Unlimited. The legislation in 2021 does not punish in any way for frequent accidents, even if you are found to be at fault in all of them. That is, there will not be any harsher fines, deprivation of rights, arrest or other measures of responsibility simply for the fact that you got into a second and subsequent accident. Only for the violation that led to the accident.

However, your culpability in accidents and insured events as a result directly affect the cost of compulsory motor liability insurance. The point here is a special coefficient - KBM. Its maximum value can be 2.45. And this means that if you get into, for example, 4 incidents during the year, in each of which you are found guilty, and the victim applies for compensation, then in the next insurance period the cost of the policy will increase for you by a conditional 2.5 times.