Changes that will affect the MTPL policy from July 1, 2021

Reasons for issuing new forms

The main reason for replacing old forms of civil liability insurance for car owners with a new version was the fight against fraud. The replacement took place on July 1, 2021. At that time, out of approximately 42 million MTPL policies sold during the year, 1 million were counterfeits. Thus, insurers decided not only to strengthen the protection of the insurance document, but also to remove counterfeits from circulation. The replacement of old forms with new ones took place with the support of all government bodies that are in one way or another related to this process, including the traffic police.

All innovations, including color changes and the introduction of additional protective elements, increased the cost of the OSAGO form (about 6 rubles) by 10%. According to statements from insurers and the insurance market regulator, such a rise in price did not and will not affect the amount of insurance premium for policyholders.

The changes included in the new version of the document will be convenient both for the policyholders themselves, and for insurers and traffic police officers. For example, the QR code that the insurance company will apply will contain information about the contract, the car owner (including the series and number of his passport), and the vehicle. Using the RSA application, the traffic police inspector will be able to read this code and obtain all the necessary information without accessing electronic databases.

Liberalization of compulsory motor liability insurance from July 1, 2021

The Russian Union of Auto Insurers (RUA) has prepared a “road map” for the liberalization of MTPL tariffs - from July 1, 2021, the Central Bank may stop setting the cost of MTPL, giving this right to the insurers themselves. Insurers are increasingly talking about a tariff of 30 thousand rubles for an MTPL policy.

Proposals for the liberalization of compulsory motor liability insurance have already been approved at a meeting of the board of the union. The union believes that the current MTPL tariff is not balanced. RSA proposes to implement tariff liberalization gradually, in 2 stages.

At the first stage, it is planned to abolish the fixed values ​​of the coefficients that are currently set by the Central Bank: territorial coefficient, vehicle power coefficient, age-experience coefficient, etc.

It is proposed to maintain fixed values ​​only for the “bonus-malus” coefficient, which takes into account the driver’s accident-free experience, as well as for the planned introduction of the traffic violation coefficient.

At the first stage, the Central Bank is also expected to limit the maximum value of the base rate.

The Central Bank also has the right to establish the minimum amount of insurance premium under the MTPL agreement for insurance organizations that have not previously carried out MTPL and based on the results of monitoring the financial stability of insurers.

What has changed in the form and how does the old policy differ from the new one?

New versions of insurance forms not only changed color, but also acquired several degrees of protection. In fact, in 2021, only the appearance of the document has changed; all the columns and information in it remain the same, with some exceptions. In the 2021 insurance form, space was left for a QR code in the upper right corner; the code itself appeared only on documents that began to be issued on January 1, 2021. The table below shows the main changes that affected the auto insurance policy.

Table - Distinctive features of the appearance of old and new OSAGO forms

Source: policy forms

Several other small changes have been made to the insurance form up to and including 2021, including to the notes on the back. The paragraph following 8 was numbered, which is provided for entering policies and voluntary insurance contracts purchased in addition to compulsory motor liability insurance. A table has been added to the new form to calculate the amount of premium to be paid to the policyholder. Clause 7 “Insurance premium” was moved to the top of the new policy, and now data on the cost of compulsory motor liability insurance is located above the QR code and the seal of the insurance company. Electronic versions of the insurance document were also changed in the same way. The only exception is the presence of a QR code - it is not available on electronic insurance.

Do I need to carry a paper OSAGO policy with me?

Taking an insurance contract with you on every trip is a direct responsibility of the driver, which is legally established in the following regulations:

• in Art. 32 clause 1 of Federal Law No. 40 “On compulsory insurance of civil liability of vehicle owners.” It says here that the driver is required to carry a paper policy or printed information about concluding an agreement in electronic form and present this document for verification to a traffic inspector or other police officer;
• in Art. 2 clause 2.1.1 of the Traffic Regulations of the Russian Federation also states that the driver must have with him and upon request present a compulsory motor liability insurance policy.

Despite the established rules, there are some contradictions regarding the need to present an insurance contract on paper. At the moment, almost every police officer has the opportunity to check a document using an electronic database; all they need is an Internet connection. To do this, just find out your personal information, car number, car VIN number or insurance number.

Important! You shouldn’t rely on chance - it’s better to always be prepared and have insurance with you than to challenge fines issued by an intractable inspector.

Is a copy of insurance suitable for the traffic police?

It goes without saying that if compulsory motor liability insurance is issued in the office, in paper form, then making a copy of it and carrying it with you is illogical. This is equivalent to the fact that the driver carries with him a copy of his driver’s license, vehicle registration certificate, etc. Only originals must be submitted for verification. According to Art. 15 clause 7 of Federal Law No. 40, the insurance contract form is a document of strict accountability, so it is important for the inspector to pick up the original document in order to see for himself that it is genuine. A notarized copy will not work here.

However, what to do if the policy was purchased online? The fact is that after concluding an agreement with the policyholder and after paying for his services, the insurer sends his client a policy in PDF format. This document is printed and presented to the police officer. In this case, the document can be provided in black and white.

On a note! Today there is the following practice of presenting policies - in the form of a photograph on a phone or tablet. Obviously, this is not provided for by law, but nevertheless, inspectors in large cities treat this calmly. True, in areas of the country more remote from the center, this option may not suit the local law enforcement officers, because not everywhere the police are equipped with modern gadgets for remotely checking the presence of a vehicle.

What does the new policy look like?

Electronic and paper MTPL look the same. At the top of the policy on the right there is a frame for indicating the amount of the insurance premium (in rubles and kopecks), below it there is a QR code. In the center is the name of the document, its series and number, as well as the insurance period. At the top left there is space left for the seal (logo) of the insurance company in which such a form will be issued. You can find out what an MTPL policy valid in 2021 looks like by referring to Figure 1.

Figure 1 — New sample OSAGO policy

A photo of the new OSAGO policy allows you to verify that it contains the same information as the old one (with the exception of a few points): insurance period, details of the insured and the owner of the car, information about the vehicle, fields for entering persons authorized to drive the car, purposes of using the car, table for calculating the amount of the insurance premium. There is a column for special notes that the insurer must make. The policy must indicate the date of conclusion of the auto insurance contract and the signatures of the parties. Electronic MTPL has the same columns with information, the same color, the same arrangement of all elements of the document.

Insurers will be prohibited from sending damaged cars to service stations for repairs

The draft instructions were prepared by the Central Bank. According to the document, for three or more violations in the organization of repairs (but not less than 1% of the total number of cars repaired), the insurance company will be prohibited from compensating for damage in kind. In 2021, the Central Bank received about 200 complaints about compensation in kind.

Many are already calling the repair reform a failure. A low threshold for the removal of insurers may completely curtail this practice. According to the head of the RSA insurance methodology department, Evgeniy Ufimtsev, insurers now send only 13% of clients for repairs. This is despite the fact that the obligation to compensate for damage in the first place by sending it for repairs was introduced by compulsory motor liability insurance back in April 2021.

Road accident on Lenin/Matrosov.

Lyubov Lukashenko at vk.com/barneos22

The law allows 30 days for work, and the service must be located no further than 50 km from the scene of the accident or the place of residence of the car owner. But if it is impossible to fulfill these conditions or if the accident caused harm to the health of the car owner, losses from the accident will be compensated with money.

Is it necessary to exchange MTPL insurance policies for new ones?

Initially, RSA, the Central Bank and insurance companies assumed that with the introduction of new forms of documents, old policies would become invalid. But due to technical reasons, namely the inability of the GOZNAK printing house to issue more than 40 million policy forms at once, a different decision was made. Car owners were not forced to come to their insurers and get replacements. Old MTPL policies were changed only after their validity period expired.

In 2021, the same picture is observed as after the change in forms from July 1, 2021. Car owners are not required to change their MTPL policies, including electronic ones, until their validity period expires. Taking into account the fact that for several years the Central Bank has been making changes to Regulation No. 431-P, which established a new type of compulsory motor liability insurance policy, there are many motorists on the roads with completely different forms of this document. There are definitely no green policies anymore, but versions without a QR code can still be found.

How the OSAGO policy has changed over the last 3 years

Starting from 2021, the Central Bank of the Russian Federation and the Russian Union of Automobile Insurers plan to radically change the discount system. The main task is the desire for fair settlements.

The newly used KBM will be valid only in relation to the driver, and not the vehicle, from 2021. Currently, the KBM is used with reference to the car and the driver. Experts note that this approach leads to the fact that quite a lot of drivers currently find themselves in an undesirable situation, so it is important to eliminate the shortcomings of the current system.

For example, for a responsible driver, a maximum 50% discount is used (coefficient 0.5). This discount is offered for long-term operation of the machine without any accidents. However, the size of the discount may be different. Due to the fact that the MTPL policy is linked to the vehicle, the following situation arises: the driver, who should receive the maximum discount, can fit into the policy of another car owner who was involved in an accident and face a reduction in the coefficient.

The loss classes are expected to change. As before, they will depend on how the driver behaves on the road and whether he follows traffic rules.

For example, for loss class “M” a coefficient of 2.45 is used. For drivers who often violate traffic rules and, as a result, are involved in various traffic accidents, they will receive a coefficient of 2.45. To obtain a policy, the amount will be set at 2.5 times higher. Currently, loss classes are used only for machines. At the same time, drivers are assigned first class. For accident-free driving, the driver will receive a 5% discount. In one year, the BMR may decrease by 0.05%.

A worthy reason to improve your driving skills is the opportunity to save half the cost of the policy. This will occur with an ideal driving record after 10 years. If the driver is involved in a traffic accident due to his own fault, regardless of the discount available, an increase of 1.55 coefficients will be made for the next period. It will be possible to return the KBM to a value of one if you drive the car without further accidents for two years. Such a turn is unfavorable for drivers, therefore increasing responsibility for behavior on the road.

It is important to note that the coefficient is tied to the car and the driver. For this reason, if insurance is carried out by the driver who owns the car and other drivers are included in the policy, different coefficients will be used. The number of registered drivers and the coefficients for the car and its drivers are taken into account.

Procedure for replacing MTPL policies

Replacing insurance certificates will help:

1. Move to a new level of preservation and protection of data of car owners and their vehicles.
2. Suspend the activities of fraudsters who produce and sell fake policies, posing as official representatives.
3. Stop the uncontrolled distribution of old, unused policy forms.
4. Show car owners that it is easier for them to purchase a new certificate than to purchase an old one. By the way, having bought an old sample, they will still have to buy a new policy.
5. Retain for car owners all the benefits and bonuses that they can take advantage of if they take out a new, official policy.

All important points of the procedure for replacing MTPL policies:

1. The policy replacement procedure is completely free.
2. New types of forms are issued only to motorists who take out new vehicle insurance, for example, for a new car or for an old one if the certificate has expired.
3. Owners of cars with an old policy will need a little time. They decide when they can contact the MTPL service for a replacement: at any time or only after its expiration date.
4. The new type of policies have a high degree of protection. It is almost impossible to fake them completely.
5. The policy for issuing policies has been tightened; documents are issued strictly only to official representatives of OSAGO. In addition, the number of policies issued is strictly controlled. There should be no excess left.
6. The insurer bears full responsibility for the new forms.

Please note that in Russia there are 42 million cars for which insurance is required. Of this amount, 1 million is fake.

This measure of introducing new documents will help avoid the production of counterfeits and will encourage motorists to purchase only official OSAGO policies.