Invalid policy of motor third party liability insurance
The market of car insurance is constantly flooded with fake MTPL policies. Swindlers often do not hide it: they say the blank is original, but unaccounted for and that is why the price is so low. If you want to save money, take a risk. You will get rid of the inspector, but in case of an accident, you will have to sort it out yourself.
When this fake car will be discovered after an accident, the insurer will definitely refuse to pay for car repair. Like we didn’t sell any of these things, and the blank is even faked. Or copied. Or hidden from the revision. It does not change the matter, the claimant will not receive money and the repairs will not be made. How to restore justice? We advise what to do, if a traffic accident culprit has a faked policy of MTPL.
When is a MTPL policy a fake?
“MTPL policy has become an expensive pleasure, so we offer to buy identical forms Reso-Garantia, MAKS, VSK, Renaissance. You can order any form: blank, with seals or filled with your data”, – the network is full of such announcements. And for good reason.
Demand for fake policies is forcing the market to evolve. If earlier “fake” policy was drawn literally “on a knee” on a back seat of the “nine”, but now the quality of fakes is very good. Even with special knowledge, you would not always be able to distinguish a fake from a genuine policy.
The only thing that will surely tell you about a fake is the RAMI database.. Enter the series and number, and the service will give you information about the status of the insurance, the insurance company, the date of conclusion, the beginning and the end of the contract. If the data in the policy and in the database do not match or are absent at all, the MTPL policy is a fake.
There are a lot of ways to fake it: it can be really a fake policy or, for instance, a “double” one with the same series, number and insurer’s registration. And it can be vice versa – the blank is real, really registered, but used by “agents” unauthorized, and the insurer is not notified of its use.
It doesn’t matter: it is both “fake” and the insurance company certainly won’t do the repair or pay the compensation. Although sometimes they do have to. Here’s how to get compensation from your insurance company if your MTPL policy is bogus.
When the insurance company is in charge.
The fact is that CMTPL insurance forms are strictly accountable forms. They are shipped to the insurers, who then themselves distribute them to their agents, ensure their control, and themselves are responsible for their unauthorized use (clause 7.1 Art. 15 of the Federal Law № 40 “On compulsory motor TPL insurance”.). That is when the blank is real but the information in it differs from the data in the database.
If a driver with such a policy causes a traffic accident, the fact of being “fake” does not release the insurer from liability. The insurance company is obliged to indemnify the suffered driver. An exclusion is the cases when the insurer informed the police about the theft of the blank before the fact of the road traffic accident. This approach is also reflected in the court practice (Determination of the RF Supreme Court No.Determination of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation № 57-KG16-17 from 17.01.2017).
Schematically it looks like this:
Who will reimburse the damage?
In all other cases, it will not be possible to attract the insurer. There is no valid policy of the guilty party, and therefore the IC is not involved. Who will pay for the injured driver’s repairs? And if treatment is needed?
Damage to life and health can be compensated at the expense of the RAMI. It is it, as a professional association of motor insurers, pays compensation if the guilty driver does not have a valid car insurance policy (subparagraph d) of paragraph 1 of Art. (subpar. d, par. 1 Art. CLAUSE 1.D. OF ART. 18 OF FEDERAL LAW NO. 40). For information on the procedure, addresses and documents to apply please visit At the site of RSA..
Repair will be paid by the guilty driver. Persons who have not had civil liability insurance (although they should have had it insured) pay for the damage caused by them independently (Art. 1064 OF THE CIVIL CODE, п. 4 Art. 4 OF THE FEDERAL LAW № 40).
Offer him to solve the issue “amicably”. Say, pay for the repair and “shut up”. Will he refuse? Before you sue the traffic accident culprit, send him a claim by post. His address should be in the protocol made by the inspector or in your copy of the euro-protocol, if the traffic police were not called. Perhaps, the “letter of happiness” will change his mind. Ignoring and further? Well, you are at fault.
Go to court for compensation.
aside the remark that in courts there is no justice! Do not go along with the guilty party and do not refuse to file a lawsuit. The chances of winning your case are much higher than it may seem. This is confirmed by the judicial practice. For example, the decision Basmanny district court of Moscow №. 2-1679/16 и 2-1691/16. So, if the guilty party refuses to pay damages, let’s act!
Step 1: Do the expertise.
You need to prove the size of the damage, which you plan to recover from the guilty party – the testimony of the neighbor of the garage to the court is not enough. To do this, apply to an expert organization and order an independent technical expertise. Of course, you can make repairs themselves, and then in court to refer to the cost of repairs in the checks and invoices from the service station. But then rightly there is a question about the relationship between the repaired damage and the accident. So it is better to do an expertise at once. Its cost can also recover from the guilty party (paragraphs. 2, 4 Clause 2 and 4 of the Resolution of the RF Supreme Court Plenum #1 of 21.01.2016.).
Step 2 Preparation of the claim
In the claim you need to set out the essence of what happened and state the requirement to recover from the perpetrator of the accident the amount of damage, the cost of the examination, other court costs. To prepare the correct claim, corresponding to the peculiarities of your situation, order it from lawyers. You can also use the following sample.
Attach to the claim:
- A copy of the claim sent to the guilty party;
- PTS, STS;
- The protocol drawn up in the traffic police;
- copy of the expert report;
- Document about payment of state duty;
- copies of claim and documents for the number of parties.
Step 3: Submitting a claim
The claim should be filed in court at the defendant’s place of residence. If the amount of the claim is less than 50 thousand rubles, the claim is filed before a justice of the peace, if more – in the district court. If possible, attend meetings or send a representative there. In the process of supporting the stated requirements, give the court explanations, carry out other requirements. If the final decision is positive and it came into force – get in the office of the court writ of execution.
Step 4. Recover damages involuntarily
We apply with the writ of execution to the subdivision of the Federal enforcement service at the place of residence of the accident initiator. Write a statement, attach the writ of execution and wait. In your address will receive a decree about the opening of Executive production. From this moment your partner will deal with the bailiffs. If he continues to refuse to pay, he will arrest the accounts, the car, real estate. If necessary, they will foreclose on his wages. In general, there are a lot of tools to exert pressure. All that is left is to wait for the money!
Is it possible to punish the guilty party for a fake MTPL policy?
Isn’t the court’s decision enough for you and you want more blood? Unfortunately, you will have to accept it. You cannot punish a driver for forging a policy, unless he admits to knowingly buying a fake or forged policy. And in the rest cases the maximum penalty is p. 2. Art. 12.37 of the Code of the Administrative Violations Code and a fine of 800 rubles. But be good, you have already punished him severely!
Without a policy: who will reimburse the damage in case of traffic accident?
A driver will get a fine for an invalid policy, and for a fake one he may be criminally liable. If the perpetrator of the accident turned out to have a fake policy or such a document was absent at all, the offender will compensate the damage to the victim himself. For compensation, the victim should contact the perpetrator of the accident with a claim or file a lawsuit in court. To protect yourself, you need to know how to check the validity of the policy.
What policies are invalid and fake
MTPL policy is an agreement between the driver and the insurance company, under the terms of which the insurer pays compensation for damage to life, health, property, which occurred while using the car. The insurance company issues CMTPL insurance policies in printed or electronic form. Each policy has a unique number and a QR code.
MTPL policy is not necessary for owners of vehicles with a speed not exceeding 20 km/h and without wheels, as well as for foreign carriers (if they are insured abroad).
Invalid include CMTPL insurance policies that are:
are issued without a unique number or are not issued on the official website of the insurer;
the same policy has the same policy with another driver who received it earlier;
the policy was issued after the revocation or suspension of the insurer’s license;
were issued on damaged, lost or stolen from the insurer forms;
issued on old forms, the use of which has not been extended.
There are different ways to forge CMTPL insurance policies: someone changes the date of issue and period of validity, signature on the policy or the seal. In Voronezh a motorist wrote the term of the policy with a pen, and in Volgograd an intruder wrote a policy for motor vehicles and then changed the information about the driver and the car with a Photoshop.
Evgeny Ivanov, lawyer of European Law Service explains that in this situation you should file a complaint to the police, because in the manager’s actions there is evidence of a crime under Art. 327 of the Criminal Code (“Forgery, manufacture or circulation of counterfeit documents, stamps, seals or forms”). The expert adds: “Then you may file a civil claim for recovery of pecuniary and non-pecuniary damage against the claimant”.
How to check the validity of insurance
The car owner must enter the series and number of CMTPL policy at the website of the Russian Union of Auto Insurers (RAMI). Besides the validity of the policy, the driver will know whether the document belongs to the insurer and what contract of MTPL insurance he has concluded. It is also possible to check the insurance through a QR code or compare the characteristics of a genuine policy.
The main signs of a valid MTPL policy
What is the penalty for the invalid policy
If a driver drives with a non valid MTPL insurance policy, he will get a penalty of 800 rubles according to part 2 clause 12.37 of the Administrative Offences Code (“Failure to comply with the MTPL policy”). If the policy is counterfeit, the vehicle owner faces criminal liability due to p. 1,5 art.327 of the Criminal Code (“forgery, production or circulation of counterfeit documents, stamps, seals or blanks”):
For forgery of insurance or manufacture of false forms for use or sale;
the use of a knowingly false CMTPL insurance policy.
If a driver discovers that the policy is fictitious, he must write a statement to the police so that the manufacturers of the illegal products can be found and prosecuted.
Who will pay compensation if there is no insurance, fake policy
Damage after an accident is compensated by the Russian Union of Auto Insurers regardless of the presence and validity of the policy of OSAGO.
The at-fault party may not even be identified or may have fled the scene of the accident, and the victims will receive compensation. But then RAMI will collect that money from the person who caused the accident.
If no one was injured in the accident, and the damage was caused only to the property, then the person at fault will reimburse the expenses. But if the driver was driving his company car on business and was involved in an accident, the employer will have to pay.
If in the accident caused only property damage, the expenses will be covered by the person at fault or his employer, if the accident happened while he was working.
The lawyer of European Legal Service Evgeniy Ivanov explains that you can apply to the party at fault in the accident for reimbursement of damages even if the car was sold. The amount of money received from the sale does not affect the amount of damages, says the expert: “If after the accident you sold the car without an assessment, it will be difficult to prove damages in court.
Determine the damage, then we make an agreement with the guilty party
First you need to calculate the amount of damage to the car after the accident. This is done by an independent expert. He will prepare a report in which he will indicate the amount of auto repair. In addition to the money for repairs, the car owner can recover from the perpetrator of the accident the cost of the examination, evacuation of the car and its storage, delivery of the victim to the hospital, public transport to the location of the car or an expert.
The victim has the right to demand compensation for real damages, including the loss of the car’s marketable value.
After the evaluation, the injured party asks the other party to pay for repairs voluntarily. To do this, he delivers a claim in person or sends it by mail. When the guilty party agrees to compensate the damage, the parties enter into an agreement in which they determine the amount of payments and the procedure for transferring them. If he refuses, the car owner can go to court.
Filing a lawsuit in court
The victim has the right to demand payment of property damage from the perpetrator through the court within three years from the moment when he learned about his violated right. A personal injury lawsuit is not limited in time. But compensation will only be recovered for the past three years.
The claim is filed in the court at the place of residence of the person who caused the accident. Application for compensation of damage to health may be filed at the place of residence of the victim or the damage caused to him. If the amount of damage does not exceed 50 000 rubles, the case will be considered a justice of the peace, in other cases – the district court.
In the statement of claim must describe the circumstances of the accident, damage to the car, in what part of the damage was not compensated, information about the attempt to resolve the dispute before the court, the claim for damages with its size. The plaintiff should also point out the lack of insurance for the guilty party or the presence of an invalid/falsified policy.
In addition, the claim should be accompanied by:
The scheme of the accident, the explanations of eyewitnesses, the protocol of administrative offense on the driver without insurance, etc;
Documents for the car (certificate of state registration, vehicle passport);
expert’s report on damage assessment;
a pre-trial agreement, claim or other documents confirming that the plaintiff attempted to settle the dispute before trial;
a receipt for payment of state duty;
notice of service of a copy of the claim with attachment to other parties to the process (defendant, third parties).
The trial usually lasts two months. The decision of the court will take effect in a month, if no one appeals. Otherwise, the decision will take effect immediately after the complaint to the higher court.
Evgueny Ivanov, a lawyer at European Legal Service, says that one should appeal against the court ruling in the appeal instance referring to the fact that the amounts paid are not unjust enrichment. The expert says: “The insurance company recognized the accident as an insured event before compensation, checked and confirmed that there was a contract of MTPL between the accident initiator and the insurer valid on the date of the accident, so it cannot claim for payouts as unjust enrichment”.
We turn to bailiffs
After the court decision comes into force the driver needs to get the writ of execution from the court and send it to the bailiff. He will initiate enforcement proceedings. In the course of enforcement, the bailiff may seize the property or funds of the debtor, collect money from bank cards or other sources of income, and even prohibit the offender from leaving the country.
If the bailiff fails to collect the money, he will terminate the enforcement proceedings. Only 6 months after such a decision the car owner will be able to resume the execution.
