Russians are preparing to increase taxi prices: they will pay extra for peace of mind

Will have to pay more for travel insurance

Deputies of the State Duma of the Russian Federation are discussing the issue of insurance for taxi passengers – possible payments to those who suffered as a result of an accident. The fact is that the situation in a taxi is now fundamentally different from the situation in public transport. If in the subway or bus the cost of insurance is already included in the ticket price, then this is not the case in a taxi – if an accident occurs, the passenger will still need to prove that he was injured there (and collect a plump package of certificates).

Now we are talking about changing this principle – the law according to which the safety of passengers is insured in public transport can be extended to taxis. If the bill is passed, taxi companies will be required to insure passengers for up to 2 million rubles. The exact size depends on the injury received and will be calculated according to a special government regulation.

As automotive expert Alexander Shumsky explained in an interview with an MK correspondent, today they are going to amend the law obliging taxi drivers to buy an additional liability insurance policy to their customers.

– Now insurance is provided only within the framework of the OSAGO policy and amounts to only 500 thousand rubles. This is not enough in the event of a serious accident. Damage to property and health will not pay off. Therefore, legislators want to increase the amount to 2 million rubles, and such a policy will cost about 30 thousand per year. So expensive, because taxi drivers – according to statistics! — get into accidents seven times more often than ordinary motorists. And because they drive more often, and because they drive more tired. Accordingly, 30 thousand rubles a year is 2,500 rubles a month, which means that this amount must be distributed among passengers’ checks. The check can grow by 30-50 rubles, but for short trips it will be noticeable. Therefore, there is a fear that taxi drivers will be cunning, not wanting to issue this policy. Moreover, OSAGO for taxi drivers already costs almost three times more than for an ordinary driver.

Shumsky noted that the situation is aggravated by the fact that taxi drivers are not allowed to work for a long time today – therefore, they do not have a chance to earn more. Therefore, today only those who have nothing to lose and who are not taken anywhere else often go to taxis. Moreover, any car repair today has risen in price by about 30%. According to experts, no one wants to support the next extortions, so the public is negative. On the part of taxi drivers, there is no and cannot be sympathy for this initiative, because registration will entail new costs for them, but passengers do not like the idea that the cost of the trip, of course, will inevitably increase, even if not by much. By the way, in the event of an accident, the passenger will still be required to draw up documents for receiving payment – certificates from the emergency room and so on – on their own.

However, there are a few more nuances. As taxi expert Robert Yan explained in a conversation with MK, this additional insurance will complicate the work of those taxi drivers who are registered as self-employed. They will have to deal with such formalities on their own, all the problems will fall on their shoulders – and they will again lose to large taxi companies.

– The fact is that at the end of 2022, a law was adopted to regulate the activities of taxis. Now taxi drivers have the opportunity to register as self-employed, and earlier only legal entities and individual entrepreneurs had such an opportunity. However, the self-employed are financially limited in their ability to compensate the passenger for damage in the event of an accident or other emergency, and besides them, no one can do this. It usually involves large sums. Such an insurance initiative should equalize the responsibilities and opportunities of the self-employed and legal persons. Otherwise, it turns out that a taxi driver who works through taxi companies has coverage for all insurance risks, while a private driver does not, the expert explains.

The bill is expected to be considered on June 14, 2023.

Published in the newspaper “Moskovsky Komsomolets” No. 29044 dated June 6, 2023

Newspaper headline:
The client will pay for peace of mind