What does the law say?
On September 1, 2014, a number of changes were made to the Federal Law “On Compulsory Civil Liability Insurance of Vehicle Owners,” which in particular affected the period for consideration of a claim under compulsory motor liability insurance.
After the occurrence of an insured event, you contact the insurance company with a statement and attach all the necessary documents. You need to do this within a period that does not exceed 15 working days. From this moment the Insurer has 20 days to pay the insurance compensation. The total period for consideration of a victim’s application has now been reduced from 30 to 20 calendar days. However, if you have an old-style MTPL policy, then the application review period is 30 calendar days.
The inspection of the damaged vehicle will have to be carried out, as before, within 5 working days. If the victim does not provide his car for inspection, the insurer may extend the period for making a decision on his insurance event by 20 calendar days, which he must inform the policyholder about.
What to pay attention to
Please note that when filing a pre-trial claim, in addition to demanding payment of insurance compensation, you have the right to demand payment of the amount of the penalty if the insurer violated the deadline for considering the application. As follows from the “letter” of the Law:
- In case of violation of the payment deadline, the insurance company will be obliged to pay a penalty in the amount of 1% of a certain amount of insurance payment according to the type of harm caused to each victim.
- If the Insurer violates the deadline for sending a refusal to pay insurance compensation, then it will be obliged to pay money to the Insured for each day of delay in the form of a financial sanction in the amount of 0.05% of the established insured amount according to the type of harm caused to each victim.
In this case, both the penalty and the financial sanction will be paid by the insurance company after receiving a written application from the interested party with such a requirement in an amount not exceeding the amount of the insured amount for the type of damage caused.
What is the essence of the pre-trial procedure
The car owner may not always agree with the actions of the insurance company. For example, a driver may not be satisfied with the amount of insurance payment under compulsory motor liability insurance, or a complete refusal to receive it. Also, the car owner may be dissatisfied with how the insurers worked under the agreement, in what time frame and how well they fulfilled their obligations.
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But before drawing up an application to go to court with this issue, the driver is obliged to file a claim with the insurer himself.
A claim from a dissatisfied client is necessarily accepted by the company. The period for consideration of a pre-trial claim under compulsory motor liability insurance is 10 working days. As soon as the car owner has received a response to the claim and is not satisfied with the decision made by the insurer, he goes to court.
With this rule, the state solved the problem of abuse of rights by car lawyers, and also relieved the judiciary of a large number of claims from car owners. But the procedure was supposed to be valid only until 2021, its period ends on July 1.
How to write a pre-trial claim against an insurance company under MTPL
Before making a pre-trial claim, it is necessary to determine the grounds. This document is drawn up in free form. Its structure consists of three parts. The first part indicates all the reasons why the decision to file a complaint was made.
Such reasons include:
- Unreasonable understatement of all due payments;
- Failure to comply with formal deadlines;
- Final refusal to provide compensation under compulsory motor liability insurance.
In the second part, the car enthusiast describes his requirements, referring to current standards of relevant legislation, or to the results of technical expertise. If this is due to an underestimation of the required compensation, documents from the previously conducted examination are attached to the complaint. If the insurance company violates all formal deadlines, references to relevant legislation regulating the established deadlines are indicated here.
The third part is the final one. In which links to the information data attached to the document and links to legislation are indicated. In the header of such a claim, it is necessary to accurately indicate the details of the organization and the addressee of this appeal. In most cases, this is the head of a branch or department.
Where to file a pre-trial claim under MTPL?
A complaint under the MTPL agreement must be submitted to the address of the insurance company with which the contract was concluded. Namely, to the address of the main manager. Information about the details for filing a complaint can be found on the official resource of the conditional insurance company. If we are talking about an MTPL agreement, such disputes are considered directly by the head of the organization. If this does not give the expected result, you can apply pre-trial to the RSA.
Sample pre-trial claim to an insurance company under MTPL
It has already been noted that several circumstances may be the basis for direct filing of a complaint. If, after an accident, the conditional insurance company delays all the required deadlines for making compensation, filing a complaint must be related specifically to this violation.
In case of refusal or unreasonable underestimation of the amount of due payments, it is necessary to file a separate type of complaint. It is compiled according to the same principle as for all other reasons.
Required documents
A claim is submitted under CASCO insurance for payment of full compensation with documents attached. You will need to provide the following originals:
- Passport of a citizen of the Russian Federation.
- Insurance contract issued by the company.
- Vehicle technical condition certificate.
- Driver's license.
- A document confirming the occurrence of an insured event (accident, theft, hurricane damage).
This is an exhaustive list; additional information is required in rare cases. Usually this is a copy of the examination performed if the car was damaged by a natural disaster. Upon acceptance, the company that issued the insurance does not have the right to refuse and is obliged to consider all the facts described.
Why is insurance payment understated?
The less money a company pays car owners for insurance, the more money it will earn for itself. The fact of this violation of the law can only be proven in court.
The insurer has the right to reduce the amount of compensation if the limit of payments under compulsory motor liability insurance established by the state is exceeded.
The restrictions have been increased to the following values:
- Up to 500,000 rubles for damage caused to the health of victims of an accident.
- Up to 400,000 rubles for damage caused to the victim’s vehicle and other property.
Each insured person has the right to payment of compensation commensurate with the damage suffered and not exceeding the limits established by law.
Underpayment by an insurance company can occur when the cost of repairing a vehicle or treating an injured person is above the upper limits.
The insurer will not compensate for costs in excess of the limit.
There are legal reasons why an insurance company can reduce the amount of compulsory motor liability insurance. These are:
- Wear and tear of parts that require replacement.
- Calculation of compensation without taking into account the commodity value.
- Exclusion from the final payment amount of some damages specified in the estimate: corrosion, damage to the paintwork.
Often motorists try to challenge the actions of the Investigative Committee on points 1 and 2. But the court will not always satisfy such claims.
We recommend the article: What to do if the insurance company refuses to pay under MTPL?
How to file a claim if you haven’t paid enough under MTPL
If the policyholder has submitted a claim to the insurance company, this gives him the following benefits:
- all relations with the insurer are documented in this way and copies of claims and responses to them can be presented in court as evidence;
- it is possible that an error occurred caused by a human factor - a particular contractor misjudged the situation, but when filing a claim, a thorough investigation took place in the insurance company itself and the right decision was made;
- a compromise solution can be found that satisfies both parties. You just need to keep in mind that you need compelling reasons to write a complaint. For example, the service that you did not like when taking out an MTPL policy is not such a reason.
Typically, the need for a written pre-trial claim arises after a traffic accident, that is, when an insured event occurs under compulsory motor liability insurance, and the insurer does not want to fulfill its obligations.
Also, in your complaint you must indicate not only your conjectures, but also specific facts confirming the violation of your rights and the norms provided for by law.
The legislator obliges the insurance company, after a traffic accident involving the insured vehicle, to provide all necessary documents in full, to inspect the damaged car by the insurer, and to pay compensation to the victim.
In the Federal Law “On Compulsory Civil Liability Insurance of Vehicle Owners” dated April 25, 2002, the period for payment of compensation is 20 days, excluding holidays.
If, after the expiration of the period provided by the legislator, the payment by the insurance company has not been made, that is, a delay has arisen, there is a legal basis to send a written claim to the insurer.
Although we still advise you to contact the insurance company in person and find out the reason for the delay, it is often trivial - an incorrectly specified account number for transferring funds. In this case, of course, there is no need to file a claim.
If the situation cannot be resolved so simply, and the insurance company does not explain the reason for the delay, then you must make a written claim, indicating that, in accordance with the law, for each day of delay you will have to pay a penalty in the amount of 1% of the total amount of debt for each day .
How to get insurance under MTPL?
They didn’t pay enough under compulsory motor liability insurance, what to do, read here.
What to do if the insurance company does not pay for compulsory motor liability insurance, read the link:
How to fill out a claim?
The decision the insurance company will make largely depends on how correctly the claim is drawn up. The insurer must provide the claim form upon the first request of the policyholder. You must describe in detail the current situation, your requirements, as well as their validity.
When filling out the form provided, be sure to pay attention to the following points:
- Correctly indicate the name of the organization or surname of the person to whom you are submitting the claim. If the form is provided by the insurance company, then most often this item has already been filled out, but it doesn’t hurt to check;
- Avoid making mistakes when copying out the MTPL policy numbers of both your own and those at fault in a traffic accident;
- Accurately indicate your personal data (last name, first name, patronymic, passport series and number, place of residence and contact information);
- Describe in detail your claims against the insurer, specifically indicate its actions that are contrary to the law;
- It is necessary to offer several compromise solutions to the current situation, because the insurer may agree to them and this will save your time and nerves.
The insurer may also be influenced by the indication in the text of the claim of specific regulations that, in your opinion, it violates. This will show your legal literacy and desire to defend your rights. It would also be a good idea to hire a qualified auto lawyer to draw up a claim. After all, the issue of collecting insurance is quite complex and without legal assistance it will not always be possible to achieve a positive result.
You can submit a claim in person at the insurer's office. In this case, you need to make sure that the person in charge puts a stamp, date of receipt, signature and his/her last name on the copy of the claim that remains with you. If this does not happen, then it is quite difficult to prove that the claim was actually transferred to the insurance company.
You can also send a claim with the entire package of documents and via postal service by letter with a simple notification and a list of attachments. But in this case, the countdown for the response from the insurance company will not be from the moment of sending, but from the moment it receives the letter.
