In accordance with the traffic rules of the Russian Federation, no person has the right to drive a vehicle without a mandatory agreement on the protection of civil liability. But most drivers have a logical question: is compulsory motor liability insurance necessary if you have CASCO insurance? After all, a comprehensive policy is fully capable of replacing motor vehicle insurance, and even covering additional expenses that did not arise from an accident. What the traffic rules say about this, and how interchangeable the mentioned documents are from the point of view of the law, we will find out in the article below.
Distinctive features of insurance
Before answering the question: “Is compulsory motor insurance necessary if you have CASCO?”, you need to know and understand how these two insurance policies differ.
And they differ in the following:
- Grounds for receiving payments;
- Amount of payments;
- Object of insurance.
In addition, both insurance policies provide payment to different persons.
OSAGO is an insurance policy that provides protection to the driver over other car owners. This insurance contract directly protects the liability of the driver, but not the vehicle. If an accident occurs, the victim will be paid appropriate damages, but the person responsible for the accident will not receive any compensation from the insurance company.
CASCO is an insurance policy that covers all expenses in the event of an accident. That is, if an accident occurs, the insurance company will fully cover all damage caused, regardless of which party the client is - the guilty or the injured.
IMPORTANT !!! OSAGO and CASCO differ, of course, in price. For example, when applying for compulsory motor liability insurance, an insurance client can be absolutely sure that the cost in different companies will be the same, as this is provided by law. But at the same time, he understands that the price directly depends on factors such as length of service, age of the car, region of residence, etc.
But in a situation with CASCO, the driver cannot be sure of the cost of insurance, since the state does not regulate the price of such a contract in any way. The insurance amount is set directly by the insurance companies themselves, and very often its price is a certain percentage of how much a new car costs, and this is, in any case, expensive.
One of the main differences between insurance policies is that CASCO can be issued voluntarily, while OSAGO must be issued mandatory.
Multifunctional CASCO
Unlike OSAGO, CASCO is not an abbreviation, so this name does not stand for anything. This insurance term means an additional type of property insurance for various types of vehicles. In particular, a person can apply for CASCO insurance in the following cases:
- Partial or complete material damage caused to the car.
- Theft of motor vehicles or theft of other types of vehicles.
- Passengers and car drivers from various accidents.
- Optional equipment.
In accordance with the law, if desired, a motorist can separately contact the insurer to take out a CASCO policy against material damage to the car.
Other items cannot be insured separately. By law, their insurance is allowed only in conjunction with material damage.
CASCO tariffs
Insurance under the CASCO program is voluntary in nature, therefore it is regulated only by the relevant rules.
As practice shows, insurance companies quite often refuse to issue this policy to their clients. Moreover, according to the law, they have the right not to explain the reasons why they made such a decision.
It is also worth remembering that all insurers have different insurance conditions. If the owner received a refusal in one office, this does not mean that another insurance company will refuse to issue him insurance.
The cost of a CASCO insurance policy and the amount of compensation may vary significantly among different insurance companies. The insurer has the right to independently formulate tariff rates, taking into account the market value of the car in a particular region of the Russian Federation at the time of registration of the insurance contract, as well as relying on its own statistics of car accidents
A CASCO insurance policy is much more expensive than compulsory MTPL insurance.
Is there a need to apply for compulsory motor liability insurance if you have CASCO insurance?
The answer to this question is simple - OSAGO must be issued in any case, even if there is CASCO insurance. This is explained by current legislation, which states that driving a car without compulsory motor liability insurance is prohibited. Even if the driver took out other types of insurance, none of them replace compulsory motor liability insurance. The thing is that only compulsory motor liability insurance can cover the damage caused by the culprit of the accident to the injured party, while CASCO compensates for the damage specifically to the vehicle.
IMPORTANT !!! If the driver does not have compulsory motor liability insurance, but has CASCO insurance, then he cannot and should not drive the car, since if the fact of the absence of compulsory motor liability insurance is revealed, fines may be imposed, and besides, in the event of an accident, the person responsible for the accident will have to take full responsibility for repairing the victim’s car sides.
Another question arises: “Is it necessary to apply for CASCO insurance if you already have MTPL?” Of course not, but it’s still worth considering purchasing two types of insurance. Comprehensive insurance (MTPL and CASCO) can help protect the car owner from many risks.
In addition, CASCO may become a prerequisite, for example, for a car loan. Most banks insist on issuing CASCO insurance and very often if the driver refuses to take out this policy, they refuse him a loan.
Key differences
The main differences between these two insurances:
- registration of a motor vehicle license is required by law almost always, but another type of insurance is required only for car loans;
- tariffs for motor insurance are standardized by the Central Bank; for the other type of insurance under consideration, insurers themselves set prices;
- The MTPL insurance contract is public, that is, it must be concluded with any person who applies, but the conclusion of a contract for another insurance under consideration has the right to be refused without explanation.
Where and how best to apply for compulsory motor liability insurance if you already have CASCO insurance
Regardless of what kind of insurance policy the driver is going to take out, he first needs to decide on the insurance company and provide it with the relevant documents. As a rule, you can buy both CASCO and MTPL from almost all insurance organizations. And some of the companies provide their clients with a discount when purchasing comprehensive insurance.
But if the selected insurance company does not provide the client with a discount on the comprehensive purchase of an insurance policy, then it is better to do OSAGO in another company, since this way you can save a lot of money.
But registering OSAGO and CASCO in one place is more profitable because in the event of an accident you do not have to contact two insurance companies at once, and this can help save time.
Nuances of insurance under the MTPL program
The object of the MTPL insurance policy is the property interests of the car driver. These interests will be affected if the owner of the vehicle or another person whose name is included in the insurance causes harm to the health, life or property of another person during an accident.
Accordingly, insurance under the MTPL program is intended not for the insured car, but for its owner.
The essence of such insurance is that the at-fault car owner is responsible for a traffic accident and must compensate for the damage caused to the life, health and property of the victim. Moreover, compensation for harm must always be carried out, regardless of whether the collision was intentional or unintentional.
The insurer of the at-fault party must pay compensation for damage caused to third parties as a result of the collision.
But the person responsible for the accident must restore his car at his own expense. In accordance with the law, the insurance company does not make any payments to the instigator of a car accident if he is insured under the MTPL program
Payments under the MTPL policy
Insurance under the MTPL program is a mandatory type of insurance. At the legislative level, the amount of insurance payments and the cost of purchasing an insurance policy are limited.
In accordance with Article 7 of the Law on Compulsory Motor Liability Insurance, at the moment the maximum amount of insurance payment for damage caused as a result of a traffic accident is 400 thousand rubles.
Insurance payments for damage to the health and life of a victim in a car accident are limited to 500 thousand rubles.
If a person who had a dependent died as a result of a traffic accident, the latter can count on receiving insurance compensation in the amount of 475 thousand rubles. All families whose breadwinners died as a result of the collision can receive this amount.
Another family member who was not dependent on the deceased may also receive 25 thousand rubles for the funeral of the driver.
The maximum amount of payments for minimal damage to the car if the parties do not want to wait for the arrival of traffic police officers and want to register a collision according to the European protocol is 50 thousand rubles.
Cost of MTPL insurance
The cost of an MTPL insurance policy depends on several factors:
- Type of car insured.
- Who exactly acts as the policyholder under the contract: an individual or a legal entity.
- Return and driving experience of the driver for whom the insurance policy is issued (if compulsory motor liability insurance is issued for several motorists at once, the age and driving experience of all of them must be listed in the contract).
When determining the cost of a compulsory MTPL insurance policy, a unified procedure for calculating the amount of insurance payments is applied. Moreover, this procedure must be followed not only by insurance companies, but also by independent and forensic experts who operate under the MTPL system.
This calculation procedure is available to everyone, so any motorist can approximately determine the cost of their future MTPL insurance policy.
Tariffs for insurance are set by authorized government agencies. It is for this reason that compulsory insurance has a relatively low cost.
It is worth noting that almost all insurers that provide compulsory insurance have approximately the same cost of policies. Accordingly, vehicle owners can choose an insurance company based on other criteria.
The best insurance in case of an accident
If the driver has both CASCO AND MTPL, and he is involved in an accident, then a logical question arises: “Which insurance is better to use?”
In such a situation, some factors need to be taken into account, namely:
- On what terms were both agreements concluded?
- How serious is the accident;
- Under what circumstances did the accident occur?
- How quickly payments will be made.
So, for example, if the insurance client is not to blame for the accident, and the damage is less than 400 thousand rubles, then it is better to use OSAGO, since if you apply CASCO, then next year this insurance contract will cost much more.
Vehicle insurance is an important stage that every car owner has to go through. And if the driver wants to apply for CASCO insurance only, then he should know that it will not be possible to avoid issuing MTPL, and he should not do this. CASCO is the protection of the car owner himself, and OSAGO is the protection of other road users. Therefore, if you have CASCO insurance, you still need to apply for MTPL.
Compulsory insurance under the MTPL program
OSAGO is called a compulsory motor third party liability insurance policy. In accordance with legal norms, this type of insurance is mandatory throughout the Russian Federation.
In the traffic rules, the MTPL policy is included in the list of mandatory documents, without which the driver does not have the right to drive.
When a car is stopped by traffic police officers, the motorist must present this document upon the first request of the inspector.
What is the difference
The most important thing that every car owner should remember is that he is obliged to pay for civil liability regardless of whether he has a CASCO policy. These two types of insurance are not interchangeable. If the owner of the vehicle only has a CASCO policy with him, but does not have MTPL, he may receive a fine of 800 rubles.
All these rules are regulated by Article 2 and Article 4 of the Federal Law of April 25, 2002. N 40-FZ “On compulsory insurance of civil liability of vehicle owners.” If a person has both of these insurances, then when an insured event occurs, he simply chooses the optimal one.
Differences:
- OSAGO only compensates for damage from road accidents within the established price limits. CASCO can include everything that the client wishes.
- OSAGO will compensate for damages only to the injured party. In CASCO insurance, it does not matter who is at fault - the owner of such a policy will receive compensation for damage in any case.
- Different amounts of payments, in the first case - a fixed amount, in the second - an amount that will be determined by the owner of the vehicle when taking out the policy.
- The cost of CASCO is much higher than OSAGO.
- In OSAGO, the age of the vehicle is not important, but in CASCO, a car no older than 10 years can be insured.
