Refuse to be referred for repairs under compulsory motor insurance. For repairs under compulsory insurance without wear and tear, an additional payment is required. Calculation of the cost of repair work

New cars will lose their warranty due to OSAGO reform

The State Duma of the Russian Federation in the second reading approved the tightening of the bill on compulsory motor liability insurance, which implies the abolition of cash payments in case of road accidents. Among other things, insurers pushed through one amendment to the bill, which promises Russians a complete headache: only two-year-old cars will be able to be repaired at official dealers on the direction of the insurance company after an accident, all others - in unauthorized services. And this despite the fact that the overwhelming number of car companies provide a 3-year (and even 4-5-year) factory warranty on new cars. Car dealers and car manufacturers explained that such a “clause” of amendments guarantees a person only one thing - big problems in the event of an insured event.

In case of an accident, Russians will choose auto repair shops for body repair of their car from the list provided by the insurer. If the car is not older than two years, then it will be sent to an official dealer, but not to the one that sold the car, but to the one with which the insurance company has a cooperation agreement. Repairs from officials are carried out only using expensive original spare parts (this is the requirement of automakers), and the standard-hour price is generally higher than market prices. The difference between the average check between an official and a regular technical station can reach double the size. It is logical that when pushing through the current amendments to the compulsory motor liability insurance policy, insurers strongly opposed their client’s visit to authorized dealers for repairs.

Motorists who are unlucky enough to get into an accident in the third (and if the warranty allows, in the fourth and fifth year) risk losing the car company’s warranty. You can’t count on replacement of components, assemblies and the car itself (and this happens often now) after repairs at an affiliated service station of the insurer. And this problem concerns not only the premium segment, but also affordable cars, for example, like Renault.

For example, during an accident, the optics were damaged and instead of the broken headlights, a third-party service installed new ones. The manufacturer automatically receives the right to refuse warranty repair of electrical wiring, since it was previously touched by unauthorized service technicians.
The situation will be aggravated by the fact that unauthorized services have a habit of installing not original spare parts on a damaged car, but used or Chinese analogues. And this will only be revealed if there is a warranty failure.

The car owner, of course, can try to prove that there is no connection between the repair at the insurance service station and the subsequent warranty failure, but now the burden of proof lies solely on his shoulders. And this means the start of the trial. And it will be very difficult for the car owner to prove otherwise. In addition, the car owner will have to pay for the examination himself.

Repair instead of payment of funds under compulsory motor liability insurance

So, under the new MTPL insurance, the injured driver who was involved in an accident and applied to his insurance company with a MTPL policy, after completing the documents and inspecting the car, is now given a referral to have the car repaired at a service station. Moreover, it is not the motorist himself who chooses the service station, since it is the insurance company that can limit the choice to a few (friendly) service stations when the driver issues a policy. It is clear that in this way the legislator protected insurance companies from a possible attempt by a motorist to negotiate with his friendly car service center to repair the car with a subsequent monetary “kickback” of part of the insurance payment. Friendly services will now only be provided by insurance companies!

At the end of 2017, car dealers lobbied for amendments to the law on compulsory motor liability insurance, which they wanted to oblige car owners to carry out compulsory motor liability insurance repairs on new cars up to 2 years old exclusively at dealer car centers. This amendment was accepted. However, if the obligation to repair under MTPL is approved at a dealer’s service station, the cost of such repairs will not always be covered by MTPL insurance, since the prices for repair work from the dealer are always higher than the market average. In this case, you can get money instead of repairs.

Replacing cash payments under compulsory motor liability insurance with repair work at a service station also has its advantages. For example, wear and tear of a vehicle during forced repairs under compulsory motor liability insurance will no longer be taken into account by the insurance company. In order to push for forced repairs, insurers even agreed to such a step in favor of motorists. Repairs without taking into account wear and tear according to compulsory motor insurance will, of course, be positively received by motorists. But in 2019, it is still not so easy to repair a car at an insurer’s service station without taking into account wear and tear.

The quality of the repair work of our car services raises big questions and complaints, so motorists, of course, will use the Law “On the Protection of Consumer Rights” to their advantage and nitpick check the completeness and quality of the repairs carried out within the framework of compulsory motor liability insurance, and if there are errors in the repairs, they will be able compensate for your damage and quite rightly make good money from the insured event. Currently, there are not many legal disputes between car owners and car repair shops regarding the quality of the repairs performed by the plaintiff after he received an insurance payment. And this is quite understandable. Today, the overwhelming majority of citizens who have received money under compulsory motor liability insurance from an insurance company or an intermediary car lawyer deliberately turn to a cheap car service center with only one goal - to make inexpensive car repairs, in which at least some margin remains from the money received under compulsory motor liability insurance.

With the replacement of cash payments under SOAGO with repairs at the insurer's service station, everything, of course, will change, and the courts will face an influx of plaintiffs demanding compensation for damage due to poor-quality repairs of their cars. Since the beginning of 2019, a surge in such claims from motorists has already been noticeable.

Repairs in lieu of money under compulsory motor liability insurance have a number of exceptions. In some cases, a citizen may receive a cash payment and refuse to have the car repaired at a service station. Let's look at these cases:

• As a result of the accident, the car was completely destroyed and there was nothing left to repair (total loss);
• If the cost of repair work and spare parts is higher than the amount of the expected insurance payment (for example, the standard 400 thousand rubles or the difference in wear of parts) and the car owner does not want to pay the amount of money missing for repairs;
• If the insurance company is unable, for some reason, to organize car repairs at the service station that the citizen initially chose when concluding an insurance contract from the service stations offered by the insurance company;
• The insurance company cannot and does not have time to organize repair work in accordance with the requirements of the rules of the Bank of Russia (for example, it does not have time to organize car repairs within 30 days after the client contacts the insurance company);
• The car owner does not want to make repairs at a service station, but wants to get money, and a special commission of the RSA, having considered the application of this citizen, met him halfway, for example, because of his difficult financial situation;
• The insurance company and the car owner came to a written agreement to pay money instead of repairs under compulsory motor liability insurance, and the citizen agrees with the proposed (of course, significantly underestimated) amount of money, which, in his opinion, is enough to repair the car on his own.

Latest MTPL news 2019

Get acquainted with the practice of working in 2019 with the updated law on compulsory motor liability insurance on replacing cash payments with forced repairs at service stations. When can I get money instead of repairs and do I have to pay for wear and tear of parts during repairs, as the insurer may require?

Electronic OSAGO policy

Now, after a client submits an application for concluding an insurance contract via the Internet, the insurance company sends an MTPL insurance policy to the client’s email address and places a copy of the MTPL policy in the client’s personal account on the website, which the user can download at any time. After issuing an electronic MTPL policy, you can print it out and take it with you in the car, or, if you don’t trust modern technologies, you can contact the insurance company and get the usual paper form of the MTPL insurance policy issued online.

Undoubtedly, the issuance of MTPL policies by insurance companies will be able to eliminate the violation of the rights of citizens due to the imposition of additional services by unscrupulous insurance companies when drawing up insurance contracts. As you know, almost all insurance companies throughout 2017 were clever and came up with all sorts of ways to impose additional services on their clients. In order to obtain an MTPL policy without additionally imposed services from insurance companies, citizens in 2017 had to stand in large queues artificially created by insurers in their offices or wait for the appearance of supposedly scarce MTPL policy forms. In 2019, these obstacles on the part of insurance companies in drawing up MTPL contracts will become a thing of the past, including thanks to the new change under consideration and the emergence of the opportunity to obtain a MTPL policy via the Internet. Since the beginning of the year, it can be stated that in 2019, issuing policies via the Internet has become even more popular among motorists.

It is worth noting that in 2017, an experiment in issuing electronic MTPL insurance policies was carried out in several regions of the Russian Federation, including the Rostov region. Reluctantly and with difficulty, insurance companies established this electronic service in experimental regions, as a result of which several tens of thousands of electronic MTPL insurance policies were issued to clients over six months. However, last year, insurance companies were not required to issue electronic MTPL insurance policies, and they mastered this procedure on a voluntary basis as an experiment. Since January 1, 2019, the issuance of electronic MTPL insurance policies has become an obligation for insurers, for violation of which they face a hefty fine and revocation of their license. These 2019 MTPL changes will definitely benefit motorists.

Lawyer - auto lawyer Gennady Efremov

On Friday, March 17, the State Duma adopted in the third final reading amendments to the law on compulsory motor liability insurance, which make car repairs rather than cash payments the main method of insurance compensation. The norm will come into force on April 28 and will apply only to new contracts with citizens of the Russian Federation.

What's changing?

If previously, according to the law, the insurance company had to “make an insurance payment” to the victim in an accident, now it is necessary to organize and pay for the repair of the damaged car. The client can receive insurance compensation in cash, but only in a number of cases: if the amount of damage is more than 400,000 rubles or the car is completely destroyed, if the insured person is killed or seriously injured, and also if he is disabled. Cash payment is also possible upon agreement with the insurance company. But the main method of compensation under compulsory motor liability insurance should now be repairs.

The technical service station (STS) will be chosen by the client, but from the list of partners by the insurance company. The choice will need to be made at the time of concluding the insurance contract. If the car is not older than two years, then repairs must be carried out by an authorized dealer. If the insured is not satisfied with the proposed service stations, he can arrange repairs at another car service center, but only after the written consent of the insurer.

The insurance company must issue a referral for repairs within 20 calendar days (except holidays), the repair itself must last no more than 30 days, and the service station offered by the insurer must be located no further than 50 km from the scene of the accident or the client’s residence (except in cases where the company itself organized and paid for the transportation of the car). By law, repairs must be made only from new auto parts. This is an important point, because the insurer pays money under compulsory motor liability insurance taking into account the wear and tear of spare parts (that is, the cost of not a new element, but a used one).

The insurance company will be responsible for the quality of repairs. The warranty is 6 months, and for body and paint work - 12 months. If a company receives many complaints, the Bank of Russia, which is the market regulator, may temporarily prohibit it from sending clients for car repairs and force them to pay money.

Why is this necessary?

The unprofitability of compulsory motor liability insurance is growing year by year. In 2016, the payout ratio (the ratio of payments to collected premiums) for this type of insurance increased from 57% to 74%, the Central Bank indicated in a letter to the Chairman of the State Duma Committee on the Financial Market, Anatoly Aksakov.

“The significant increase in the unprofitability of compulsory motor liability insurance is caused not so much by the increase in the frequency of insured events, but by the increase in expenses for non-insurance costs caused by abuse of rights on the part of victims and their representatives,” says the letter signed by the First Deputy Chairman of the Central Bank Sergei Shvetsov. “A special type of mediation has emerged, the so-called auto lawyers, who carry out activities aimed not at protecting the rights of victims, but at maximizing the amounts recovered from insurers for their own benefit, the auto lawyers.” According to the Russian Union of Auto Insurers (RUA), in 2016, non-insurance legal expenses (fines, penalties, legal fees, etc.) of companies providing compulsory motor liability insurance amounted to more than 13 billion rubles, which is about 6% of insurance premiums for this period. Unscrupulous auto lawyers are engaged in “buying out losses from victims and unwinding legal payments, including reimbursement of expenses not directly related to damage to the vehicle,” says Vitaly Knyaginichev, head of the retail business directorate of Ingosstrakh. In fact, the activities of some intermediaries are not aimed at protecting the rights of victims, but at unjustifiably collecting funds from insurers in their favor, adds Marina Shchukina, Deputy Head of the Department of Compulsory and Mass Insurance Products of JSC RESO-Garantiya.

Moreover, insurance payments do not grow evenly, but only in certain regions. For example, in the Ivanovo region, the Republic of Adygea and the Karachay-Cherkess Republic, the average payment is more than twice as high as in Moscow. The Central Bank also notes the illegality of court decisions in some regions.

This situation has led to the fact that in some places in Russia it is almost impossible to buy compulsory motor liability insurance. In the country as a whole, the number of contracts concluded in 2016 decreased by 3.6% compared to 2015, and in some regions by 10-25%, the Central Bank indicates. Insurance companies are obliged to sell compulsory motor liability insurance everywhere, not to refuse clients and not to impose additional services, however, in order to reduce unprofitability, they still commit violations. “In 2016, in the most problematic Southern Federal District alone, the Bank of Russia considered 14,112 requests and complaints about problems related to the issuance of compulsory motor liability insurance policies, issued 765 orders to eliminate violations of the law against insurers, and drew up 210 protocols on administrative violations,” the Central Bank points out. .

Sending for repairs instead of monetary compensation under compulsory motor liability insurance will eliminate the opportunity for auto lawyers to profit from insurance companies, deputies and officials believe. The idea of ​​so-called “in-kind compensation” arose a year ago. During the “Direct Line with Vladimir Putin” program in April 2016, the President of the Association for the Protection of Policyholders’ Rights, Maxim Khanzhin, proposed instructing the Bank of Russia to work on the option of switching exclusively to the in-kind form of compensation for losses under OSAGO in order to exclude fraudulent schemes. After this, the president actually instructed the government, together with the Central Bank, to prepare proposals for improving compulsory motor liability insurance in order to make restoration repairs the main method of compensation. On December 14, 2016, the State Duma considered the bill in the first reading.

“Fraudsters, criminal traffic lawyers and various types of organized crime groups arise where there is cash circulation,” says Sergei Pechnikov, insurance development director at IC MAX. “And for respectable citizens, it is important first of all to eliminate the consequences of an accident, that is, to repair the car.” The introduction of an in-kind form of compensation in compulsory motor liability insurance will make it possible, on the one hand, to make the activities of auto lawyers unprofitable, and on the other hand, it will increase the level of protection for victims, Shchukina believes.

Is everyone unhappy again?

In theory, amendments to the law should make both insurance companies and their clients happy. The former will no longer suffer losses due to intermediaries, the latter will receive their repaired cars. But in practice many questions arise.

For example, how can you get the insurer’s consent to carry out repairs at a trusted car service center, and not at the one offered by the company? Representatives of insurance companies cannot yet answer this question accurately. “We are talking about individual decisions based on specific circumstances. It is impossible to indicate in advance what is needed for this. The insurance company will make a decision based on the arguments of the policyholder,” says Knyaginichev from Ingosstrakh. This is a matter of practice, Pechnikov agrees. “The fundamental point is the prices that the service station will apply, the quality and timing of repairs. If the prices correspond to the applicable reference books, as well as all other parameters, including the reputation of the service, then in many cases this will be enough for insurers,” he says. But Knyaginichev claims that if the repair is carried out by a service of the policyholder’s choice, then “the insurance company will not be able to guarantee the quality and timing.”

Citizens are accustomed to receiving money from the insurance company under compulsory motor liability insurance and repairing the car themselves. But there will not be many dissatisfied with the changes, representatives of insurers believe. “It is important for respectable citizens that the damaged property is restored to the condition it was in before the accident. Thus, potentially transferring the bulk of compensation in kind should not lead to problems,” says Pechnikov. In the comprehensive insurance segment, the natural form of compensation has long been introduced and the vast majority of customers are satisfied with car repairs, adds Knyaginichev.

Inna Zhavrid, deputy general director of GlavStrakhControl, has a different opinion: “Only a few will be satisfied, and some may even abandon compulsory motor liability insurance altogether.” Even before the amendments were adopted, insurance companies had the opportunity to give clients referrals for repairs, she emphasizes: “Why weren’t they sent? Why didn’t they make the system attractive and convenient for victims? They couldn’t do it before, but can they now? I doubt. Problems will remain: failure to meet deadlines, endless approvals, failures, quality of repairs, etc.” If the client is dissatisfied with the quality of the repair, he will need to conduct an independent examination, and then contact the insurance company and the court, explains Inna Zhavrid.

The insurers themselves, apparently, are also not satisfied with the amendments. Costs for motor vehicle lawyers should fall, they admit, but the unprofitability of compulsory motor liability insurance will not decrease. It's all about wear and tear of parts. As already stated, the law assumes that the insurer pays for repairs using new parts, and makes cash payments for used parts. And the tariffs approved by the Central Bank are calculated on the basis of payments taking into account the wear and tear of parts. “The authors of the amendments, without making calculations, assume that the increase in payments due to compensation without wear and tear will be offset by a fall in legal costs. Unfortunately, it is not. Our calculations show that even if we exclude all legal costs, compensation without depreciation will require an increase in tariffs by at least 25%, otherwise the unprofitability of insurers will increase,” says Pechnikov from IC MAX. In addition, the dynamics of the development of the situation with legal expenses is not yet fully understood, since disputes over the amount of compensation can transform into disputes over the quality of repairs and timing, he adds.

Denis Makarov, head of the underwriting department for compulsory types of AlfaStrakhovanie, points out another problem for insurers - official dealers. It is to them that the insurance company must send cars no older than two years, and the services must be no further than 50 km from the scene of the accident or the client’s residence. “For now it looks like we will have to artificially populate the expanses of remote cities of Chukotka, the Urals, Western and Eastern Siberia with official dealers, where there may not be any of them not only within the city limits, but even for several hundred kilometers around,” comments Makarov.