Claiming monetary compensation from the insurer
At the legislative level, changes are made annually to the Federal Law “On Compulsory Motor Liability Insurance”. Now insurance companies are required to provide the injured motorist with a referral to an accredited station that will quickly repair the damage.
Before concluding a contract, contact a trusted service station and find out which insurance companies it works with. Then select the appropriate option from the list.
As a result, your car will be repaired exclusively in the normal course of service. And, if you haven’t read the document you are signing, then the car can be partially restored, using used spare parts, performing the work poorly, and so on. The most common attempts to scam motorists with MTPL repairs result in the stage just before the car is repaired at a car service center. How exactly does this happen and how to avoid such divorces, and what are the basic rules for repairs under compulsory motor liability insurance? Let's find out!
Did I understand correctly that when referring to a service station, the insurance company only pays the amount calculated using the PCA method?
Why should the car owner pay extra if there is no fault? It was noted above that the calculation of the amount of payments is made using the Central Bank method, which takes into account many indicators, starting with the area of damage and ending with the volume of leakage of consumables during the repair process.
As in the case of regular stations, the client can choose a center at his discretion and have the car repaired there, but this requires the consent of the insurance company.
The MTPL insurance company sent me to the service station with which it cooperates. The service station assessed the damage and sent it to the insurance company for approval. Two weeks later, the insurance company called and said that the service station refused to carry out repairs, and they offered to pay in money (about 70 thousand rubles). This is not acceptable for me, since I can’t get my car repaired anywhere for this money.
Repair period under OSAGO in 2021
In 2021, the victim is interested in notifying the MTPL insurance company about the accident as early as possible and inspecting the car. Within 20 days from this moment, the insurer must calculate the cost of parts and work and issue a referral to a car service center. If, in agreement with the insurance company, the car is restored by a third-party service station, then you will have to wait 30 days for a referral.
The legislator allocates no more than 30 days for the restoration of defects in 2021. The period may be extended in case of complex damage, but only by agreement with the owner of the car. If the work is delayed, the policyholder will be required to pay a penalty in the amount of 0.5% of the amount for each day.
Insurance companies are confident that in the new conditions it will be unprofitable for car services to delay work. The service station will receive payment immediately; the flow of customers will not allow them to occupy the space for a long time.
The service can accept the car for repairs without additional payment.
Of course, there are stations that can supply used parts without informing the customer about it. However, in the end the policyholder receives a less-than-high-quality repair. If after a while the client realizes that he received a poor-quality repair, he can make an independent examination and receive compensation from the insurance company.
But the payment for all these points in total cannot exceed half a million. Article No. 7 of the law on compulsory motor liability insurance states that compensation for damage to health cannot exceed 500,000 rubles, and for damage to property - 400,000 rubles.
Take the car to a service station. A non-transportable vehicle is evacuated using special equipment. You will have to pay for the evacuation at your own expense.
If there are disagreements between drivers or the situation does not fit the above points, be sure to call the traffic police. This may also have to be done if one of the cars is insured under CASCO (requirement of the insurance company).
In any case, it is better to coordinate all actions and additional payments with your insurance company. Since they are the ones who interact with car repair service centers. Consequently, any illegal actions (violation of deadlines for restoration work, poorly performed repairs, use of used parts) are resolved exclusively between companies.
So, another car ran into the stationary car of a certain Sailyan. The guilt of the second was established. Sailyan turned to his insurer for direct payment. The insurer organized an inspection of the car, based on the results of which a specialist drew up a report. The report stated that the amount of damage from a technical point of view does not correspond to the stated events and was received under other circumstances.
After the inspection, specialists calculate the cost of restoration work and agree with you on a service station that will handle the repairs.
The victim conducted an independent assessment and then submitted a claim to the insurer, the insurer repeated its refusal on the same grounds. Then Sailyan went to court with a request to recover insurance compensation in the amount of 346,300 rubles, a penalty, a fine, etc.
The service station must be located no further than 50 km from the owner’s place of residence or the location of the vehicle. This accessibility criterion is enshrined in clause 15.2 of Art. 12 FZ-40. The exception is situations when the insurer paid for the transportation of the car over a distance of more than 50 km.
Under what conditions are repairs carried out under compulsory motor liability insurance in 2021? Having an MTPL policy will allow the car owner-insured not to pay compensation for damage caused to other road users in an accident. The auto insurer of the person responsible for the accident will ensure that the injured party receives proper repairs to the damaged car or, alternatively, will pay them adequate monetary compensation.
Payments under compulsory motor liability insurance: repairs or money
This period is the same for both cash payments for damages and compensation for car repairs. The period is regulated by the Federal Law on Compulsory Motor Liability Insurance, paragraph 21 of Article 12.
It happens:
- If the company offers to issue a referral to the official dealer station immediately on the day of application. In this case, an additional agreement is signed in which the victim agrees to make an additional payment for repairs.
- The car enthusiast wants to have it repaired at his station, with which the company does not have an agreement. In this case, he signs an agreement stating that he is obliged to present a bill from the selected station. The insurer will pay the invoice. However, the amount will be calculated according to the methodology. The missing difference will have to be paid by the motorist.
In fact, a referral for repairs is a direct replacement for an insurance payment in MTPL, designed to simplify the compensation procedure by removing an entire link in the procedure - the stage between the money received upon payment and before it is paid for the restoration of the car at the service station.
At the same time, the recording should clearly show where you arrived, what address, what service station, what car you will take for repairs. This video recording will greatly facilitate the dispute with the insurer, if not in his office, then certainly in court!
Is the insurer obligated to carry out repairs under compulsory motor liability insurance?
For example, to increase repair time, consent to the use of used spare parts, consent to repair work not using the manufacturer’s technology.
The courts have not established the circumstances under which the insurance company had the right to replace the organization and payment for restoration repairs with an insurance payment without the consent of the victim.
If the insured person died as a result of an accident, his relatives are paid the maximum amount - 500 thousand rubles.
If the insured person died as a result of an accident, his relatives are paid the maximum amount - 500 thousand rubles.
Repair under MTPL: terms, payments and pitfalls
Not always. Until recently, the victim had a choice: cash payments or car repairs at the expense of the insurance company. Today there is no such choice.
Is it possible:
- The amount of damage received exceeds RUR 400,000. As of 2019, this is the maximum payment limit that is covered by the MTPL policy. Anything that exceeds it is compensated at the expense of the culprit voluntarily or in court.
- If, after an independent assessment, the amount of damage exceeds that calculated by the insurer using a unified methodology (clauses 11 and 13 of Article 12 of the Federal Law No. 40). In this case, the case is considered in court. The guilty party is obliged to pay the difference only after a decision is made by the court.
- In the case where the victim has a CASCO policy and he has chosen the option of receiving payment under it. With this option for settling losses, the insurance company pays for repair work under CASCO without taking into account wear and tear and issues an invoice to the company at fault. She, in turn, repays only part of the amount calculated according to the unified MTPL methodology, based on the damage received. The person at fault for the accident receives an invoice for the additional payment of the difference.
Now, when concluding an insurance contract and issuing an MTPL policy, the motorist independently selects a service station (STO) from the list offered by insurers, where, in the event of an accident, his car will be repaired.
You need to know that the amount of additional payment, if necessary, must always be agreed upon before the start of repair work. If the client does not agree with it, he can always choose the option of payment in cash and eliminate the damage himself.
How to avoid paying extra for repairs under MTPL?
The MTPL insurer assesses damage from an accident strictly according to the 2018 methodology of the Central Bank of the Russian Federation. The cost of standard parts and spare parts for a given specific brand of vehicle is taken into account. If the car was equipped with additional parts and they were damaged in an accident, their cost will not be taken into account; you will have to pay extra for restoration.
In this case, in order to save money, you can refuse tuning and be content with standard options. The second option is to discuss with the insurer the possibility of installing used spare parts. This will reduce the overall cost of the work, and you will not have to make additional payments. The third option is to recover the cost of repairs, which exceeds the payment under the compulsory insurance policy, from the culprit of the accident in court. The Constitutional Court provided this opportunity to car owners.
Repair under MTPL in 2021: procedure, timing and nuances
The district court recovered from the insurer the amount without taking into account depreciation, as well as a fine of 100,000 rubles, a penalty until the court hearing in the amount of 100,000, compensation for moral damage (1,000 rubles), as well as legal expenses.
However, in two typical situations, the individual policyholder has the right to independently choose a suitable service station:
- When applying for compulsory motor liability insurance, the client independently selected a specific station from the list proposed by the auto insurer.
- After the accident, the victim informed the car insurer in writing of his intention to carry out repairs at the bus station, with which the car insurer did not have an agreement, and the insurance company approved this request.
Thus, you have the right to insist on repairs, and without the use of used components. The insurance company is trying to minimize its costs and obtain your consent to use used components for repairs. As for surcharges, insist on installing components without additional payment, refer to the above norm. As stipulated in paragraph 1 of paragraph 11 of Article 12 of Law No. 40-FZ, the need for an independent examination of damaged vehicles arises only when the auto insurer and the victim cannot agree on the list, nature, and circumstances of obvious damage caused to the car as a result of an accident. In other situations, an expert assessment of the damage caused to the car is not required.
Car service requires additional payment for repairs under OSAGO
Increasingly, motorists are faced with a situation where the station issues an invoice. Let's consider in what cases a requirement is made to pay money for repairs, violating the law.
If:
- During the work, hidden damage was identified, which the station specialist independently repaired
- demand to purchase parts on their own, threatening or misleading
- requires you to pay the difference for wear and tear (this has already been said earlier)
- upon accepting the car, they “slipped” an agreement in which the car enthusiast agreed to compensate part of the costs of restoring the vehicle
Motorists injured in an accident have the right to receive payment under compulsory motor liability insurance. If previously companies only paid money, now they issue referrals to accredited service stations, whose specialists repair all damage. Referrals to the station are currently provided by insurers whose activities are carried out in large regions. But what to do if the service station requires an additional payment for repairs under MTPL?
Moreover, the assignment agreement of a car service may indicate that the victim also transfers the right of claim to the culprit of the accident, which means that having made repairs with low-quality or used spare parts, the service will then have the right to receive money from the culprit, as if they were repairing the car with new ones spare parts at market prices.
Features of repairs under OSAGO in 2021
According to the new rules, in 2021, compensation for damage under OSAGO will be made in kind. Before choosing an insurance company and taking out a policy, you need to carefully read the list of service stations cooperating with it. In the event of an accident, these companies will repair the car. If a car owner constantly turns to the same service and is satisfied with the quality of service, it is better to find out which insurance company he cooperates with.
During routine repairs of a vehicle, it is necessary to keep all receipts confirming the cost of spare parts. They will serve as evidence in case of disputes with the insurer.
The law prohibits the use of used parts when restoring a car after an accident. The cost of repairs will be calculated based on the price of new parts. For the restoration of spare parts that are not included in the standard kit, the victim will pay additionally.
The insurer must comply with repair deadlines and the quality of services provided. If violations occur, the responsibility will be borne not by the car service center, but by the MTPL insurance company.
The 2021 innovations in the law on compulsory insurance regarding compensation for damage to the owner of a vehicle injured in an accident are intended to save drivers from additional repair costs, since the service now installs new parts, without taking into account depreciation. In addition, insurance companies hope to save money on unscrupulous drivers who benefit from cash payments under compulsory motor liability insurance.
Repair deadlines for compulsory motor third party liability insurance
In April 2021, the form of insurance compensation underwent significant changes, and insurance companies can now, in 2021, instead of paying out, compensate for damage from an accident in kind - provide a referral for repairs at a car service center.
As provided for by the rules of compulsory motor liability insurance, damage caused to a passenger car owned by a Russian citizen and having Russian registration is compensated by the auto insurer by providing refurbishment of the car (clause 15.1 of Article 12 of Law No. 40-FZ). In other words, such damage is compensated to the injured subject in kind. In this case, the parties must be guided by the following regulations:
- Law No. 40-FZ of April 25, 2002, regulating compulsory motor liability insurance in the Russian Federation. The insurer's provision of restoration repairs to vehicles belonging to the victim of an accident is regulated by this legal act.
- Regulation of the Central Bank of the Russian Federation No. 431-P dated September 19, 2014, establishing the rules of compulsory motor liability insurance. Compensation by the auto insurer for damage by restoring vehicles damaged in an accident is regulated by Chapters 4-6 of this regulatory act.
- Regulation of the Central Bank of the Russian Federation No. 432-P dated September 19, 2014, which defines the methodology for assessing the cost of restoration repairs carried out in relation to a car damaged in an accident.
And the Supreme Court indicated that according to the law on compulsory motor liability insurance, the insurer, after inspecting the car or conducting an independent technical examination, issues a referral to the victim for repairs and pays the cost of restoration repairs. In this case, the cost of such repairs is paid without taking into account the wear and tear of components.
What the law says about repairs under compulsory motor liability insurance in 2021
The scope of civil liability insurance for motorists is regulated by Law No. 40FZ of April 25, 2002. “On OSAGO” (hereinafter referred to as Federal Law No. 40). The law is regularly amended, in particular, changes regarding the procedure for restoring cars damaged in accidents were introduced by Law No. 49FZ of March 28, 2017.
The main innovation concerns the abolition of the right of the injured driver to independently choose the method of compensation for losses - money or restorative repairs. Now everyone is required to receive a referral for repairs, and only to service stations that officially cooperate with the insurance company. This step is intended to protect the insurer from inflated repair bills as a result of collusion between the driver and service station employees. However, now policyholders are at a disadvantage, as insurance companies have begun to dictate terms to repairers, trying to minimize the cost of restoring cars.
Important: Mandatory repairs also have their advantages for car owners. Now cases of insurers paying meager monetary compensation, which is not nearly enough to cover repair costs, are excluded.
The second major innovation concerns the determination of the cost of repair work. Previously, the assessment of damaged parts was carried out taking into account their wear and tear - the older the car, the lower the chances of receiving a decent compensation. In 2021, this rule no longer applies and the final repair bill is based on average market prices for new parts.
