What to do if you crashed into an expensive car

Why, in the event of an accident with an expensive foreign car, the MTPL policy will not help

How millions of car owners are at risk of getting stuck in debt for damage caused by an accident.

Probably every car enthusiast in large Russian cities has noticed that there are significantly more expensive foreign cars on the road. And this is logical: in times of crisis, the poor become poorer and the rich become richer. But today we are not talking about that. Today we want to talk about a hidden threat that affects millions of motorists.

We all know that the MTPL policy, which every driver should have, covers our civil liability in the event of an accident due to our fault. According to current legislation, the maximum damage that can be compensated under compulsory civil liability insurance is 400,000 rubles. That is, if an accident occurs through our fault, the MTPL policy will cover the injured party with a maximum of 400 thousand rubles. On the one hand, this reliably protects many drivers on the road.

After all, if anyone remembers, in past times, people on the road almost had to decide with their fists who was right and who was wrong, as well as who owed whom and when money for the damage caused. Now, with compulsory civil car insurance, everything has become much simpler. Caused damage to other cars - the insurance company will pay the damage within the limit established by law. But not everything is so simple in our kingdom.

Have you ever thought that the civil liability limit under compulsory car insurance may not be enough? Someone will say that 400,000 rubles really won’t cover the damage in the majority of accidents that occur every day on the country’s roads? No, of course, according to statistics, most road accidents are minor. As a result, average payments under compulsory motor liability insurance are less than 100 thousand rubles. But for some reason no one is talking about the fact that in Russia there is, after all, a not-so-small proportion of accidents in which the damage significantly exceeds not only 100 thousand rubles, but often goes beyond the maximum payment under compulsory motor liability insurance policies. Have you ever wondered what to do in this case?

Imagine that, God forbid, you become the culprit of an accident involving an expensive luxury car. Introduced? Now tell us, how will you settle accounts with the injured party (the owner of an expensive car)? Are you counting on an ever-increasing OSAGO policy? In vain. Don’t forget: the maximum payment limit for it is only 400,000 rubles. Now imagine that the amount of damage was more than 400 thousand rubles. Then what will you do?

Naturally, you will have to somehow resolve this issue with the owner of an expensive foreign car and pay for damages not covered by the MTPL policy. Or do you think that the rich owner will take pity on you? Don't count on it.

The fact is that in most cases, owners of expensive cars purchase CASCO policies, insuring their valuable or priceless property against any damage. In this case, if you damage a luxury foreign car, the owner will receive an insurance payment or a complete repair of the car from an official dealer.

So, in principle, the owner of an expensive car will probably not have any claims against the culprit of the accident. But then the fun begins. If, within the framework of compulsory civil liability insurance, the insurance company of the culprit of the accident does not have enough to cover the costs of the insurance company that issued the CASCO policy for the injured party’s car, then this company has the right to contact the culprit of the accident with a regressive demand to compensate for the damage.

For example, let’s imagine that as a result of an accident, a damaged car insured under a CASCO policy received damage in the amount of 600,000 rubles. If the culprit of the accident has a regular MTPL policy, then his liability limit is 400,000 rubles. Accordingly, OSAGO will not cover damage caused to the car. In this case, the insurance company, which will pay 600,000 rubles to the injured party under the CASCO policy, will have the right to demand 200,000 rubles from the culprit of the accident by way of recourse. If the culprit of the accident ignores this requirement, then have no doubt - the insurance company will file a lawsuit demanding compensation for the damage caused. You understand that if this damage is extracted from the culprit of the accident through the court, then legal costs will also be imposed on him.

How do you feel about such a bleak prospect - being in an accident involving an expensive foreign car? Do you think this is unlikely? Especially in the city, where average speeds are already almost comparable to those of cyclists and runners? Yes, of course, in large cities, due to the decrease in the average speed of vehicles, it is unlikely that you will get into a major accident. Accordingly, it is also unlikely to cause someone, through your own fault, damage to property worth more than 400,000 rubles. Nevertheless, you yourself understand that no one is immune from this.

But do not forget that today there are a lot of expensive foreign cars on the roads of large cities, where just one headlight can cost several hundred thousand rubles. For example, we have already discussed the cost of modern headlights in new cars on the pages of our publication. And this is due to new technologies, which have significantly increased the cost of front and rear optics. As a result, even the cost of LED headlights in an inexpensive Toyota Corolla can drive many car enthusiasts crazy.

For example, did you know that on average, LED headlights on inexpensive cars can cost more than 50,000-100,000 rubles? Surprised? Now imagine how much headlights cost for various Mercedes, Lexuses, Porsches, etc., not to mention the cost of the optics of supercars that so love to drive along Kutuzovsky Prospekt in Moscow.

Also today, many expensive foreign cars have carbon fiber components instead of metal wings and hoods. Can you imagine how much new composite parts for expensive foreign cars cost? You understand that even a minor accident in which you slightly dented an expensive foreign car can lead to the fact that the damage due to your fault can amount to six zeros. In this case, you will experience all the delights of regressive claims from formidable insurance companies, which are unlikely to take pity on you.

But what should ordinary car enthusiasts do? How to protect yourself from these “apartments on wheels” on the roads in large cities?

Traditionally, this issue was easily resolved by purchasing a voluntary civil liability insurance policy (the so-called DSAGO). As a rule, many drivers used to pay a small amount to their compulsory motor liability insurance policy, purchasing extended civil liability insurance, which protected them on the road from possible accidents with expensive foreign cars.

But, alas, in recent years, most large insurance companies have been trying to “kill” this type of insurance, allegedly due to massive fraud in the insurance market.

As a result, many companies have completely removed voluntary motor liability insurance policies from their services. Some simply began to sell these policies in addition to expensive CASCO policies.

Nevertheless, contrary to some rumors in some media, it is still possible to buy a DSAGO policy. Although, of course, not everywhere. For example, several large insurance companies responded to our request regarding the purchase of an extended MTPL policy that they were ready to offer this policy only to regular customers who had been purchasing MTPL or CASCO policies for several years. That is, many insurance companies, as a rule, refuse to issue a DSAGO policy to new clients.

And yet, you can find insurance companies on the market that sell DSAGO policies even to new clients. True, we must admit that there are fewer and fewer such insurers every year. The worst thing is that large insurance companies, which have a large share of the insurance market, in most cases try not to sell DSAGO policies to just anyone and new clients. As a result, many drivers in Russia may actually have problems purchasing an extended MTPL policy.

We believe that the Central Bank of the Russian Federation and the Government of the Russian Federation need to think about how to restore order in this important insurance market, since due to the high cost of spare parts and the cost of repairing expensive foreign cars, hundreds of thousands of drivers in Russia risk being in perpetual debt to insurance companies in the event of an accident. owners of expensive cars.

Crashed into an expensive car? The price of a mistake.

What should you do if you crashed your simple domestic car into an expensive premium car? What if a Bentley, Lamborghini or Rolls-Royce Phantom was damaged due to your mistake? Such cars cost tens of millions of rubles, and their repairs are unlikely to meet the maximum insurance payment.

First of all, you need to discard the thoughts of suicide that creep into such a situation. Here the saying that “no person, no problem” does not apply. Debts remaining after the death of the debtor are simply inherited. So don't think stupid things. And in general, how can a person suffer from lack of money and debt if he has a whole healthy kidney?

All this is, of course, a joke. In our country, organs cannot be sold, and not everything is so scary. Even if the damage you caused was estimated at several million rubles, no one can force you to pay them right away . Most likely, you will simply have to transfer some amount monthly, thereby paying off the debt. First, let's look at common practice.

How are insurance payments calculated?

All damage from the accident must be compensated by the insurance company. In theory. In practice, everything is different. Insurers really don’t like paying bills and do their best to avoid this unpleasant procedure. It is important to understand that if you are a happy owner of compulsory motor liability insurance , you will receive money only if you are a victim . And even then, all payments will be made by the insurance company of the person responsible for the accident, which in turn will demand this amount from the driver himself.

What can you get money for?

• Bringing the vehicle back to the condition it had before the accident. Simply put, for car repairs .
• Buying a new car if the car damaged in an accident cannot be restored .
• Call a tow truck and send the victims to the hospital.
• Treatment and purchase of medicines.
• Funeral. Apparently, not for you anymore.

How to calculate the amount of damage

The total amount of damage is calculated in accordance with the data of the initial inspection report , as well as the drawn up additional assessment report , if the insurance company considers it necessary to draw up such a report. Not only the cost of car parts and car service services is taken into account, but also the cost of all necessary consumables. The number of spare parts that need to be replaced is multiplied by their price, and then the wear rate of the part . Ordinary car owners usually don’t remember about this coefficient, and insurers, in turn, never forget about it.

If the part is worn out by twenty percent, then the wear coefficient, accordingly, will be 0.8. The degree of wear is determined mainly by how long the part has served and what the actual mileage of the car was during the service of the part. There are also a number of additional parameters that are taken into account when calculating the degree of wear of spare parts before a traffic accident occurs.

If the car can no longer be restored , you may be paid money to purchase a new vehicle. The size of the payment is determined by the difference between the value of the car before the accident and the value of the scrap metal into which it turned after the accident.

The so-called cost of usable balances is also calculated using a certain formula. The following parameters are taken into account here:

• Price of the car before the accident
• Cost of parts included in the car
• Cost coefficient associated with the sale of a car (0.6-0.7)
• Vehicle age
• Damage caused

As can be seen from the above, insurers really do not like to make payments and try to subtract all possible coefficients in order to at least somehow underestimate the cost of the damage caused. If you believe that the insurers' assessment is not true, you can contact your company to request a recalculation of the amount of damage incurred. If, after re-calculating the amount, you are still not satisfied, you can go to court.

Accidents of different cost vehicles

So, something terrible happened: you crashed into a Porsche or Bentley. It happens that it happens in both cars at the same time. One of the most costly accidents in the world occurred in Monaco. Singer Margarita Smelyanskaya-Galitskaya, in her blue Bentley, managed to damage Aston Martin, Ferrari, Porsche and Mercedes parked in the parking lot near the casino. As it turned out later, her insurance covered all the costs; it remains to be seen whether your insurance will cover all the costs of repairing an expensive car.

The answer sounds disappointing: hardly. payment amount is 500 thousand rubles (if there is proven harm to health). In the event that only the vehicle was damaged, the company will pay even less: only four hundred thousand rubles. Cars today are expensive, and some of them are very expensive. In the simplest basic configuration, a Lamborghini today will cost more than ten million rubles. Repairs even after a not very serious accident in this case can easily cost over a million rubles. And they won’t take a Lamborghini to the garage “to see their guys,” and the branded service center for such a car will charge absolutely unthinkable money for their services. What do they do in such situations?

If the accident damage assessment report indicates an amount in excess of 400-500 thousand rubles, you will have to pay the remaining amount out of your own pocket . With a gun to your head, no one will knock your money out. Probably... But the owner of an expensive car can sue. If you do not have the required amount, it will be withheld in accordance with the procedure established by the court. In this case, the owner of an expensive car is left out of work. Expensive repairs will have to be made immediately, and the cost of the damage will have to be paid for many years to come (this depends on the size of your salary; no more than forty percent of official income ). If there are compelling reasons, it will be possible to file a claim to reduce the amount of payment due to difficult life circumstances .

If you are found to be at fault for the accident, you will have to restore your car at your own expense. The only exceptions here are the lucky owners of CASCO , according to which you can be reimbursed for repair costs even if you were the culprit of an accident. There is one nuance here: the cost of the CASCO policy itself will increase significantly after such an episode. And if you have caused an accident more than once, the company may even terminate the contract with you unilaterally.

Successes of Alexander Aristov

One of the owners of the Ariant group of companies, Alexander Aristov, has long been famous for his love of very expensive cars. The entire oligarch's native Chelyabinsk knows his famous Rolls-Royces, Porsches and Lamborghinis. The businessman’s fleet includes more than a dozen cars, the total cost of which is hundreds of millions of rubles.

Until 2016, few people knew about this unique collection, but three years ago an unlucky Lada driver crashed into one of Aristov’s cars. A modest worker at ChelPipe, the happy owner of a VAZ 2114, Vyacheslav Kantemirov, drove into the door of a Rolls Royce Phantom standing in his way. You can imagine the panic Kantemirov fell into when he realized what he had done. First, a businessman who was beside himself with rage got out of an expensive car. A second later, the billionaire's security guard came out of the car. Soon, representatives of the Chelyabinsk media arrived at the scene of such an expensive and unprecedented accident. Despite the fact that the door of one of the most expensive cars looked truly deplorable, the public, of course, sided with Kantemirov. Aristov made several comments about what happened, and then apologized to journalists and went to work, leaving his security guard waiting for the traffic police officers.

By the time he gave his initial comments, Aristov had cooled down a little, so he gave quite fair comments to journalists. Everyone already thought that the oligarch would graciously forgive the simple worker, but it turned out that the businessman was not so generous. Aristov sued Kantemirov and won a little over three million rubles. From now on, for many years (if not his entire life), a decent amount had to be deducted from the worker’s salary. Satisfied, Aristov said that he would “transfer his compensation to the worker’s daughter from his first marriage.” It turned out that Kantemirov did not take any part in the life of his child for a long time. Aristov considered this decision fair. The act seemed to be noble, but the public still condemned Aristov for his legal battle with a simple worker.

A couple of years later, the businessman's Lamborghini was unlucky. The modest Hyundai Getz was parked near the Kuba shopping center in the heart of Chelyabinsk. The driver had just finished shopping, returned to the car and got behind the wheel. At that moment, when the Lamborghini turned onto Sovetskaya Street, the driver of the Hyundai Getz was backing up to turn around and enter the road. The driver did not notice how an expensive car appeared in the rearview mirror, and the Lamborghini driver did not pay attention to the modest Hyundai. In the end, it turned out that the Lamborghini crushed the Hyundai, which was moving backwards. The rear wing of the Lamborghini was damaged. The media did not report anything about the damage done to Goetz. As with the last time with the VAZ 2114, Aristov waited for some time and then went about his business, leaving his security guard for further explanation. The fate of the driver Getz is still unknown; no one seems to have filed a lawsuit, but it is not a fact that they won’t file a little later. Well, Aristov’s elite fleet of vehicles has become the main fear of all drivers in the city.

Where to find money if you crashed into an expensive foreign car

To begin with, it is worth recalling that DSAGO is a voluntary motor third-party liability insurance designed to protect the client in cases where compulsory motor liability insurance is not enough. For example, after a serious accident, as a result of which the damage caused to the vehicle is estimated to be much higher than the “limited” 400,000 rubles.

– The amount of the insurance amount under DSAGO increases to 10 million rubles. These funds should be enough to compensate for damage to even a very expensive car, which are quite common on our roads,” noted Andrei Znamensky, director of the personal property insurance department of the All-Russian Union of Insurers (VSU).

According to statistics provided to the AvtoVzglyad portal in the VSS, last year Russian car owners purchased a total of 992,027 DSAGO policies. And considering that 42 million passenger cars travel on the roads of our vast Motherland, this figure seems completely frivolous. So why is the expanded “autocitizen” not in demand among our fellow citizens when the benefits are obvious?

One might assume that it's all about the prices, but no. Of course, the days when additional insurance with an amount of 1 million rubles was estimated at 300 rubles are gone. But even now the prices for DSAGO policies remain quite high. It is clear that in each specific case the cost is calculated individually, but on average it is approximately two times lower than the OSAGO price tag.

– DSAGO may include additional options for the culprit of the accident: roadside assistance, tow truck, legal protection in court and others. The actual price depends on the scope of coverage and the list of additional services.

As it turns out, the popularization of DSAGO is hampered by the insurance companies themselves. According to our interlocutor, recently companies have been afraid to take out extended MTPL policies due to the increasing incidence of fraud. Today, this insurance is sold only to trusted clients and, as a rule, only together with a CASCO policy.