Deputies spoke out against compensating car owners for damage caused by roads or trees under compulsory motor liability insurance.

The State Duma Committee on the Financial Market did not recommend that parliament adopt a bill that would allow citizens, within the framework of compulsory motor liability insurance, to compensate for damage caused to their vehicles due to poor-quality roads, falling icicles or trees. The Russian government believes that such an expansion of the motor vehicle insurance policy would lead to an increase in the cost of insurance policies. Experts admit that it is now extremely difficult for car owners to collect compensation from road workers and utility workers, and, citing foreign experience, they call for obliging these structures to insure their liability to third parties.

State Duma deputy Yaroslav Nilov (LDPR) introduced amendments to the law on compulsory motor insurance to parliament at the end of 2023. He proposed giving car owners the right to make claims to insurers for compensation for damage caused to life, health or property as a result of illegal “actions (inactions) of state bodies, local governments and public utility organizations.”

Now, let us remind you that compulsory motor liability insurance covers damage only in the framework of an accident. Cars often get damaged due to the unsatisfactory condition of the road surface (potholes and potholes), unremoved snow, falling icicles from roofs and rotten trees not cut down in time, Yaroslav Nilov explained in materials for the bill. “Even if government agencies and service organizations admit guilt in causing harm, car owners are forced to independently bear the burden of collection in court,” he notes. The average time for consideration of court cases, according to the deputy, is almost nine months. But even if the decision is made in favor of the car owner, it still needs to be executed – often this happens by force, and enforcement proceedings can drag on for years, he continues. At the beginning of February 2024, for example, the Kalininsky District Court of St. Petersburg collected 278 thousand rubles from the company that is responsible for maintaining the local area. as compensation for the repair of the car on which the tree fell, as well as the costs of a lawyer and state fees. Moreover, the incident itself occurred in October 2022. To establish the circumstances of the incidents, Mr. Nilov proposed conducting an independent technical examination, describing the corresponding mechanism in the law. The insurance company, in turn, will be able to file a recourse claim against government agencies or utility services that caused the harm.

The traffic police reports contain only general data on road accidents with unsatisfactory road conditions, at the site of which various violations of the maintenance of the surface, signs, markings, and barriers were identified. In 2023, 1.5 thousand such accidents occurred on federal roads (-5.3% by 2022), on regional and intermunicipal roads – 6.8 thousand (+7%), local ones – 31.2 thousand (+ 2.1%). There are no separate statistics on vehicles damaged by trees, but the risk tends to increase during hurricanes: the Blue Buckets Society estimates that approximately 1,500 cases of vehicles being damaged by fallen trees are recorded annually.

The Duma Committee on the Financial Market, where the bill was considered yesterday, did not support the amendments, recommending that parliament not adopt them. The Russian government in its conclusion indicated that the proposed scheme, firstly, does not relate to the regulation of the law on compulsory motor liability insurance, and secondly, will lead to an increase in the insurance premium (as of the end of the year, it amounted to 7.8 thousand rubles .), but did not explain why. As a result, the financial burden on government agencies in terms of expenses for insuring company cars will increase, according to the White House. Officials also recalled that the LDPR introduced a similar bill in 2021, and even then it was rejected: “The relevance of the proposed regulation is not seen.”

The Russian Union of Auto Insurers supported the position of the committee and the government. “Under the MTPL agreement, damage caused by the driver to third parties is compensated,” the organization explained. “Damage to the car as a result of road deficiencies cannot be classified as such a risk. Theoretically, such risks could be covered using a new type of liability insurance for utilities and road construction services. However, it must be taken into account that such insurance will cause additional burden on municipal and regional budgets.”

Today, if the traffic police indicates that an accident occurred due to the poor condition of the road, this is not an insured event; to compensate for the damage, the victim turns to the organization that is responsible for the condition of the road, added Mikhail Petryaev, head of the underwriting department for motor types of insurance at Absolut Insurance. . “If the amendments are adopted, such road accidents will be considered insured events, the frequency and amount of payments under compulsory motor liability insurance will increase, and to compensate for the increase in payments, insurance companies will be forced to raise rates,” he says.

It is really difficult to recover damages after a tree falls on a car, confirmed Yulia Kablinova, coordinator of the Blue Buckets movement, especially if it happened during a hurricane. “We have to prove that the tree fell due to the fault of the utility workers, who were careless,” explains the expert. “A positive outcome for the owner is the exception rather than the rule.” The expert refers to foreign experience: an organization that has a site with a fallen tree on its balance sheet reports the incident to its insurer, which, without any legal action, compensates the car owner for the damaged car. “In Russia, we also only need to oblige utility companies to insure their liability to third parties, since this risk is not included in our compulsory motor liability insurance policy,” Ms. Kablinova believes.

Ivan Buranov