What to do if your car is hit in the yard (MTPL, CASCO)?

If you hit a car, is it an accident or not?

Such a case is an accident with all the ensuing consequences, but only if the impact was initiated by another car - it hit your vehicle. If a standing car was hit by hooligans passing by, snow, a tree or other objects/persons not related to the vehicles fell on it, then this is not an accident.

If a stationary car was damaged by another vehicle, then the owner who discovered the damage must perform a full list of actions provided for in the relevant paragraphs 2.5 and 2.6.1, namely:

do not go anywhere and do not move a parked car at the scene of an accident;
check the windshield for notes left;
turn on the emergency lights and put up an emergency stop sign;
perform photo and video recording of vehicle damage;
drive away the car if it interferes with the passage of other road users,
and call authorized police officers, whose jurisdiction we will discuss below.

If a driver hits a car in the yard and leaves the scene of an accident, what does he face?

Search for a car, criminal liability and prison. This is what some drivers think, having found themselves in a similar situation and having heard various scary stories.

In fact, these are too condensed colors. Although, if there are victims or the fact of causing serious bodily harm to citizens, then criminal prosecution is not excluded.

However, accident statistics show that the likelihood of such an event is extremely low. What consequences may occur for those car owners who carelessly treated another car?

When the conversation turns to administrative liability , most likely it may arise for leaving the scene of an accident. Sanctions prescribed in Part 2 of Art. 12.27 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation , provide for deprivation of rights for hiding for a period of one to one and a half years . An alternative could be arrest for 15 days .

At the time of the accident, the driver was drunk and fled, after which he was detained at home; this is often fraught with a fine of 30 thousand rubles. and deprivation of rights from 1.5 to 2 years (Part 3 of Article 12.27 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation)

Property liability . Here we are guided by Art. Art. 1064, 1079 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation, regulating the procedure for compensation for material damage.

It must be remembered that if the car was not driven by the owner, the owner of the vehicle will be responsible to the victim. Exceptions are cases when the car is transferred under an agreement or power of attorney.

It is unlikely, but criminal liability is allowed - enshrined in Art. 264 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. It depends on the nature of the injuries and the number of victims. The condition of the driver is essential: whether he was drunk at the time of the accident or not.

In general, of course, you need to look at the specific situation. What circumstances will play a significant role?

Let's list them:

The scene of the accident.
The circumstances under which the accident occurred.
The presence or absence of intoxication.
Whose fault was it that the collision occurred?
Is there a compulsory insurance policy?
How seriously damaged the cars were.
Are there any injuries caused by the accident?

When the driver who hit the car and left the scene of the accident knows all the facts listed above, it is better to go to a car lawyer and discuss with him all possible scenarios. And if it is not known, then even more so.

We will consider cases with minor injuries and more serious ones separately. Read the article and you will find an approximate algorithm of actions suitable for your situation.

Do I need to call the traffic police?

If your parked car was hit by another car (at least the damage indicates this), then such a situation is clearly classified as an accident. Therefore, if the culprit leaves the scene of an accident, the victim must call the police and describe the situation.

DPS says to call the local police officer

Perhaps they are right. If a passer-by hit a car in the yard, or the cause of the damage is an organization or person who did not use the vehicle, then you should call a local police officer to record the accident. It is he who will determine, later issuing relevant information about the owner of the source of damage (in the case of objects falling from buildings, snow falling on a stationary car or a fallen tree).

In some cases, the dispatcher recommends that the victim call the local police officer instead of the traffic police squad even if the event falls within the definition of an accident. The traffic police have only one explanation - since the event happened in the yard, it is not a road and, accordingly, not an accident. And the inspector is wrong about this - the Supreme Court established several years ago that there are roads in the adjacent territories.

In such a situation, call immediately other numbers - if you called the duty station, then call 02, and vice versa. And also write down the number of the incoming call. It is advisable to record the conversation on your phone for further evidence in court.

Necessary actions

We follow the following algorithm of actions:

If you are on the road, you need to put up an emergency sign or set off an alarm;
Call the responsible traffic police officers and inform them about the incident;
While waiting for employees, you can try to find witnesses yourself. Don't expect a miracle. Act yourself, it is in your own interests.

It’s worth calming down and looking around - suddenly there were people nearby who saw what was happening. Maybe a car with a video recorder is parked not far from you, or the driver sitting in the car could see something. Try to communicate with them.

I hit someone else's car - what should I do?

If someone else's car is hit while moving around the yards, you should try the following actions:

View the windshield to identify the car owner's contacts.
Knock on the wheels to trigger the alarm and attract the owner's attention.
Interview nearby people to see if they know the owner of the car.

If none of the methods is successful, then you will have to leave all your affairs and call the traffic police yourself. The police dispatcher will provide further instructions, for example, asking you to take photographs of the damage and to report to the police station to formally document the accident.

You should never just leave a note on the damaged car with your contacts, but you need to call the traffic police and formalize the incident. Only in this case can you avoid deprivation of your rights, because the owner of the hit car may not call you, but call the employees instead of you.

How to find the culprit?

If the culprit scratched a stationary car and left the scene of the accident, then you should definitely call the traffic police or the local police officer. It is the authorized employees who must search for the violator and bring him to justice.

However, as experience shows, employees are not too eager to fulfill their job duties, so the victim should independently:

find witnesses to a traffic accident;
view nearby cars for working car recorders;
look for cameras on stores located near the accident site,
take a walk through the neighboring yards - very often the perpetrators of such accidents are not very diligent in hiding their traces, and you may find traces of the paint of your car parked in the yard on other people’s damage.

If you successfully detect the car and license plate of the offender, the chance of receiving monetary compensation increases many times over. In this case, take photographs and videotapes of damage, take copies of them to the IAZ traffic police inspector who is in charge of your case, and hand them over to him.

If the culprit has not left, what should I do?

If the culprit of the accident does not leave and fully admits his guilt, then the rules allow the solution of the material issue on the spot. To do this, the parties need to draw up a European protocol and sign the document. In the future, the victim has the right to contact the insurance company directly and demand compensation for damage.

Important! A European protocol under the new rules for registering road accidents must be drawn up - even if you have agreed on direct compensation for damage by the culprit. You simply won’t need to take your form to the insurance company and declare it (otherwise there will be unjust enrichment). The Europrotocol can only be concluded in case of an accident, the damage from which is less than 400,000 rubles for Moscow and St. Petersburg or 100,000 rubles for other regions. Otherwise, the parties to the conflict will have to call the traffic police.

Deadline for submitting an application to the insurance company

The insurer must be notified of the occurrence of an insured event as soon as possible. The law provides different time limits for participants in a road accident depending on their roles.

The owner of the damaged vehicle must notify his insurance company no later than 15 days from the date of the accident. Violation of this deadline will mean the need to go to court to collect the amount of compensation.

The person responsible for the incident is obliged to act in strict accordance with the insurance contract. The text of the agreement must also include the terms for contacting the insurer. The consequence of violating the established procedure is liability in the form of payment of funds.

For your information! According to paragraph “g” of Art. 14 of the Law of the Russian Federation “On compulsory insurance of civil liability of vehicle owners” dated April 25, 2002 N 40-FZ, the culprit of the accident is obliged to report the incident to the insurance company within 5 working days.

You can inform the insurer by submitting all documents in person. It is also possible to send documents by registered mail. But in this case, you will have to contact a notary to certify the applicant’s signature.

Is it possible to receive compensation under compulsory motor liability insurance and how?

Compensation for damage under OSAGO in a situation where the car was parked near the road in the yard and was scratched is possible in one of the following cases:

the driver who hit the car in the yard and fled the scene of the accident was found and has a valid compulsory insurance policy;
the offender’s car is identified by license plate or other characteristics, and the owner of the car has compulsory motor liability insurance;
people were injured during the accident.

If the victim has CASCO insurance, he will in any case receive payment if he registers the incident.

Intruder detected

If the traffic police are working properly, the offender will be promptly identified and found, even if the accident occurred late at night. In such a situation, the victim has the right to count on financial compensation if:

the offender has an issued MTPL policy;
the found driver is officially recognized as the culprit of the accident (a decision or ruling has been made against him).

It is possible to receive an insurance payment in a situation where the culprit is found according to the following scheme:

request from law enforcement agencies a copy of the resolution and documents confirming the guilt of the other party.
write an application for compensation of damage to the insurance company.
submit all documents and application to the Investigative Committee.

The license plate number of the violator’s vehicle was recorded by cameras or witnesses

If the culprit of the accident fled the scene of the accident, but the license plate of his car is known, then, according to the current court practice in 2021, the owner of the car will be held responsible.

The fact is that the Civil Code of the Russian Federation prescribes the possibility of recovering damages from the owner of a source of increased danger in cases where the cause of harm has not been identified. We described this situation in detail in an article about the culprit who fled the scene of an accident.

There are victims in the accident

According to Article 18 of Federal Law No. 40, in 2021, financial compensation to the victim is provided even in cases where the culprit has disappeared or does not have a policy. However, there are also disadvantages:

compensation is paid only to persons who were physically injured, that is, we are talking only about parked cars in which people (driver and/or passengers) were sitting;
Damage to the car will not be taken into account when calculating the insurance payment.

To receive compensation, the injured person should collect all health certificates, treatment documents and papers from the traffic police. After this, you must contact the RSA with a claim for compensation.