Checking the electronic insurance policy of the State Traffic Safety Inspectorate

You have issued an electronic MTPL policy – ​​what to show and how to present it to the traffic police inspector?

1. You cannot present a file from your phone or not submit anything at all for a traffic police check.
2. The only legally correct option is to show a printed electronic MTPL policy.
3. At the same time, it does not matter whether the printout is black and white or color, and the size does not have to be A4.
4. But there is no fine for failure to submit - as indicated by the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation.

The problem in 2019 is that the current version of the traffic rules obliges the driver to hand over to the traffic police officer, in addition to the STS and driver’s license, an insurance policy. But what if you have issued an electronic MTPL, how to properly present it to the traffic police inspector? Is it possible to show a file from a phone? Do I need to print it? Or, in this case, nothing needs to be submitted for verification? Let's find out all this!

How do traffic police officers check your insurance policy in 2019?

Everything is very simple. The current clause 2.1.1 obliges you to hand over for verification (namely hand over - in hand, and not just show):

• driver's license,
• registration certificate,
• OSAGO policy.

If with the first 2 points everything is extremely clear - although, according to the new laws, electronic rights are about to come, and after them the IT format can be acquired by STS, then with electronic insurance - not so much.

Many drivers suggest various options for the legal implementation of this paragraph of the Rules:

• show the traffic police inspector a photo of the electronic compulsory motor liability insurance,
• present a printed file,
• don’t show anything, because the policy is electronic!

But not all car enthusiasts from the above points are right. Moreover, you will often find incorrect information on various forums that you can display an electronic contract directly from your phone screen.

By the way, in 2019, almost any traffic police officer on the road has access to the electronic database of insurance contracts of the RSA (Russian Union of Auto Insurers). And he (the employee) can check the availability of insurance against this base.

How to present an electronic MTPL?

Does the above mean that the truth is that in the case of an electronic policy, the traffic police inspector does not need to show anything?

No . Now we get to the most important thing! Despite the employee’s ability to check the availability of insurance online right on the road, this does not negate the driver’s obligation to comply with paragraph 2.1.1 of the traffic rules, which clearly requires that he carry a document with him and, upon request of the police officer, hand over a document for verification.

In fact, there are no shortcomings in the legislation in 2019. This paragraph, for the sake of electronic MTPL policies, changed at the end of 2018, and today its current version is as follows:

2.1.
The driver of a power-driven vehicle is obliged to: 2.1.1. Carry with you and, at the request of police officers, hand over to them for verification:

• .
• an insurance policy of compulsory civil liability insurance of the vehicle owner or information printed on paper about the conclusion of a contract of such compulsory insurance in the form of an electronic document in cases where the obligation to insure one’s civil liability is established by federal law.

And now it becomes clear that when purchasing compulsory motor liability insurance in electronic form, you need to show the inspector a printout of the policy on paper.

How to print for presentation?

Please note that you should distinguish between the electronic policy that was sent to you by mail and simply data about the conclusion of the contract. When applying for e-OSAGO, some insurance companies send several letters by email, and only one of them contains the file that needs to be printed.

This electronic MTPL agreement is written on official letterhead; its series is written at the very top, which should begin with the letters “XXX”. And at the very bottom there should be information about the insurer’s electronic signature, which must be used to certify all such insurance purchased online.

Color or black and white?

In general, you will receive a black and white format of electronic insurance by email, so the question should disappear by itself. But formally, you can print it in any color - the main thing is that the policy is readable for a police officer.

In what size?

Is it necessary to print the policy electronically in A4 format, like a paper form? Not at all. The 2019 legislation does not directly require compliance with file size.

But again, if the policy is not readable for the traffic police inspector, then he may consider that in fact you did not show him anything for verification, since it will be impossible to identify that this is electronic insurance, that it belongs to you and is issued for your car .

In practice, the A6 format (the size of a registration certificate) may be acceptable for the legibility of the inscriptions on the insurance, but this depends on how clearly the characters are printed and, in general, how clear the file was sent to you by the insurance company.

The format of the driver's license will be very small and illegible and it is not advisable to show this size to the inspector.

What is the penalty if you don’t give anything or show it from your phone screen?

Many traffic police inspectors previously issued a fine for failure to comply with paragraph 2.1.1 of the Traffic Rules under Article 12.3, Part 2 of the Code of Administrative Offenses in the amount of 500 rubles for the driver not having insurance with him.

This sanction also includes a warning, but it is issued very rarely.

But the Supreme Court of Russia did not agree with this state of affairs, which in June 2019 issued a Resolution of the Plenum, in which it indicated that the absence of a printout of the policy does not entail a fine.

If the insurance policy was issued in the form of an electronic document, the failure of the driver to present it to the authorized official does not form the objective side of the administrative offense provided for in Part 2 of Article 12.3 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation.

Thus, although there is an obligation to carry with you and present to the traffic police officer for inspection an electronic compulsory motor vehicle liability insurance policy, there is no penalty for this by law.

What kind of database does the traffic police check?

As we have already indicated above, this is a unified database of RSA insurance contracts. You also have access to it by series and policy number. And once a year it is advisable to check it for reality against the backdrop of insurance scammers proliferating in recent years, selling “fake” insurance, including electronic ones.

1. To check, go to the official website of RSA in the service for viewing insurance contracts.
2. Select the series of your policy (all electronic compulsory motor liability insurance have the “XXX” series).
3. Enter the policy number (it is written immediately after the series).
4. Pass the robot check and click on the “Search” button.

As a result, you will receive a table with one row with data about your insurance contract. In the “Status” line it should be written “located by the policyholder”.

If the insurance status is listed as “held by the insurer” or no data was found at all, then 3 options are possible:

• you entered incorrect policy number data - double-check them,
• you bought electronic MTPL a few days ago, and the data in the database has not yet been updated - check a little later,
• your policy is fake, contact the place where you bought the insurance to file a claim.

How to present an electronic MTPL policy? Can I show it on my phone?

MTPL policy in electronic form is convenient. Not only is it easier to obtain and renew (there is no need to stand in line at the traffic police), but it can also be used without a paper counterpart. But car owners who have already appreciated the use of the electronic OSAGO policy may have problems: the traffic police inspector is not always ready to accept not the usual “piece of paper”, but an online version of the insurance that is incomprehensible to him.

Let's figure out whether you are required to carry a printout of the document with you, how the traffic police checks your email. policy and how to properly build a dialogue with the inspector so as not to receive a fine.

In what cases is it necessary to present a compulsory motor liability insurance policy?

The law on compulsory motor liability insurance describes the cases in which insurance is required, but in practice the situation is not so clear. According to the law, the traffic police inspector has the right to demand a policy in two cases:

• If he draws up a protocol on an administrative violation;
• Reporting an accident.

It turns out that traffic police officers should not check your insurance if you have not violated anything? Unfortunately, it is not. In addition to the law on compulsory motor liability insurance, it is worth looking into the traffic rules: clause 2.1.1 states that the driver is required to have a compulsory motor liability insurance policy with him and show it at the request of police officers . Therefore, there is no point in arguing whether you need to present insurance in a particular case: if you are asked, you are obliged to hand over the policy for verification.

How to present an electronic MTPL policy?

If everything is clear with the paper version of the insurance policy, then how to drive with an electronic MTPL policy? This issue is regulated in two regulations.

Firstly, all insurance companies were required to give clients the opportunity to receive an online (digital) version of the policy in accordance with Law No. 214-FZ of June 23, 2016 (that is, three years ago). This is not such a “new thing”.

Secondly, regarding the verification of the policy, there is a separate letter from the State Traffic Safety Inspectorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia No. 13/12-u-4440 dated 07/03/2015. It describes in detail how the traffic police checks (or rather, should check) the electronic version of insurance. It's pretty simple:

• the inspector needs to enter the special database of the Ministry of Internal Affairs;
• he enters the car data (number and VIN code);
• ready - based on the search results, the inspector has all the necessary information.

To check, an employee can also use a personal or work phone (tablet), or contact a stationary post by radio. It will take literally a few minutes, a little more than checking a paper version of the insurance.

How will the traffic police look at the electronic policy if it is not possible to enter the Ministry of Internal Affairs database?

Even if for some reason the inspector does not have access to a specialized database, this is not a reason to refuse an inspection and issue a fine for a missing policy. There is an alternative that is available to absolutely any Internet user - find information about insurance on the official website of the RSA (Russian Union of Insurers). All you need:

• Open the site in a browser;
• Select the “Checking MTPL policies” block under the slider and click “Check”;
• Enter available information about your driver's license and vehicle.

The search result will be detailed information about the owner of the insurance and its validity period.

What if the inspector does not accept insurance in this form?

Despite the fact that the regulations for checking the MTPL policy online have been adopted for a long time, some traffic police officers may insist on their own: no piece of paper - no insurance. What to do in this situation?

• Most insurance companies still recommend printing out the e-MTPL policy and taking it with you. In this case, you will have something to show the inspector. Perhaps this fact will already satisfy him, although the printed version cannot be considered a full-fledged document (there is no stamp on it). And, nevertheless, you can drive with a copy of the policy for your own peace of mind.
• Some drivers ask whether it is possible to show the MTPL policy on the phone? Yes, you can, but only through the RSA website. But if the police officer himself does not know whether it is possible to use an electronic policy in principle, and refuses to check the authenticity of the document using the database, this is unlikely to convince him.

I was fined for not having a paper version: what should I do?

So, if you come across a particularly stubborn inspector who does not recognize the e-MTPL policy and does not want to check it online, a fine cannot be avoided. No knowledge of how to display and “punch through the database” of a policy will help here.

• First of all, try to remind the traffic police officer about the federal law and the special letter from the Ministry of Internal Affairs, which we mentioned at the beginning of the article. Explain that you are not formally obligated to show the inspector a printed version of the policy, because he has access to all the necessary information.
• If that doesn't work, don't get into an argument. Information about the contract with the insurance company is in the system, so you cannot be held liable. So the issued fine can be appealed (10 days are given for this).

How to present an electronic insurance policy in case of an accident?

In the event of an accident, the situation will not change. We have already told you that traffic police officers can check your insurance themselves, as well as how to provide information about the policy on your phone. Of course, difficulties may arise when communicating with an inspector after an accident, but the algorithm of actions is similar: remind about the laws and be calm, because in fact you have insurance and nothing threatens you.

Let's sum it up

Despite the fact that the traffic police have the opportunity to check the authenticity of insurance in two ways (in the Ministry of Internal Affairs database or on the RAS website), some inspectors may not be qualified enough and refuse to do this. But this is no reason to panic: according to the law, you can use and drive with an electronic MTPL policy. However, we recommend that you have with you a printed version of the e-MTPL policy, which insurance companies send by mail. In some situations, paper insurance can help reassure an employee of your integrity.

Presentation of an electronic MTPL policy to a traffic police officer

In July 2015, Russians were given the opportunity to submit an application for renewal of their MTPL policy via the Internet. The innovations did not end there, and already in the fall the execution of electronic contracts became available. Moreover, the electronic OSAGO policy has the same force as a regular one. However, as always happens in such situations, the new rules may not be entirely clear. In particular, this applies to additions to the insurance process that have been made in recent years. Therefore, below we will describe the features of using and presenting electronic MTPL policies to a traffic police officer.

What is an electronic policy?

As already mentioned, the Internet has previously been used to obtain policies. Using special services, it was possible to submit a request for a compulsory motor liability insurance policy, after which a prepared paper contract was signed. Now, thanks to the presence of a unified RCA database, it has become possible to use an electronic document. Every year, online insurance options are expanding. Starting from 2017, vehicle owners can not only renew OSAGO via the Internet, but also receive it for the first time. In addition, the possibility of issuing e-MTPL has become mandatory for all auto insurers.

Both design options have the same force and legality. Moreover, vehicle owners have the right to choose for themselves what suits them best. The cost of a motor vehicle insurance policy, both in the form of an electronic OSAGO policy and in regular form, remains the same.

Are electronic police policies valid for the traffic police?

For the traffic police, as for any other government organizations, e-OSAGO has full legal force. That is, no official, including a traffic police officer, can refuse to accept an electronic MTPL policy, citing the fact that there is no regular version. According to RSA representatives, there was only one precedent when an inspector issued a fine for electronic insurance. This decision was challenged in court.

Currently, at the request of a traffic police officer, you need to show a printout of the electronic policy. It can hardly be called a full-fledged document, but it is used in exactly the same way as a regular policy. More details about the mechanisms and methods for checking an electronic MTPL policy will be discussed below.

When is it required to present e-OSAGO?

From a legal point of view, not every vehicle stop can be accompanied by a full documentation check. According to the law, traffic police officers may require you to provide an insurance policy when registering an accident, as well as when drawing up a protocol on the violation. The traffic rules (clause 2.1.1) states that the driver must present compulsory motor liability insurance when this is established by the relevant federal law.

The cases when insurance is required are the same for paper and electronic versions. Only the verification procedure will be slightly different. The driver must show the traffic police officer either the original policy or the printed file that was received when applying for the electronic MTPL policy.

Is it necessary to carry a paper policy with you?

The procedure for obtaining electronic insurance e-OSAGO allows you to receive a paper copy of the policy.

Previously, insurers recommended printing or downloading the file received during the registration process to a gadget so that it could be presented to traffic police officers. The fact is that the need to show a document executed online was not stated anywhere. And senior management ordered inspectors to independently check the electronic MTPL policy against the database, without demanding anything from the owner. Now, after changes have been made to the Federal Law “On Compulsory Motor Liability Insurance”, each driver must have a printout of e-MTPL (you can download it again from your personal account on the insurer’s website) and present it upon request of a traffic police officer. Therefore, the answer to the question is “Do I need to carry a paper policy with me?” — currently remains affirmative.

How to present an electronic MTPL policy to a traffic police officer

Before the introduction of electronic policies, each driver was required to carry an OSAGO form certified by the insurer on sheet A4. After presentation, the traffic police officer checked the validity of this document and checked it with the information on the driver’s license.

Now drivers are required to carry a printout of their electronic MTPL policy with them. At the request of the traffic police officer, it will be enough to show it. In the absence of compulsory motor liability insurance or its expiration, the inspector may issue a fine in the amount of 800 rubles (removal of license plates and towing of the car were abolished in 2014).

How will the inspector check e-OSAGO?

The procedure for checking an electronic MTPL policy is similar to a regular policy. If, after examining the e-OSAGO, the inspector has any questions, he can contact the IMTS or the RSA database (the latter is also available for drivers). Here he will need the VIN and license plate number of the car. It is also possible to check by number on the printout.

What to do when the electronic MTPL policy is not accepted by a traffic police officer?

Sometimes it happens that a traffic police officer for some reason does not want to accept a printout of the electronic OSAGO policy. On the one hand, such paper is really not a document. In addition, such copies often cause mistrust. In this situation, you can ask the inspector to contact specialized services. The check will not take much time. If he refuses, citing lack of access to the database, then this is no longer the driver’s problem. In any case, the issued fine can be easily appealed (of course, if the policy number is actually present in the registry). Similar cases have already been encountered, and, as a rule, the vehicle owner was found to be right.

Possible problems when using an electronic OSAGO policy

During the period of service creation, the process of obtaining and using e-MTPL had a large number of difficulties. Thus, only some insurers had a purchase option on their website, and if they did, there were constant problems with the service. In addition, many companies deliberately prevented the introduction of such an opportunity: with online registration, it will not be possible to sell the vehicle owner insurance with a large number of additional services. Also, checking an electronic MTPL policy by an inspector could take a long time.

Every year the system of electronic insurance policies continues to be fine-tuned. Thus, in 2017, several changes related to compulsory motor liability insurance are being introduced.

• Now any insurer is obliged to issue a policy both in regular and electronic form at the choice of the vehicle owner.
• Electronic insurance can be either renewed or purchased for the first time. In the second case, you will need to send scans of documents when registering.
• It is now possible to obtain personal data from the RSA database.
• Only its future owner should fill out e-OSAGO.

In addition, the active fight against fraud in this area continues. Thus, the main problems of using e-OSAGO have already been solved and the document has more advantages than disadvantages:

1. This type of insurance can be used on the same basis as regular insurance.
2. To issue an electronic MTPL policy, you don’t even need to leave your home. All you need to do is collect the necessary documents, transfer the required amount and print the resulting file.
3. The insurer does not impose additions that increase the cost of compulsory motor liability insurance.

Registration of e-OSAGO is perfect for people living at a great distance from the offices of insurance companies. Now there is no need to visit the insurance company in person and wait for registration. All you need to do is go to the insurer’s website and submit the required information. Contrary to popular belief, upon registration, the accumulated KBM will not go anywhere.

The only problem with electronic insurance is the lack of ability to make changes to the contract. You will not be able to add or remove drivers or change your passport details via the Internet. In all these cases, you will need to contact the insurance company directly. However, given the constant changes in the rules regarding e-MTPL, one can hope that similar issues will be resolved in the future.

Checking the electronic insurance policy of the State Traffic Safety Inspectorate

Since October 1, 2015, car owners have been able to purchase MTPL policies electronically.

On the one hand, electronic MTPL has opened up a lot of new opportunities.

Now you can purchase a policy without leaving your home at any convenient time. And pay it with a credit card without resorting to cash.

Moreover, all companies operating in the electronic MTPL system are available as insurers. The car owner chooses any of them, and not just the one whose sales office is in his hometown.

For more information about which companies have the right to conclude MTPL policies electronically, read the article - “Who can sell electronic MTPL?”

By choosing an electronic policy form, you will not have to fight with unscrupulous insurers imposing additional insurance.

And you don’t have to worry about the fact that the agent “inadvertently” will not take into account the correct KBM, zeroing out all the discounts for accident-free operation accumulated over many years. When calculating the cost of an electronic policy on the website, it is mandatory to check the information on the KBM through the specialized AIS RSA database.

But on the other hand, a new difficulty arose. Checking the traffic police policy.

How was the paper OSAGO policy checked by a traffic police officer?

When the traffic police inspector checked the documents for the car and the availability of insurance, the driver simply presented the original paper OSAGO policy.

The traffic police inspector checked the details of the car, driver’s license, and looked at the validity period of the insurance contract. And if everything was in order there, he wished a happy journey and let the driver go.

All road users have long been accustomed to this procedure, and it has become a daily routine.

What has changed in the work of the traffic police with the introduction of the electronic OSAGO policy?

With the introduction of the electronic MTPL policy, the process of checking the availability of insurance by a traffic police inspector has changed dramatically.

The fact is that the electronic form of the MTPL policy literally means that information about the driver’s liability insurance is recorded in electronic form and stored in the electronic archive of the RSA. And the policyholder is no longer given a paper policy.

That is, the traffic police officer cannot familiarize himself with the OSAGO form.

The legitimacy of the issued electronic policy in the traffic police must now be checked through a special service in the IMTS network of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia. Or in an alternative way - using the official RSA website.

Information about the order in which traffic police officers check electronic compulsory motor liability insurance was communicated to all employees of regional divisions of the State Traffic Inspectorate in a separate explanatory letter. Letter No. 13/12-у-4440 dated 07/03/2015 was prepared by the Main Directorate for Road Safety of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia.

How is the electronic OSAGO policy checked by the State Traffic Safety Inspectorate?

Traffic police officers check the presence or absence of compulsory motor liability insurance policies for vehicle owners who have entered into a compulsory motor liability insurance agreement in the form of an electronic document, using a special resource in the IMTS network of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia.

To do this, enter information about the state registration plate and VIN of the vehicle.

If a special resource is unavailable in the IMTS network of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia, a traffic police inspector can check the legitimacy of the electronic OSAGO policy using the official website of the Russian Union of Auto Insurers.

What should a driver insured under electronic compulsory motor liability insurance take with him?

When registering an MTPL policy in electronic form, the policyholder will receive the following package of documents from the insurance company by email: an electronic MTPL policy, an electronic copy of the payment receipt, a memo from the policyholder, a list of representative offices of the insurance company in the regions of the Russian Federation, a link to check the legitimacy of the electronic policy.

By the way, information that the car owner has properly insured his liability is sent to the RSA information system online. That is, immediately after paying for the electronic policy and receiving confirmation information by email, you can get into the car and go about your business.

However, due to the fact that the technical equipment of individual traffic police patrols leaves much to be desired (especially on highways remote from populated areas), it is recommended to carry with you a printout of an electronic copy received from the insurance company.

Of course, the printout does not fully replace the original OSAGO form. But having a paper copy of the policy can greatly simplify communication with the traffic police inspector in the future and save drivers time.

Checking the electronic insurance policy of the State Traffic Safety Inspectorate

Many car owners are interested in what the electronic insurance policy of the State Traffic Safety Inspectorate currently checks, let’s talk about this in more detail. In 2017, vehicle owners began to actively purchase e-MTPL. What is an electronic MTPL policy?

This is auto liability insurance online. Upon completion of the procedure, the car owner receives a virtual form, which has the same legal force as the printed version. However, debates continue about how State Traffic Inspectorate employees check electronic compulsory motor liability insurance; are their actions legal when checking an insurance policy?

Innovations in the work of the traffic police

If previously everything was simple and clear, when stopping a vehicle, the driver presented a paper original, which contained all the information about the car, its owner, the data was certified by the signature of an insurance company employee and the seal of the organization. In cases where the document was missing, appropriate penalties were applied to the driver.

Today, everything has become more complicated; road users must have a compulsory insurance policy, and they have it, but drivers are not always able to present it.

This moment falls under the law 40-FZ “On OSAGO” - the driver must carry a printed e-OSAGO with him and present it at the request of the inspector.

Accordingly, now traffic police officers check the black and white sheet, which reflects information about insurance. In order to verify the authenticity of the document, they were required to check the data using a special service in the IMTS network of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia, and traffic police inspectors also check e-OSAGO through the public RSA database.

How does traffic police check a policy for authenticity?

Upon completion of the e-OSAGO purchase, a form is sent to the post office; insurers recommend printing it out and presenting it to traffic police officers upon request. How will the traffic police check the electronic MTPL policy if the driver does not have a printout?

It is possible to present the MTPL agreement in the form of an electronic document on a phone or tablet. After this, the traffic police officer can take the initiative and carry out a check using the RSA database or in the IMTS network of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia.

There is another version of events: the owner of the vehicle presented the e-MTPL form, but the inspector refuses to recognize the paper as confirmation of the presence of a motor vehicle license. He does not have the technical ability to check the database, and then he simply begins to issue a resolution on an administrative violation.

It is important to remember that the lack of necessary equipment among traffic police officers is not the driver’s problem.

Such actions on the part of the law enforcement officer are unlawful, the driver is not required to carry the original paper with him, and if the inspector issues a fine for the lack of a policy, then it will be easy to appeal it.

Why e-OSAGO is doubtful

We discussed above what to do if the inspector refuses to check the data on the database; now we will tell you what to do if, after the inspection, the inspector declares the form invalid. Most often, problems arise when compulsory motor liability insurance turns out to be a fake or the necessary changes have not been made to it.

Unfortunately, there is a possibility of purchasing an invalid MTPL on a scam website. They skillfully fake web pages to look like websites of well-known insurance companies and carry out trading on their behalf. Therefore, it is recommended to go to the insurance company’s website through the RSA database or using the government services website.

And another reason why State Traffic Inspectorate employees have questions is the discrepancy between the data in e-OSAGO and your documents. This situation is possible if you changed your VU, last name, but did not make these adjustments to the electronic policy.

In order to drive your car safely, you must have an e-OSAGO form. You can print it out at any time from your email or from your personal account on the insurer’s website. Traffic police officers are required to accept it as proof of insurance. In order to verify the authenticity of the form, by law they must be checked against a single database.