Electronic OSAGO policy pros and cons

Pros and cons of “electronic” compulsory motor liability insurance

The share of electronic sales in the total volume of concluded MTPL contracts in the Russian Federation in January-April amounted to 9%.

Electronic policy (also called E-policy) began to be issued on July 1, 2015. However, so far only a small number of car owners receive it this way.

“The share of electronic sales in the total volume of concluded MTPL contracts in January-April of this year was 9%,” said the press service of the Russian Union of Auto Insurers (RUA). — But the May 2017 trends show rapid growth. Perhaps the share in the future will be much higher. On average, about 16.6 thousand contracts are now concluded per day, but sometimes there are surges in sales when the figure exceeds 20 thousand. For example, on May 23, 25 thousand contracts were concluded electronically, despite the fact that on average a day in Russia 110 thousand OSAGO contracts in general by any means.”

Applying for an E-policy is quite simple.

“The procedure for issuing an electronic MTPL policy is very simple,” noted the RSA. — This can be done on the website of any insurance company that provides this service. The list of such companies was published on the website of the Russian Union of Auto Insurers (RUA); as of January 1, 2017, it included 64 companies.”

After registering on the website of the selected insurance company and filling out all the fields, the system checks the correctness of the information in the database and sends a password to the user’s mobile phone to enter the “Personal Account”.

“After the client registers and fills out an application for concluding a contract, the amount of the insurance premium will be calculated (the cost does not differ when purchasing a policy at the office of the insurance company), and the policyholder will be able to pay for concluding the contract on the website using a bank card. Verification of the data specified in the application is carried out through the automated information system (AIS) of RSA. The policy will be sent to the policyholder by e-mail; it should be printed and carried with you when driving a vehicle,” the RSA indicates.

Important! You can only buy an electronic MTPL policy directly from the insurer; sales by any intermediaries are prohibited by law. However, illegal clone sites of large insurance companies and “intermediary” sites are appearing on the Internet. First of all, scammers try to fake the websites of brands known to policyholders, the name of which does not raise doubts in their minds. If the policyholder tries to purchase an electronic policy through a service on such a site, he will not receive it, and the money transferred by him will go to the scammers’ account. Thus, since the beginning of 2017, RSA has identified and initiated the blocking of more than 30 illegal clone websites of MTPL insurers.

“The procedure for settling losses for owners of electronic MTPL policies does not differ from the procedure for settling losses for owners of paper policies,” noted the RSA.

Important! A purchased E-policy is considered valid only after it is registered in the information system. The law obliges the insurance company to transmit information about policies within one business day. In any case, it is recommended to wait until the data is entered into the AIS OSAGO and receive appropriate confirmation, and only then drive the car.

Advantages of the innovation: no need to stand in lines of insurance companies, argue about whether “additional bonuses” in the form of imposed life insurance policies are needed or not, etc.

“The advantage of concluding an electronic MTPL agreement is that the consumer does not need to come to the company’s office. An electronic MTPL policy can be issued without leaving your home, indicating all the details of the necessary documents,” said RSA.

Minuses. The electronic insurance program is still far from perfect (it may malfunction), and the insurance companies themselves are cautious about the implementation of the E-policy. Owners of new cars must still take out a policy “live” - according to the law, when submitting an electronic application, the car must have a license plate, and they can only be obtained upon presentation of insurance.

Not all traffic police inspectors have special equipment to check the validity of an electronic policy, so conflict situations may arise when communicating with them. In addition, all data is entered directly by the car owner himself, and their accuracy is sometimes difficult to control. Thus, there is an opportunity to cheat. However, as stated by RCA, the pros outweigh the cons and in a few years most policies will be purchased via the Internet.

Pros and cons of using an electronic OSAGO policy

All car owners know what a compulsory motor third party liability insurance policy is - OSAGO.

However, not everyone knows that now the execution of this document is possible via the Internet and the electronic policy has the same force as a regular paper contract.

What is an electronic MTPL insurance policy, is it worth taking out and what are the pros and cons of it - this article describes it.

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What it is?

OSAGO – compulsory civil liability insurance for vehicle owners.

This agreement guarantees compensation for losses to the injured party within the established limit.

According to the law, namely Federal Law No. 40 “On OSAGO” dated April 25, 2002, it must be concluded with all car owners living in the Russian Federation, since driving vehicles without a policy is prohibited and is punishable by penalties.

The policy has the same legal force and authority as one issued at the office of the insurance company (does it need to be printed?).

Until recently, vehicle owners could only enter into a compulsory auto insurance agreement by visiting a company branch in person.

However, since the 4th quarter of 2015, they have the opportunity to issue a policy online .

To do this, just visit the official website of the organization and fill out a special form (document structure, photo).

Is the registration legal?

Taking out electronic insurance is not only legal, but also mandatory for all companies since January 2017. Read about whether a compulsory motor liability insurance policy is valid if issued via the Internet here.

With the advent of the possibility of remotely concluding an MTPL policy, many insurers refused to issue clients electronic contracts, citing technical problems.

However, since 2017, legislation has obligated all insurance companies licensed to issue compulsory motor liability insurance to provide their clients with access to the execution or renewal of existing contracts via the Internet (rating of the best insurance companies).

To purchase an e-OSAGO, the same package of documents is used as for a paper one: the model and manufacturer of the car, the car owner’s driving experience, his age and region of residence, as well as the bonus-malus coefficient. Read more about this, as well as the rules for its registration, here.

Advantages and disadvantages

Why do many drivers choose e-OSAGO? The most important advantage of electronic MTPL is the possibility of remote registration. Read here how to quickly and easily insure your OSAGO car online.

This is especially true for residents of remote areas and busy citizens.

Other advantages of e-OSAGO include:

saving time and money, because to purchase insurance you only need to have access to the Internet, and you won’t have to waste time on travel and money on gasoline;
the ability to choose only the necessary additional services and avoid imposing unnecessary options at the insurer’s office;
the electronic document cannot be lost, since after registration the policy is sent by email and saved in the user’s personal account on the insurance company’s website;
ease of storage - the electronic version of the policy can be copied to any digital medium or simply printed;
when filling out a contract on the official website of the insurer, the possibility of becoming a victim of fraud is minimal (when purchasing a paper policy, there is a possibility of being deceived by company employees);
For residents of hard-to-reach regions, where there are offices of only a few insurance companies, there is an opportunity to choose the most suitable organization and conclude an agreement with it.

The disadvantages of the electronic version of the MTPL agreement include the following points:

the impossibility of remotely issuing a document for new cars and drivers with short driving experience, since the RSA database should already have information about previously concluded contracts;
Compared to a paper policy, the time required for checking an electronic document by traffic police officers increases (how to show e-OSAGO to a traffic police inspector?), since the necessary data must be searched through a single RSA database;
If you make even one mistake when filling out a form on the website, the electronic document may be declared invalid, since providing incorrect information is illegal, and delays in compensation or even a refusal by the insurer to make a payment are also possible.

Is it worth buying?

Based on the highlighted advantages and disadvantages of issuing an MTPL policy via the Internet, we can say that purchasing such a document helps to significantly save the car owner’s time .

Therefore, the cost of the policy will be the same as when concluding a contract at the insurer’s office.

Taking out a policy via the Internet is an excellent prospect for visiting the insurer’s office and waiting in line, since the advantages of purchasing insurance remotely are much greater than the disadvantages .

Underwater rocks

Among the pitfalls of e-OSAGO, one can highlight the fact that when registering an accident using the Europrotocol, it is quite difficult to independently determine whether the policy of the second party to the accident is genuine. You can check the agreement on the RSA website, or by calling traffic police officers to the scene of the incident. What are the ways to check the authenticity of an e-policy using the PCA database, we wrote here.

One more nuance: now you can conclude an agreement with any insurer , however, if an insured event occurs, it will be quite problematic to deliver the car for examination to another region if the insurer does not have a branch in the locality where the victim lives.

If you want to issue a policy remotely, you should be more careful. Before filling out the form and transferring money, you need to make sure that you are on the official website of the insurance company, as there is a possibility of becoming a victim of fraud.

Useful video

Watch a video about the pros and cons of electronic MTPL policies:

Conclusion

An electronic MTPL policy has the same legal force as a paper document , while its registration does not take much time and is an excellent prospect for visiting the insurer’s office.

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Fully electronic OSAGO policies - pros and cons

An article about the features and disadvantages of electronic MTPL policies. What is the possible future of electronic compulsory motor liability insurance? At the end of the article there is a video about the experience of obtaining electronic insurance.

The content of the article:

Exemption from documents

Electronic MTPL

Difficulties in registration

Authentication

The future of electronic MTPL

Video about the experience of issuing an electronic policy

Russian citizens are increasingly switching to electronic document management and the use of government information Internet portals. The turn has come to motorists, for whom the Ministry of Finance, together with the Ministry of Internal Affairs, is preparing an innovation in the form of an electronic OSAGO policy.

What is the purpose of this event and what will it give car owners?

Exemption from documents

The government assures that the life of drivers will become simpler and easier without a large number of documents. After all, each of them is required to have a driver’s license, documents for their vehicle and a policy.

In light of the massive transition to electronic services, such a number of papers confirming the right to be called a road user is truly excessive. Therefore, from the beginning of 2017, insurance companies began issuing MTPL policies electronically, the number of which amounted to almost 800 thousand at the end of the first quarter throughout the country.

Of course, not everything is so simple. Bureaucratically, a complete rejection of a paper document entails additions and changes to the Civil Code. In fact, too many car enthusiasts are morally unable to give up the good old papers that give them a feeling of confidence and peace of mind. And the reaction of the insurers themselves, who will lose a lot on cross-selling, is also unknown.

The technical side also raises certain questions. The capital's traffic police inspectors are already using specialized tablets connected to databases. But as soon as you move away from large cities, civilization again retreats a century ago, where paper confirmation is still required for purchased electronic policies.

Therefore, it is all the more surprising that not a single innovation has yet been fully implemented, but at the same time, high hopes are already pinned on the bill on the electronic version of the PTS, which will be filled out by all automakers, moving away from the paper equivalent.

Read more: Is a driver obligated to open the trunk to a traffic police inspector?
Electronic MTPL

A virtual compulsory insurance contract allows you to abandon traditional methods of protection:

government form;

mandatory seals;

signature of an authorized official.

So one of the goals of the reform can be called economic benefit from innovation.

The OSAGO e-policy is similar to the usual paper one and represents all the same information that was indicated in it earlier, only now in the form of an entry in the database:

KBM;

car registration region;

machine power, its type;

owner's age and driving experience, etc.

The Russian government names the following among its main advantages:

The fight against fraudsters issuing fake policies.

Protection of the rights of consumers to whom insurance companies may impose additional paid services.

Maximum simplification of the policy registration procedure without leaving home.

Having finished filling out the appropriate forms on the website, the car owner will receive his new policy in the form of a pdf file to the specified email address. Its appearance is practically no different from what is familiar to the eye, except that attention is not distracted by the micropattern that government paper usually has to protect against counterfeiting.

Each such electronic document has a unique XXX series, which is not available on paper certificates. Additionally, the policy contains all the necessary information on the insurance contract itself, such as the terms, data of the insured person, the make and model of his vehicle, a list of authorized persons who have the right to drive the car, the cost of the contract and other important information.

Difficulties in registration

In theory, issuing an electronic MTPL policy should take no more than 10-15 minutes and should not raise any questions for the car owner. In practice, the system is still very “raw”. Many online forms from insurance companies experience glitches, especially during peak times of high user connections.

This situation also negatively affects the opinion of insurance companies about this innovation, which deprives them of additional bonuses in the form of extended additional agreements with imposed services, and also results in disappointment among car owners in the public service system.

Authentication

Although the very idea of an electronic OSAGO policy was based on the impossibility of fraud, less than a year had passed before criminal schemes began to be built, rebuilt to suit new living conditions.

In this case, the classic methods of deceiving ordinary people by selling “fake” policies by “fake” insurance agents will not work. However, this does not at all get rid of progressive Internet scammers who are now starting to set electronic traps.

The most popular way for scammers is to sell electronic certificates on fake websites, which are clones of real insurance companies with well-known names and recognizable logos. The difference can only be detected by an experienced user in the address bar, which is never absolutely identical to the real SC. This maneuver can be compared to Chinese manufacturers who remix well-known brands, for example Adidos, instead of the original name.

RSA invests a lot of effort and money into timely blocking of fake sites, but it is impossible to track everything at the same time. Therefore, those citizens who do not have deep skills in using Internet services will not find a difference and will gladly use the scammers’ site. Although the lower price compared to standard prices should alert the consumer.

When meeting with a traffic police officer, a printed certificate or an image of a document presented on an electronic device will not be an official confirmation of the presence of compulsory motor liability insurance. The inspector will also be required to open the official website of the RSA or the official database of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and check the information on the stopped car.

By the way, every car owner should master this system as well as possible so that in the event of an accident, he can independently check whether his opponent has a policy.

The future of electronic MTPL

Outdated paraphernalia in the form of watermarks, seals and intricate signatures on beautiful papers are increasingly disappearing into oblivion. Now the function of protecting government forms rests with high-tech and much more reliable electronic firewalls. From the consumer’s point of view, such a reform protects his rights much more and protects him from counterfeits.

At the same time, the car insurance market will find itself in more severe conditions, when it will not be possible to receive additional income from insurance premiums. Unfortunately, for a long time Russian entrepreneurs will be hostile to the Western way of doing business, when insurance companies live off the interest from financial transactions with capital from the contributions of their clients. With such a system, people receive up to 90% of the invested capital, and the vehicle limits there reach millions of sums.

Advantages

Flaws

Some useful tips

There is a concept of “address security”, which consists of the “https://” prefix. If the insurer’s website does not have it, then the likelihood of personal data leakage increases significantly, and the car owner should look for another company.

To speed up the procedure for issuing a policy and reduce the likelihood of technical failures, it is better to devote this activity to the morning hours, when not many people have gone online yet and therefore there is no extraordinary load on the system.

You should be prepared for the situation that the insurer’s website has introduced a restriction on the number of completed documents. This measure prevents attempts by unauthorized persons to commercially use the online service.

Some insurance companies, even when issuing an electronic policy, also issue a paper version. This is not prohibited by law, but is the sole goodwill of each individual insurer.

Video about the experience of issuing an electronic MTPL policy:

Electronic MTPL policy: pros and cons

Preparation of documentation of any kind often entails a huge waste of time and effort. It does not matter at all what issue is being resolved and in what area the procedure for obtaining this or that type of business paper takes place. Going through this process necessarily includes standing in a kilometer-long queue, filling out additional forms, applications, and permits. Obtaining compulsory motor liability insurance is no exception.

In order to simplify the procedure, from July 1, 2015, it was decided to make it easier for drivers to obtain insurance and allow it to be obtained online. The purpose of this additional “option” is to make insurance accessible in those regions where there is no branch of the insurance company nearby. According to the stated data, about 27 leading organizations throughout the country will be able to provide such a service.

Procedure for obtaining electronic MTPL

In order to start the process of obtaining a policy, the user should find a PC with Internet access. Then you need to find the required insurance company and go to its official website. After completing the online registration procedure, you will be assigned a password and login from your personal account on the page. Further, all subsequent manipulations will be available after assigning an electronic key. This signature key makes it possible to officially sign the MTPL policy.

Read more: What are the consequences of failure to pay transport tax for an individual?
There are two ways to get it :

Purely online, after completing an accurate and complete registration with entering your full name, passport series, mobile phone and mail. After successful completion, you should receive an SMS with a code on your mobile phone. This code will serve as a further signature form for registration of compulsory motor liability insurance.

When visiting a branch of the insurance company in person. But, you will also need to register on the website, and in case of a visit, have a passport with you.

After the site is available, the car owner will have to fill out a virtual form , which is identical to the usual paper version. After entering the data in all fields, the document is authenticated by the previously sent code, which is requested at the end of the form. After the system has checked and the car owner has filled it out correctly, an invoice will be sent that will need to be paid. After the system sees the payment, the OSAGO form is sent to a personalized email.

Advantages of an electronic OSAGO policy

The transparency of the procedure attracts a large number of car owners, since it has advantages:

The high speed of obtaining an insurance policy is the main advantage.

There is no connection to the place of registration.

The entire procedure requires 15 minutes of free time.

The insurer does not have the opportunity to impose additional services without which it is impossible to issue compulsory motor liability insurance.

You can provide the document in a convenient form - print it out or carry it on your tablet or phone.

Negative qualities of electronic MTPL

There are also dissatisfied people among those who were unable to obtain a policy online. What may cause concern:

There is no option to insure an unregistered new car. If there is no state number, then the policy can be issued purely at the company’s office.

There are no bonus discounts for years without an accident, which affects the lack of pleasant bonuses.

By default, some companies offer additional services with filled-in fields, which the program user may not notice and pay for.

In case of incorrectly entered data or an error, there is no way to independently correct a contract already registered in the system. To make corrections, please contact the office only.

Thus, not many motorists have yet been able to appreciate the convenience of electronic registration due to the short period of time for providing the service. There are positive trends in registration via the Internet, and this indicates the success of the project.

Electronic insurance policy What is it?

The innovation started on July 1, 2015.
From this moment on, an electronic policy or E-policy became available to individual car owners when renewing compulsory motor liability insurance at the insurance company with which the compulsory motor liability insurance contract was concluded for the previous period. From October 1, this restriction has been lifted and now the policyholder can buy an E-policy for compulsory motor vehicle insurance from any company that provides this type of insurance.

Is electronic compulsory motor liability insurance difficult?

The procedure is extremely simple.
You register your personal account on the insurer’s website, submit data on the vehicle and the drivers authorized to drive it. The insurer checks the information received with the data stored in the RSA information system (AIS OSAGO). After checking the transmitted information and there are no contradictions with the AIS OSAGO information, it will be possible to make payment, usually online, although it is also possible in other ways. It is interesting that when applying for an electronic MTPL policy, the policyholder does not have to provide a passport, driver’s license or even a diagnostic card (technical inspection).
True, this does not relieve the car owner from the obligation to obtain a diagnostic card. Its availability and validity period are checked by the insurance company through electronic document management and information exchange with relevant organizations. If all information is confirmed and the policy is paid for, an electronic copy of it is sent to the car owner by email. The insurer also transfers the new policy data to the AIS OSAGO .

Important! A purchased E-policy is considered valid only after it is registered in the information system. Upon registration, the car owner also receives a notification from AIS OSAGO via SMS or email. If you have purchased an E-policy, but the data on it is not yet in the system, then traffic police officers have the right to regard this as the absence of a policy (a fine of 800 rubles). The law obliges the insurance company to transmit information about policies within one business day. In any case, it is recommended to wait until the data is entered into the AIS OSAGO and receive appropriate confirmation, and only then drive the car.

How to demonstrate an electronic policy to an inspector?

The law prescribes that an electronic policy, that is, the fact of its presence in the MTPL information system, should be regarded as the same as the presence of a MTPL policy in hand.
But, for the time being, the instructions, which have not lost their force, prescribe the driver’s obligation to present the usual paper insurance policy upon request of a traffic police officer. We sincerely hope that this atavism will soon die out. In the meantime, everyone will be calmer if you print out the policy you received by email and take it with you. In any case, you will not need to go to the insurance company’s office to get the original policy on a secure form. And this, it seems to us, is the most important advantage of the innovation.

Changes in independent auto accident examination for compulsory motor liability insurance

The new law does not in any way worsen the situation of our clients. If the person at fault for the accident has an electronic MTPL policy, you will not face any unexpected obstacles when conducting an independent examination after the accident in order to determine the actual amount of the insurance payment. Moreover, since electronic policies have been in use since July 1, 2015, we understand for sure that the liability limit for them has been increased and will amount to 400 thousand rubles.

Are there any disadvantages?

Only for those, I believe, already very few people, who are pathologically distrustful of everything new. Basically, we have been using for a long time:

electronic air and railway tickets,

cinema or theater tickets,

electronic appointment with doctors,

electronic registration with the traffic police for obtaining driver's licenses and performing registration actions with cars.

I think that we will be happy to add an electronic MTPL policy to this extensive list.