Repair or payment: what to choose in the event of an accident?

It is important to consider wear and tear

What is more expedient for the OSAGO policyholder to choose in the event of an insured event – monetary compensation or repairs? And why?

• The first thing you should know is that the policyholder cannot personally choose the mode of compensation for damages, this right belongs to the insurance companies. But he can express the request for the preferred option.

I generally advise my clients to ask the insurer to carry out the repairs. Why is it better? The fact is that the vehicle is repaired without depreciation, and payment is made taking into account the depreciation. In addition, there is a court practice when the consumer has demanded repairs, and the company, on its own initiative, has paid the damages in cash, taking into account the wear and tear of the parts, and the court can return the amount wear on parts. When the car owner immediately asks for money, the obligation to pay this difference is usually not met.

That is why it is more expedient to demand repairs, but at the same time it is necessary to declare the refusal to install used spare parts and replica spare parts, that is, say those that are not manufactured by the car manufacturer.

Does a repair request have to be made verbally or in writing somewhere?

• If a person is able to figure it out on his own, he can write a free application, lay out all the points in it according to the law and send it to the insurance company. Indeed, by contacting the insurer directly, the car owner will receive a special application template, in which you need to check off some items that cannot be canceled later. If they are not filed, the application will simply not be accepted. In these models, as a rule, everything is initially directed against the consumer.

How can a person understand whether he is deceived by paying monetary compensation or not?

• It is difficult to figure this out on your own, you will need to contact an expert organization and conduct an independent assessment. The expert has special skills and knowledge, has access to specialized databases of spare parts and, on the basis of this, he can draw a conclusion on the correctness of the payment. If the damage after an accident is minimal, up to 50,000 rubles, and there is no obvious understatement of the amount, it makes no sense to turn to experts. If we are talking about damage on a larger scale, then it is already more profitable to conduct an examination. Its approximate cost is from 5 to 10 thousand rubles, depending on the organization and complexity. Any expert entered in the Register of Expert Technicians of the Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation has the right to conduct an examination. It is a legal requirement. Typically, expert organizations offer a registered expert to assess the cost of restoration repairs. I have not heard that in our city the practice of deception in this regard is widespread from expert organizations. There are many of them and it is easy to find the right one.

How often do disputes arise over these payments?

• Currently, in about 80% of cases, insurance companies pay amounts in accordance with legal requirements, respectively in 20% – no. Another problem is that the very principle of payments is directed against the consumer. The cost of spare parts is calculated according to the bases of the PCA (Russian Union of Automobile Insurers), and often the prices there are lower than the actual market value. At the same time, the courts that were required to challenge the PCA basis with a significant understatement of the cost of spare parts were lost. That is, the judiciary seems to be making it clear that it won’t pay attention.

Work on the mistakes of others

Is there a warranty for repairs?

• Such a guarantee exists. In addition, the examination of the quality of the repair is widespread, when the expert assesses the correctness of the technology for the execution of the repair and the permissible deviations. If defects are discovered, which happens quite often, the cost of their elimination is calculated, and then the car owner submits a claim to the insurance company.

Judicial practice in terms of satisfaction of claims, as a rule, is positive?

– No, in most cases the insurance companies do not satisfy these claims. This is because the mechanism of interaction with them is very difficult. You must first contact the insurance company with the appropriate request. If there is no response, write a complaint. The next step is the financial commissioner, and only after that it is possible to go to court. All these steps take a long time, about six months on average. Moreover, it is difficult for an ordinary person to go through this procedure without a lawyer.

Can I immediately bring an expert with me to the acceptance stage?

• This would be an ideal option, another question is that not everyone has such an opportunity. If so, you must notify the insurance company before at any time I agree to work on the repair of my vehicle with an expert. But, as a rule, everything happens differently: first people take the repaired car, then they find faults and conduct an examination. If it’s just flaws or poor quality paint, there’s usually no problem with a claim. But whether or not it was, for example, a scratch, it is difficult to prove – the driver received the car and drove off. Maybe it came later.

Therefore, before signing the act of acceptance of the vehicle after repair at the service center, you should at least carefully visually inspect the car and, if any defects are found, correct them in writing in a free form.

Is it safe to issue an OSAGO policy through insurance agents? How to choose them well?

• Now there are good resources where you can choose a cost-effective option to issue a policy without insurance agents. But here everything will depend on the specific person who positions himself as an agent. Some of them really inflate the cost of the policy, and then it is much more profitable to buy it from an insurance company. At least the driver will know for sure that the policy isn’t fake and that they haven’t paid double the cost.

Should the cost of the policy be too low?

• Yes of course. If we are talking about a 5-10% difference, it is normal, but if we are talking about 50%, we must be wary.

What is total and abandonment?

With OSAGO everything is more or less clear, but what about CASCO? How many nuances in this type of insurance?

• There are many nuances in CASCO. If OSAGO is a standard insurance contract common to all, then CASCO is an individual contract. Even in the same company, with a difference of one month, they can offer different insurance contract conditions and options. Therefore, when an insured event occurs under CASCO, the first thing to do is to understand the insurance rules. These documents are very voluminous – a hundred pages, they have many nuances.

What are the most common issues insurers face?

• Mainly with problems related to the size of the payment, its formation. Thus, for example, a decreasing amount of insurance indemnity can be prescribed in the contract, when the cost of a vehicle becomes less expensive each month. Suppose the owner of the car insured it for a million rubles, then the cost decreases to 950,000 rubles, then to 900,000, and so on. It is illegal for the insurance company to use this time and state a lower amount when an insured event occurs, if this was not agreed in advance. It is also worth paying attention to the amount of payment when the car goes into the total (when it is recognized as not repairable). This can be 50% of the cost or 75% – the value of all insurance companies is different. In the event that the vehicle has been badly damaged in an accident, a legal mechanism such as abandonment, which few people know about, can be applied. For example: a car worth 1 million rubles has a serious accident, and 50% is recognized as a total. After the vehicle is recognized as irreparable, the insured receives only 500,000 rubles. It is understood that the car itself is valued at 500,000 rubles, and for this money the driver can either restore it or sell it for spare parts. But this is not always the case, because the affected car can cost much less, and it cannot be restored. In such cases, the surrender mechanism is simply used when the car owner gives the car to the insurance company and receives insurance compensation for it in full.

In addition, you have to be careful who has the right to drive a vehicle. Because people often think that if they have insured a car under CASCO, then you can put anyone behind the wheel, anyway, they will receive compensation from the insurance company in the event of an accident. But this is not the case: the contract often prescribes who can lead at the time of the accident to the insurance compensation. In addition, the insurance may not be paid if the culprit of the accident is not identified (for example, if he fled the scene of the accident) and this is stipulated in the insurance rules. That is why, before drawing up a CASCO insurance contract, you should carefully study all its clauses.