Deadlines for consideration of insurance cases and payments for them

What is the payment period for compulsory motor liability insurance for an insurance company?

The Federal Law “On Compulsory Motor Liability Liability Liability Liability Liability Insurance” clearly defines the terms of payment under compulsory motor liability insurance in case of an accident. Article 12.21 states that the insurer is obliged to consider an application for compulsory motor liability insurance from the driver within 20 days from the date of its receipt. After its delivery, the organization is given 15 days to receive the document, the remaining 5 days are given to draw up a report on the occurrence of the insured event.

The insured event report serves as the basis for making a decision to refuse or to make an insurance payment to the victim. If the decision is positive, the victim’s car may be sent for restoration work or monetary compensation may be paid. Today the first option is a priority.

If, after studying the case, the insurer decides to refuse compensation, it must notify the motorist in writing, indicating the reasons. The refusal can be partial or complete.

If the insurance company does not want to pay compensation

If, after the expiration of 30 days from the date of sending the application and the necessary documents, the insurance company has not paid the insurance compensation, then you can safely begin active actions to obtain legal funds. Sometimes insurers refer to the fact that 30 days means only working days. However, this is not the case if nothing is said about this in the insurance contract or in the relevant law. In this case, the policyholder must first send a complaint to the company itself; if it does nothing, then to the Central Bank of the Russian Federation, and in extreme situations, it is necessary to resort to the help of a judicial authority and file a statement of claim.

Legislative regulations on the timing of payment of compulsory motor liability insurance and other parameters

The key legislative act is the Federal Law “On Compulsory Motor Liability Insurance” in its latest edition. The latest adjustments were made by Federal Law No. 49 of March 2021. It regulates the following:

• the maximum period for determining damage after a traffic accident is 5 days;
• the maximum period for filing a claim from car owners to insurance organizations is 10 calendar days;
• the period of inspection by the insurance organization of the damaged car is 5 days;
• the validity period of the MTPL policy is 1 year or more;
• maximum insurance payment: 400 thousand rubles for property and 500 thousand rubles for damage to the health and life of people;
• Monetary compensation for damage under motor vehicle insurance is replaced by direct compensation (repairs).

The cost of insurance is affected by the tariffs established in each locality; for legal entities and vehicle fleets the price is higher.

Which days are taken into account in the terms of consideration of payments under compulsory motor liability insurance: calendar or working days?

Russian legislation establishes a 20-day period for payment of compensation to an insurance organization. This period of time does not include holidays and weekends. Knowing this information is important for the following purposes:

• in order not to delay submitting an application for an insured event to the insurer to receive compensation;
• to monitor compliance with the deadline for considering an insured event under compulsory motor liability insurance.

Time allotted for filing an application

According to paragraph 21 of Article No. 12 of Federal Law No. 40, the deadline for filing an application for pre-trial settlement of disputes regarding “motor civil law” is defined not only as a limitation, but also as the right to file an application.

According to the mentioned legislative document, the policyholder has the right to file a claim in the following cases :

• The next day or later, after the date when the insurance policy holder learned about the refusal of compensation for the insured event (we talked in detail about what to do if the insurance company refuses to make a payment in this material).
• 20 calendar days after sending a notification to the insurance company about the occurrence of an insured event.

According to the same clause of the law on compulsory motor liability insurance, the claim must be submitted to the insurer within 10 calendar days from the date of the right to submit such a document.

If circumstances are such that you have to conduct pre-trial and judicial proceedings with the insurance company, you may find some of the publications of our experts useful. Pay attention to these articles:

• What is the statute of limitations for insurance companies under compulsory motor liability insurance?
• How to recover a penalty from the insurance company through the court?
• What to do if the insurance company has paid little under compulsory motor liability insurance?
• How to properly file a claim with the insurance company for underpayment?
• How and where can I complain about the insurance company?

For what reasons may the insurance company violate the terms of payment under compulsory motor liability insurance in 2021?

Many vehicle owners become indignant when insurance payments under compulsory motor liability insurance are delayed. However, not all of them paid due attention to collecting the necessary documents and the date of their provision to the organization.

If people were injured in a road accident, the period for collecting documents will be extended. This is due to the investigation of the incident by investigative authorities. Some certificates will be issued only a month after the incident, while others will be issued even later. Such documentation contains a lot of data that is required by the insurance organization to confirm that the insured person was driving the car in a sober state, at that time he had a valid driving license of the required category, and much more.

It can take a long time to receive these documents. Therefore, if insurance compensation is delayed, it is best to contact the insurer and ask to be informed about the reason. Sometimes it happens that the company has not even received all the documents from the client, which means that the countdown has not even begun. Another reason may lie in the presence of errors in the certificate or other papers.

As a result, the period allotted to the insurance organization for consideration of the application will begin to count only after submitting a complete set of documentation and correcting all existing errors and inaccuracies.

Is it possible to speed up the consideration of the application by the insurer?

There are recommendations that will help speed up the progress of the case. The most effective are the following:

1. After an accident, it is necessary to call an emergency commissioner, and then obtain the following information from the person responsible for the accident:

• Information about the insurance agreement: series and number;
• Contact phone number;
• Registration address and actual place of residence;
• Phone number and address of the insurance company of the driver whose actions initiated the accident. Usually the information is on the OSAGO policy form;
• If possible, you should try to get a copy or take a photo of your car insurance policy.

2. Visit the traffic police department and receive a package of documents that will be required to register the incident with the insurance company.

3. Promptly provide the received documents to the insurance company

In the past, in order to obtain certificate No. 748, the insurance company sent a request to the traffic police. Today the order has changed. The participant in the road incident must obtain the document from the traffic police and provide it to the insurer.

Sometimes insurance employees require the client to visit the traffic police department again to put a round stamp on the certificate. Such actions are illegal. The certificate does not require a round seal. A corner traffic police stamp is enough for her. It is important that it contains information about the traffic inspector who applied the mark.

Sending notifications about a road accident to the insurance company and conducting an independent examination

Before submitting a notification about a road incident to the insurer, you need to ensure that you have copies of this and other documents. They must be certified by the insurer's employee who receives the certificates. Such actions will help restore papers without wasting time if the company loses them (this doesn’t happen often, but it does happen). It would be prudent to write down information about the insurance employee who accepted the case for consideration, as well as his contact information for communication.

If the results of the expert assessment of damage are not satisfactory, then you should independently find an independent expert and order his services.

Attention! You will have to pay for an independent examination out of your own pocket. Therefore, if it seems that the insurance company has underestimated the cost of repairs by several hundred rubles, then it is simply not advisable to incur such additional expenses.

When organizing an independent examination, you must do the following:

• Send a notification letter to the insurer indicating the time and place of the expert assessment. Regardless of the reaction of the insurance organization, it will be almost impossible for it to challenge the results of the examination.
• Maintain correspondence with the insurance company regarding the notice of independent examination. This will allow you to justify your actions in the event of a trial and deprive your opponent of the opportunity to challenge the expert opinion.

Main stages of filing an application for payment under compulsory motor liability insurance

In accordance with the latest amendments to Federal Law No. 40 (Article 11, paragraph 1), the deadline for submitting documents to the insurer is reduced. They must be provided no later than 5 days after the occurrence of the insured event.

The main documents for submission to the insurance organization include the following:

• free form application. If the insurance company has its own forms, then you should use them. You can obtain the document at the company office;
• certificate No. 748, which is issued by traffic police officers;
• copies of all significant pages of the civil passport and a copy of the driver’s license;
• document confirming an independent examination;
• documents that confirm ownership of the vehicle;
• payment documentation confirming the use of a parking lot, tow truck, etc.;
• a bank account into which cash payments can be made.

The insurer has 5 days to collect and submit these documents. After this, the organization conducts a technical inspection of the damaged vehicle.

Punishment for violations

In the event that the insurer manages to delay payments, which happens quite often, he is issued a penalty by the Bank of Russia or the Russian Union of Auto Insurers, where the car owner filed a complaint after an accident and the company’s failure to fulfill its obligations.

The amount of such a sanction is 1% of the insurance amount that the insurer delays in paying, and such a penalty is charged for each day of delay.

Since the amount ultimately turns out to be quite impressive, it is extremely unprofitable for insurers to delay payments.

But they may underestimate the insurance amounts themselves, citing the fact that before the accident, the parts in the car were already very worn out.

That is, this measure of responsibility, which the insurance organization is obliged to bear, punishes it for delaying the consideration of the application.

In addition, the institution for the protection of consumer rights (and the policyholder is the consumer of insurance services that are poorly performed) imposed such a significant sanction for late payments to the company’s client - 50% of the amount of insurance, which the court will assign as an additional penalty for overdue terms.

On the one hand, if the insurance company does not create any obstacles, then the task of filing an application for payment and receiving the insurance itself is quite simple.

You need to immediately submit an application to the insurance company on the day of the accident (it is better to do this immediately, without delaying for 3-5 days).

Then immediately give the car for inspection to an expert working on behalf of the insurance organization (you don’t have to delay this either and don’t wait 5 days after submitting the application).

And calmly expect the insurance to be credited to your account, which is indicated in the application, within 20 days.

Terms of payments under compulsory motor liability insurance in case of an accident

When the injured motorist submits an application for compensation and all the required documentation to the insurance company, the deadline for compulsory motor liability insurance begins to count, during which the company is obliged to make a decision: make a cash payment, send the car for repairs, or refuse to cover the costs. Holidays and weekends are not taken into account. This says that we are talking about calendar days.

If the 20-day period has expired, you should contact your insurance company and find out the reason for the delay. If the driver considers these arguments unconvincing, he can submit an application for payment of a penalty under the motor vehicle license. For each day of delay, the penalty is 1% of the amount of damage. So, if, according to the results of the examination, the amount of damage is 120 thousand rubles, then in just 5 days of delay the client will receive an additional 6 thousand rubles.

The legislation provides for the possibility of filing a complaint against an insurance company with the FSSN and RSA. If they do not help, then you can send a claim to the insurance organization describing your requirements. 10 days are provided for its consideration. During this time, the company can provide the following:

• make a payment;
• issue a direction for restoration work;
• refuse reimbursement of expenses.

Russian legislation regulates the periods during which the insurer is obliged to make monetary compensation or issue a referral for restoration work.

A civil rights case - what is it?

A case under compulsory motor liability insurance is opened by an insurance company when it receives an application from a victim in an accident to receive compensation for damage caused. In addition to the application, the insurance case will be accompanied by the necessary documents and an expert’s opinion after an inspection of the damaged vehicle.

Within the time limits specified by law, the insurer reviews the submitted claim and decides whether the incident is an insured event, and if so, what the amount of compensation should be. After this, the victim either receives a refusal, or is charged money or is given a referral for repairs.

An insured event is an adverse event defined by an insurance contract or law, after the occurrence of which the insurer is obliged to pay compensation for damage to the policyholder, beneficiary, or insured person. According to compulsory motor liability insurance, an insured event will be the commission of an accident by a driver included in the policy or by any person admitted to driving, if the contract is concluded “without restrictions,” as a result of which damage is caused to the property or health of third parties. In order for an accident to be recognized as an insured event, several conditions must be met:

• Availability of a valid MTPL insurance policy, the driver is included in the policy (how to find out if the MTPL insurance policy is valid?).
• The accident occurred while driving. That is, if the culprit caused damage to someone else’s car, for example, by opening the door in a parking lot, then this is not an insured event.
• As a result of the incident, harm was caused to third parties.

The payment under the auto insurance policy is received by the victim in an accident; the culprit will have to repair his car himself, despite the fact that it was he who paid for the policy and entered into an agreement with the insurance company.

What is the deadline for appealing a decision on payment under compulsory motor liability insurance?

If the insurance company does not fulfill its obligations to provide compensation after an accident, it is necessary to file a pre-trial claim. The document should be sent to 3 organizations:

• Insurance company office (registered in the name of the general director);
• Union of Auto Insurers;
• Representative office of the Central Bank of the Russian Federation.

The claim must include the following:

• Compensation due based on the insurance agreement;
• Penalty in the amount of 1/75 of the refinancing rate per day of delay.

The document can be sent via courier service or Russian Post. In the second case, the letter must contain an inventory, and it must also include a notification of receipt. This approach will significantly reduce the time frame for paying MTPL insurance compensation.

Limitation period for compulsory motor liability insurance

If we talk about the payments themselves, the terms that were violated, then the statute of limitations makes sense if the case was decided in court when there was a pre-trial process.

The payment deadlines for writs of execution will always be indicated on the writ itself; they are not measured, as a rule, in years - this is a period of no longer than 10 days, or immediately.

All deadlines and performance are controlled by the SPI service (bailiffs). And if the company does not comply with the instructions of the court decision, then even its license may be taken away.

This is stated in Art. 199 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation, and the insurance company knows about this, so it often tries to hide behind such legal standards.

The very duration of the statute of limitations for civil rights claims is no different from any other limitation period for other issues considered in court.

Based on Part 2 of Art. 966 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation, this period is calculated as 3 years from the date of filing the application with the court.

After the expiration of such a statute of limitations, if the issue is not resolved in favor of the plaintiff who was injured in the accident, he has two options - to recover compensation for damages from the culprit of the accident, or after the end of the break determined by judicial practice, to file a claim again.

Payments under compulsory motor liability insurance if the driver was drunk during the accident

If the injured driver is involved in a traffic accident and it turns out that he was intoxicated, this entails serious consequences. But this fact in itself does not affect the fulfillment of obligations by the insurance company.

If the at-fault driver was intoxicated, his insurance company will in any case compensate for the damage caused to other participants in the accident. But then she can initiate a recourse process and, through the court, demand a refund of the amount paid. This means that if the driver drank, got behind the wheel and caused an accident, he needs to prepare money to cover the damage.

How long the insurance company pays under compulsory motor liability insurance does not depend on whether a driver was intoxicated or not. This point can only affect the process of collecting documents and issuing certificates.