Repair under MTPL at an official dealer

Car repair under MTPL in 2019: procedure, timing and nuances

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When repairing under compulsory motor liability insurance or compensating for losses, quite a lot of controversial issues may arise. The task of any driver is to carefully study all the nuances of car repair under MTPL. It is important to find out what are the features of the legislation on repairs under MTPL, to get answers to the most important questions: how can you get the necessary original spare parts, how to act correctly when repairs are delayed?

The key current rules for repairs under compulsory motor liability insurance in 2019 are of significant importance. A lot of questions arise when repairing a car using an MTPL policy, and the task of the car enthusiast is to understand all the intricacies. The main regulatory acts regulating this procedure are Federal Law No. 40-FZ dated April 25, 2001 “On Compulsory Motor Liability Insurance” and Bank of Russia Regulations No. 431-P dated September 19, 2014 “On the rules of compulsory civil liability insurance...”.

How to get a referral for repairs under OSAGO

It is necessary to obtain a referral so that the car can be repaired according to compulsory motor liability insurance. The issuance of a referral for repairs is possible after consideration of the relevant application; it is written by the owner of the car and then sent to the insurance company. When the insured event does not fall within the existing provisions of the law, insurance is provided in the form of vehicle repairs.

To receive a referral for repairs under OSAGO, the driver must:

Notify the insurance company about the accident.
Collect a package of documents, which includes an insurance contract and the policy itself, a title, receipts for payment for a tow truck, examination and parking, a passport, copies of the protocol and resolution of the traffic police and a notification of an accident.
Draw up an application for payment of the insurance amount and submit it to the insurance company.
Provide the car for inspection to the insurer (this must be done within 5 days from the date of filing the application for insurance compensation).
The car is inspected by the insurance company, and it may also be sent for an independent examination.

When all the necessary documents have already been received, the circumstances of the incident have been clarified and an assessment has been made, the car has been inspected and the appropriate examination has been carried out, the insurance company issues an official referral for repairs. The MTPL rules define specific deadlines for this: 20 or 30 days.

The direction includes the following data composition:

information about the victim;
details of the policy, insurance contract;
vehicle data;
the amount of additional payment for repairs;
car repair deadline;
the name of the service station where the repairs will be carried out, as well as its address and details.

When there are contracts between the insurer and the service station, the policyholder will be able to independently determine the service center from the corresponding list.

You need to choose as carefully as possible, since each service may have its own restrictions for vehicles.

The insurance company that provided the direction for repairs under the MTPL policy is responsible for compliance with the deadlines and quality of repairs.

How does the car repair procedure work under OSAGO?

It is necessary to consider in detail the procedure for repairing a car under OSAGO. The Law “On Compulsory Motor Liability Insurance” has a corresponding article 12 , which, among other things, establishes criteria for the accessibility of the place of restoration depending on the location of the accident or the place of residence of the victim.

In certain cases, the insurer is willing to bear the cost of transporting the car. Then the distance to the repair site will no longer matter. Now the car owner can independently choose where the repairs will be carried out: this is done in a service center or at an insurance company service station, as well as at an official dealer.

Repair from an authorized dealer

Car repairs at dealerships are in fairly steady demand. It is performed when no more than two years have passed from the moment the car was released from the assembly line. If the warranty is valid, the dealer will perform the repairs at his service center. It is important to understand that this requires an agreement between the dealership and the insurance organization.

Sometimes the list of service stations does not include the corresponding official dealer. In this case, the insurer issues a referral for specialized repairs at the dealer.

At the service station of an insurance company

Free car repairs under MTPL are carried out by the insurance company. In this case, an agreement is concluded between the service, the insurance company and the client. The documents must describe in detail all the work, its features, deadlines, as well as a list of spare parts indicating their specific prices. If the level of 400 thousand rubles is exceeded, the client will have to independently cover the additional costs of restoration repairs.

In addition, only new components are used during repairs. For example, repairing or replacing a bumper requires the use of new parts, rather than refurbished, previously used parts.

When the repair work is completed, the car is handed over to the owner for acceptance. The acceptance certificate can be signed only after there is confidence that all faults have been properly eliminated. If there are any shortcomings, you can already solve the problem through a complaint procedure.

If problems are discovered after signing the acceptance certificate, it is almost impossible to file a claim.

Rules for repairs in an independent service

It is important to remember the requirements for a service station when repairs to a warranty vehicle are carried out by a third-party service. To issue a referral, you will need to obtain the appropriate written permission from the insurance company. It indicates the details of the service station, as well as the address, contacts and name of the specific service center.

The insurance company may agree and send the car to a third-party service. Then the costs are covered without taking into account the wear and tear of spare parts. In addition, the insurer will have the right to consider the application for a longer time (10 days more, 30 days in total).

Car repair time under MTPL

The car must be repaired within a maximum of 30 days (Clause 15.2, Article 12 40-FZ). This period is counted from the very moment when the owner brings his car to the service station or transfers it to the insurer for transportation to the place of repair. It is extremely important that the maximum repair period under OSAGO is not exceeded.

Did the repair take longer? Then you can send a corresponding complaint to the service station, as well as to the insurance company. These authorities are required to promptly consider the appeal.

The specific period required for high-quality repair of a vehicle is determined in each case individually. This is done at the service center after inspecting and diagnosing the car. The repair instructions indicate the exact repair time frame, but it is possible to change them.

What to do if the insurance company delays repairs under compulsory motor liability insurance

It is also possible that repairs will be delayed under compulsory motor liability insurance. The main thing in this case is to remember that the period is 30 days. If there is already a violation of repair deadlines, the issue is resolved through a complaint procedure, so it is important to immediately submit a complaint in writing.

Calculation of the cost of repairs according to OSAGO

You can roughly calculate the cost of car repairs in advance. The price of spare parts will be of significant importance here. Keep in mind that the spare parts cost catalog according to PCA reflects current information, so it is always useful to check with it.

When insurers or service stations may require additional payment

It is important to remember that car repairs under MTPL insurance have a certain limit on the amount (400 thousand rubles). If this threshold is exceeded and only in this case, the insurer has the right to demand an appropriate additional payment from the vehicle owner.

Can non-original spare parts be used for repairs?

Another important point: when repairing a car under MTPL, only original spare parts can be used. The use of parts that have already been used or restored is strictly prohibited.

Unfortunately, judicial practice proves that in reality repairs are not always carried out according to the rules.

How to properly accept a car after repair

Judicial practice regarding poor-quality car repairs is widespread: the number of trials is increasing literally every day.

Be extremely careful: the car needs to be inspected and tested.

Is it possible to refuse repairs under compulsory motor liability insurance and get money?

Some car enthusiasts prefer to receive money under compulsory motor insurance for self-repairs rather than use the services of a service station. Therefore, many car owners are interested in the question: when the insurance company pays money instead of repairs, what should be done for this?

Now insurance companies themselves decide whether to issue compensation in cash or refuse payment. But you can find a way out. For example, if repairs do not fit within the 30 days required by law, it is appropriate to demand compensation in monetary terms. When the car is not older than 2 years, it must be repaired by an authorized dealer. But if it is not there, and the insurer does not want to pay for transportation, it is better to request compensation in money.

What to do if the insurance company refuses to repair

If the insurance company refuses to repair the car under compulsory motor liability insurance, you can resolve this issue through a claim procedure. Sometimes it even comes to court proceedings. First, you can file a formal complaint. If this does not allow you to find a common language with the insurance company, you are left with a lawsuit.

Is it possible to change a windshield under OSAGO?

Every driver should know that according to the legislation of the Russian Federation, under the compulsory motor liability insurance policy, windshield replacement is carried out only in the event of an accident. If the glass was damaged due to mechanical impact, for example, when hit by a stone or pebble, this will no longer be an insured event.

Repair from an official dealer under MTPL: how to get a referral and what to do if it refuses?

Today, in the legislation there is no such concept as “voiding the warranty” - even when repairs are not carried out by an official dealer of a car under warranty.
If the insurer has valid contracts with ML, and your car is less than 2 years old, then you are only required to issue a referral to the dealer.
Otherwise, there is a chance of getting such a direction, but only if the last condition is satisfied with the age of the machine.

Car maintenance and repairs exclusively at dealerships are a matter of warranty. Many car enthusiasts believe that they can void the warranty period if they go to another car service center. But what to do if the MTPL insurance company refuses to refer you to an official dealer and sends you to its dubious service station? How to obtain repairs from the “officials” or receive payment in 2019 if the insurer does not have concluded contracts with them? Let's find out!

Repairs are not carried out by “officials” - we void the warranty: is this true?

No. This is a myth, born, perhaps, by the authorized dealerships themselves for the sake of binding customers to themselves after they purchase a car. And the point here is not so much that the dealer simply won’t know if you have been sent for repairs by your insurance company and have your car restored at another service center. The point is that the “officials” are simply lying, and the law is on your side.

But what law? Of course, On the Protection of Consumer Rights (hereinafter referred to as CPPR)! Just a few important facts:

There is no such thing as “failure to comply with the warranty” in the ZPPP - this law uses the terms “service life” and “warranty period” - during the latter, the seller is obliged at his own expense to eliminate defects in the product (a car in our case) and organize an assessment of its quality ,
the official dealer is responsible for the defects of the vehicle during the warranty period, and the burden of proof falls on him if such defects arose through the fault of the driver,
the dealer does not have the right to condition the warranty on any additional paid services, including carrying out maintenance within its own walls.

From these 3 points we can draw a simple conclusion: in any case, no matter where you repair the car, when applying for a warranty in the future, the official dealer is obliged to prove the fact that this or that breakdown arose as a result of poor-quality repairs, and such a thing as “ automatically void the warranty" does not exist, and it is illegal.

So, now we have found out that even if you agree to a referral for repairs from the insurance company and have your car repaired after an accident not at an official dealer, you will not be able to automatically void the warranty.

But what should we do if we fundamentally don’t want to get repairs done by someone other than the official, and don’t trust the service center we’re referring to?

How to receive a payment instead of a referral under compulsory motor liability insurance?

If it is not important for you, and if the insurer does not have contracts with dealers for your make and model of car, you agree to the payment, then the 2019 legislation gives you the opportunity to receive it, but with one important condition.

You can receive a payment instead of being sent for repairs if the insurance company does not have a single agreement with the “officials” for your car if it is no more than 2 years old.

The fact is that compensation in kind in compulsory motor liability insurance is a mandatory and priority type of compensation for damage rather than payment. That is, this is not even a desire of the insurance company, but an obligation. But there are exceptions to this obligation in the law, when the insurer must only make a payment in cash.

And one of these exceptions is the age of the car is not older than 2 years from the date of production. Clause 15.2 of Article 12 of the Federal Law on Compulsory Motor Liability Insurance tells us this.

Please note that we are talking specifically about 2 years from the date of manufacture, and not the sale of the car to you.

But a significant disadvantage of receiving money instead of sending it to an official dealer for repairs is that the payment under compulsory motor liability insurance is calculated taking into account wear and tear, and during repairs the insurer is obliged to organize the restoration of the car with new parts to the condition it was before the accident. Therefore, if you choose to pay the money and then repair it yourself, the dealer will most likely not have enough money from the insurance company. Therefore, next we will consider the possibility of forcing the insurer to organize repairs.

How do I get repairs from the dealer?

If you still want to get repairs exclusively from OD, then you should keep in mind that this will not be possible to do this legally in 2 cases:

your car is more than 2 years old - then the MTPL insurer has every right to send you to an unofficial service station,
The insurance company does not have concluded contracts with your dealers.

And vice versa, if these 2 conditions are met, there is a legal chance to receive a referral for repairs to an official dealer.

But there is a small chance of being repaired at the OD, even if the insurance company does not have a contract for repairs with them. The fact is that, in fact, insurance companies can transfer funds using the dealer’s details. But be prepared that in this case you will have to fight with all your might.

But the new law on the financial ombudsman makes it difficult to achieve repairs at the dealership - this is another link in our chain that can lead us to our goal.

Thus, the correct order according to the 2019 law should be as follows.

First of all, you need to submit an application for insurance compensation, where you indicate the request for a referral for repairs, specifying that your car is less than 2 years old, and you require repairs exclusively from the official dealer of your car model, as required by the OSAGO law. Such an application can be submitted electronically in your personal account on your insurer’s website (the possibility of filing must be provided by insurance companies by law).
Next, you should receive a client card of the official dealer - all the details of the organization.
After you receive a refusal in your initial application (1 point above), send a second application with the dealer service station you have chosen and the details received in the previous step. You will receive a refusal at the first step with a high degree of probability if the insurer does not have an agreement with the ML, and, conversely, with a low degree of probability if such an agreement has been concluded.
If at this step you also receive a refusal (and in the absence of valid contracts the chances of this are high), you need to contact the financial ombudsman. This can be done through your personal account on the official website of the financial ombudsman and other online services.
Additionally, at this step, you can submit a complaint through the official website of the Central Bank about the illegal actions of the insurance company and ask for an order to organize repairs based on this complaint.
Only after the financial commissioner has reviewed the application can you file a lawsuit against the insurance company. But at this stage, the chances of winning the case are already decreasing. The fact is that if you demand in the statement of claim to organize repairs, the insurance company will refer to the impossibility of this (in the absence of a valid contract with the dealer under compulsory motor liability insurance), and you will only receive a payment in money or the court’s compulsion to carry out repairs no longer at the official dealership center.

Features and procedure for registering repairs under OSAGO from an official dealer

Back in April 2016, the President of Russia instructed the Central Bank (it regulates the MTPL system in Russia) and the government to prepare their proposals regarding the restructuring of the current MTPL system. In June 2016, the State Duma considered a bill to replace payments under compulsory motor liability insurance policies for compensation for damages resulting from an accident with repairs.

Important changes in the OSAGO system

The new bill suggests that from the moment it is signed, insurance firms will be able to choose one of the following methods of compensation for damage:

Payment of compulsory motor liability insurance to the driver - this option for compensation for damage remains unchanged. The insurance company assesses the damage and gives money to the victim to repair the car.
Repair under compulsory motor liability insurance in 2019 at a service station owned by an insurance company. In this case, the insurer assesses the damage and sends the car to a service station with which the insurer has signed an agreement.
Repair under MTPL at an official dealer is possible when the car is no older than two years. At the request of the injured driver, the insurance company must send the car to an authorized dealer for repairs. An appropriate agreement must be concluded between the dealer and the insurance company.

In order for an insurance company to offer the MTPL policy owner repairs instead of payments and send the car to a service station, it is important to comply with certain conditions. Thus, the service station must be located no further than 10 kilometers from the border of the city (with a population of over 500,000 people) where the driver lives. Compensation for spare parts is paid taking into account their wear and tear. If the insurance company sends the car for repair, then the spare parts are paid without taking into account wear and tear. The bill does not resolve the issue of delivering a damaged car to a service station.

At the moment, the bill allows insurance companies to send a car to “their” service stations. This can only be done after agreement with the owner of the damaged car.

Car repairs after filing a claim for compensation

When submitting an application for compensation for damage to an insurance company, the injured party will be able to receive funds for repair and restoration work or receive a referral for repairs under compulsory motor liability insurance at a dealership or service station. Repair is possible only in cases where restoration work can still be carried out. If the car cannot be restored, it is sent for recycling. The driver receives compensation for all losses.

To receive the maximum amount for car restoration or a referral to a service station, the driver must contact the insurance company with a corresponding application. The motorist should do the following:

inform the insurance company about the accident;
draw up and submit to the insurer a written application for compensation of damages within the period specified in the MTPL policy;
Attach documents confirming the fact of the accident to the completed application.

After submitting the application, the driver must wait for the decision of the insurance company. Before this, a company specialist with the appropriate qualifications will conduct an assessment and indicate the amount required to repair the damaged vehicle. If the driver agrees with the indicated amount, then he will be able to receive monetary compensation and carry out repairs with the help of someone else or on his own. The maximum MTPL payment that a driver can receive from an insurance company under a MTPL policy is 400 thousand rubles . This option of compensation for damage under an MTPL policy has been known to drivers since the first days of the existence of the MTPL system. According to the new bill, after assessing the damage to the car, the insurance company will offer the driver three options for solving the problem:

The driver agrees with the amount of damages assigned by the expert and receives money into his account for further work to restore the car.
The driver agrees to have the car repaired under compulsory motor liability insurance, which the insurance company offers to carry out at “its” service station and receives a referral for repair work. The amount required to repair the car is transferred to the car service account.
The driver himself chooses one of the options to resolve the problem and informs the insurance company about this, which does not have the right to refuse repairs under OSAGO.

Referral for free repairs

If the driver chooses free repairs under OSAGO, the insurance company issues a referral to a partner auto repair shop. Insurers have several such workshops, so the driver will be able to choose the most suitable option from the list.

When the owner of the car agrees to repairs instead of money under compulsory motor liability insurance, an agreement is concluded between the car repair shop, the owner and the insurance company. It must include the following points:

the period during which the car will be repaired at the service station;
calculation of the cost of all work that needs to be done;
list of work to repair and restore a damaged vehicle.

If a driver, when taking a repaired car to a service station, notices that the work was performed poorly, then he should not sign the vehicle acceptance certificate until the repair work is carried out efficiently.

Repairs under OSAGO RESO, which the driver agreed to by signing an agreement with the insurance company, are carried out absolutely free of charge.

The maximum MTPL payment for which repairs will be carried out instead of payment under MTPL is 400 thousand rubles.

If an insurance company expert estimates the repair of a car damaged as a result of an accident at 520 thousand rubles, then the insurance company will pay for repair work only in the amount of 400 thousand rubles. The remaining 120 thousand rubles will have to be paid by the car owner from his own funds.

Pros and cons of car repairs at the expense of an insurance company

Car repairs carried out under compulsory motor liability insurance have their advantages and disadvantages. The advantages include:

The driver is exempt from independently organizing repair work. He only needs to sign an agreement with the service station and the insurance company, deliver the car to the service station and pick it up after repair under Rosgosstrakh compulsory motor liability insurance.
Service station partners of insurance companies receive money after the repair of the insured car is completed. Therefore, the car repair time under MTPL will be minimal and the car will be restored quite quickly.

The disadvantages of repairing a car at a service station at the expense of an insurance company include the inconvenience of choosing a service station, since not all stations work with insurance companies. Another disadvantage of repairs at service stations under compulsory motor liability insurance at the expense of the insurance company is the poor quality of repair work. If necessary, all shortcomings in car repair at a service station can be eliminated at the request of the car owner, but this will take a lot of time.

Repair of a warranty vehicle at dealer prices (OSAGO)

If you are unfortunate enough to be injured in an accident in a new car that is under dealer warranty, then this material will be useful to you.

First, let's immediately turn to some legal acts that somewhat clarify this issue.

Letter of the law

The Federal Law No. 40 “On Compulsory Motor Liability Insurance” speaks directly about insured events involving guaranteed vehicles, namely clause 15.3 of Art. 12, which says:

requirement to maintain the warranty obligations of the vehicle manufacturer (restorative repairs of a vehicle less than two years have passed since its production year must be carried out by a service station that is a legal entity or individual entrepreneur registered on the territory of the Russian Federation and providing service for such vehicles on its own name and at your own expense in accordance with an agreement concluded with the manufacturer and (or) importer (distributor) of vehicles of certain brands).

This point is also confirmed by the position of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation, in Resolution No. 58 of December 26, 2017, which states the following:

In order to preserve the manufacturer's warranty obligations, repairs of a damaged vehicle at a service station, which is a service organization under an agreement concluded with the manufacturer and (or) importer (distributor), are carried out within two years from the year of manufacture of the vehicle (clause 152 of Article 12 of the Law about OSAGO).

At the same time, to determine the cost of restoration repairs (RUR) for the purposes of compulsory motor liability insurance, the Unified Methodology (EM) of the Central Bank and directories of the cost of spare parts generated by the Russian Union of Automobile Insurers (RUA) are used. But PCA prices differ significantly from dealer prices, and here a certain problem arises.

How does a refund usually work?

In such cases, the insurance company most often acts according to one of the given scenarios.

Pay extra for repairs. If it turns out that the insurance company has a corresponding agreement with the dealership, then you may be given a referral for repairs to the dealer. But the money that the insurer will send most likely will not be enough for repairs. Next, at one stage, you will be asked to pay the difference between the cost of spare parts and labor at the dealer and what the experts from the EM insurance company calculated.

Get repairs from Uncle Zhora. If the insurance company does not have a repair agreement with the official, you may be offered for repairs by any other service station with which the insurance company has an agreement. However, when repairs are made at such service stations, you automatically lose the dealer’s warranty and not everything is covered for this type of reimbursement. A special case may be an assignment agreement, which it is better not to sign .

Get money. Also, you may be asked to pay the amount of the insured event in cash. There are two very unpleasant aspects to this option:

there will most likely not be enough money for repairs;
They may slip you a “settlement” agreement, which will stipulate agreement with the amount and waiver of examinations and claims (you are not required by law to sign such an agreement and we do not recommend doing so).

These are just the most common scenarios.

What to do

Until recently, there was no clarity in understanding what should be done in this situation, but on November 30, 2018, many questions were answered by the appeal decision of the Arkhangelsk Regional Court. We will not provide the text of the decision in full; if you wish, you can read it at the link provided. The essence of the decision is that the court recognized the need to determine the amount of damage in cases of damage to warranty vehicles not at EM, but at dealer prices. The reasoning part of the decision was based on the above paragraphs of Federal Law-40 and Resolution of the RF Armed Forces No. 58.

Basically, when applying for a refund, you need to:

demand a referral for repairs to an official dealer if he is on the list of IC partners in a given region;
on the basis of clause 15.2 of Federal Law 40, require a referral for repairs to a dealer service station if the insurance company does not have a corresponding agreement (If none of the stations with which the insurer has concluded agreements for organizing restoration repairs does not comply with the requirements established by the rules of compulsory insurance for organizing restoration repairs in relation to specific victim, the insurer, with the consent of the victim in writing, may issue the victim a referral for repairs to one of such stations. In the absence of such consent, compensation for damage caused to the vehicle is carried out in the form of an insurance payment.);
if there is a shortage of payments for repairs at dealer prices, demand additional payment from the insurance company in a claim procedure, referring to clause 15.2 and PP BC No. 58;
in case of refusal of compensation at dealer prices, file a corresponding claim in court.

Insurance company ALFASTRAKHOVANIE – reviews

Cars less than a year old - after an accident, according to compulsory motor liability insurance, they are not sent to the dealer’s official service station.

When concluding the MTPL contract, they told me that the Law stipulates that the insurance company is obliged to send the injured owner of a new car (up to two years old) to a dealer service station. When an insured event occurs, I am not only denied repairs at the official dealer’s station, I am sent to some garage service station. They didn’t even send me to an official for examination and inspection - they told me over the phone that it was expensive there, no matter what, the prices there were higher than the regional average. And this despite the fact that the car is less than a year old, the amount of repairs is several times less than 400 thousand rubles. They suggest that I go to some kind of “left” service station, after going there, I will lose the warranty on the car. Or they offer to “receive the amount” in money based on the average repair prices in the region, based on which I will not be able to buy the required spare parts and properly repair the car from an official dealer. Please give an explanation why one thing was previously stated, but now it is completely opposite. That is, when purchasing the policy, I was informed that for any accident up to 400,000 rubles, I would be provided with service at an official service station, now they claim that they will not send me to the dealer, since “the dealer is expensive.” I don’t know on what basis such statements were made by employees of the Alfastrakhovanie company. We accepted documents at a garage service station. And there they offered to make repairs. They said that there was no agreement with the officials, but if there was an agreement, then we, the company, would have violated the insurance law, and since there is no agreement, then the law is not violated. That is, there is no violation of the law, but there is no execution either!