The culprit will pay: CTP recourse claims may become mandatory
Insurance companies will be required to file recourse claims against the perpetrators of an accident with aggravating circumstances. The relevant amendments to the legislation have been submitted to the State Duma for consideration. Experts and lawyers believe that these changes are unnecessary, and the introduction of new regulations may overshadow a certain number of "drunk" accidents. In addition, this may lead to an increase in the cost of CTP, experts believe. Details can be found in the Izvestia article.
Duty instead of right
A bill has been submitted to the State Duma providing for the obligation of insurers to file recourse claims against the perpetrators of an accident with aggravating consequences within the framework of CTP. The document has been published in the legislative support system of the Parliament. It is assumed that if a car accident occurred due to a driver who was drunk or refused a medical examination, as well as a person who does not have the right to drive a vehicle, the insurance company, after paying compensation to the victims, will be obliged to file a recourse claim against the culprit of the accident. A similar rule will apply if the collision occurred intentionally.
Current legislation grants insurance companies the right to file a recourse claim against the perpetrators of an accident. This is possible not only in cases where the driver is drunk, has no license, or intentionally collided with another car, but also in situations where the culprit fled the scene, his diagnostic card expired (for taxis, buses, and vehicles for transporting dangerous goods). The insurance company also has the right to file a recourse claim against the driver responsible for the accident, who is not included in the CTP policy, or if the insurance period has expired at the time of the accident.
However, as the authors of the amendments note, since currently the decision to file recourse claims is the right, not the obligation, of insurers, they refuse it in some cases.
"As a result, the lack of cash receipts to the CTP system from unscrupulous car owners is compensated by an increase in the insurance tariff for all policyholders. This state of affairs seems unfair, contributing to the growth of social tension. At the same time, information was received from CTP insurers about the presence of barriers to the effective implementation of the above-mentioned right. Removing the relevant barriers will reduce the time for recovery of recourse to 40%, increase the recovery rate to 90%," the explanatory note to the bill says.
The accompanying documents to the amendments indicate that in 2023 and 2024, CTP insurers did not exercise their right of recourse in the amount of 5.7 billion rubles, which is more than 98% of the total amount of such claims.
According to the authors of the bill, its adoption "will create conditions for curbing the growth of CTP tariffs, fair formation of tariff policy, as well as reducing the risks of shifting part of the cost of insurance of unscrupulous policyholders to other policyholders."
Insurers are against
The proposed initiative of a mandatory recourse claim by an insurer against a person who caused harm is not supported by the insurance community, the Russian Union of Motor Insurers (RSA) told Izvestia.
— Currently, insurance companies have all the necessary tools to recover payments made to victims by insurance companies from the perpetrators of accidents. Insurers actively carry out this activity in all areas and in relation to all cases. At the same time, the outcome of the penalty often depends on a number of factors — the life and financial circumstances of the perpetrator — and, accordingly, his ability to pay the full amount may be limited by the court, the press service of the RSA explained.
The union also noted that the draft law does not specify the time frame within which the insurer will be required to file a recourse claim, and it is also not clear whether any consequences are expected for the insurer if such a claim is not filed.
As for the statistical data indicated in the explanatory note to the document, as noted in the RSA, they may not fully reflect the volume of insurers' penalties within the framework of current CTP legislation, since not the entire market immediately and fully configured the transfer of relevant information to the insurance AIS.
Go into the shadows
The current legislation gives insurance companies more grounds for voluntarily filing a recourse claim against the perpetrators of accidents under the CTP, says Sergey Radko, a lawyer for the Freedom of Choice movement. In his opinion, there is no need to introduce a recourse claim against the perpetrators of the accident, which is mandatory for insurers.
— I think this is an unnecessary requirement. In addition, it can "shadow" a certain number of accidents involving drunk drivers or motorists without licenses. Knowing that in any case they will have to pay, the perpetrators of such incidents will try to "negotiate on the spot" with the victims so as not to call the police, Sergei Radko believes.
Any insurance company is primarily interested in making a profit and minimizing its costs, recalls Igor Morzharetto, a member of the Presidium of the Public Council under the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia.
— If, in certain cases, the law gives the insurance company the right to file a recourse claim against the cause of the accident and thereby compensate the amount paid to the victims of the accident, then the insurer will definitely use this right. Especially if he is confident of a positive outcome for himself," Igor Morzharetto believes.
He also agrees with Sergey Radko that the introduction of mandatory recourse claims under CTP can "make some accidents latent."
It won't be cheaper.
The adoption of the proposed bill will not only not reduce, but, on the contrary, may eventually increase tariffs for Avtograzhdanka, said Anton Shaparin, vice President of the National Automobile Union (NAS).
— In this case, lawyers of insurance companies will have to file recourse lawsuits and sue thousands of those responsible for accidents. These are additional costs for insurers. Obviously, they will eventually be included in the CTP tariffs," the NAS Vice president explained.
Переведено сервисом «Яндекс Переводчик»
