The insurance company refuses to conclude a compulsory motor liability insurance agreement

The insurer does not have the right to refuse to conclude a compulsory motor liability insurance contract to a vehicle owner who has applied to it with an application and submitted the necessary documents, or to condition its conclusion on the purchase of additional services

In order to conclude a compulsory motor liability insurance contract, the policyholder has the right to contact any insurance organization that provides compulsory insurance, which does not have the right to refuse to conclude a compulsory motor liability insurance contract, provided that the insured provides all the necessary documents, as well as impose additional services when concluding a compulsory motor liability insurance contract, conditioning their purchase on the possibility of carrying out compulsory insurance . In addition, if a mandatory voluntary insurance agreement is concluded in addition to compulsory motor liability insurance, the policyholder has the right to cancel the voluntary insurance agreement within 5 working days from the date of its conclusion and return the paid insurance premium.

In addition, it is clarified that:

— when concluding a compulsory motor liability insurance agreement, it is necessary to pay attention to the correctness of filling out the application for concluding a compulsory motor liability insurance contract, including information that affects the amount of the insurance premium under the compulsory motor liability insurance contract;

— the list of documents submitted to the insurer is established by paragraph 3 of Article 15 of the Federal Law of April 25, 2002 N 40-FZ “On compulsory insurance of civil liability of vehicle owners”;

— by agreement of the parties, the policyholder has the right to submit copies of documents necessary for concluding a compulsory motor liability insurance agreement;

— in cases provided for by the rules of compulsory motor liability insurance, these documents may be submitted in the form of electronic documents;

— the period for consideration by the insurer of an application for concluding an MTPL agreement is not provided for by the current insurance legislation, however, the rules of professional activity for MTPL insurers, approved by the RSA, provide for the obligation of the insurance organization to conclude an MTPL agreement on the day the client applies (in the case of a vehicle inspection - no later than 5 days from day of application);

— an MTPL agreement can also be concluded in electronic form, while the conclusion of an MTPL agreement in the form of an electronic document is not allowed if the information provided by the insured does not correspond to the information contained in the AIS MTPL;

— on the official website of RSA you can find the information necessary for calculating the insurance premium under the MTPL agreement, including information about the bonus-malus coefficient;

— all violations committed by insurers when concluding MTPL contracts must be reported to the Bank of Russia.

Can an insurance company or agent refuse to apply for compulsory motor liability insurance? Causes

You cannot drive without a compulsory motor liability insurance policy - any car owner knows this. And yet, sometimes drivers are faced with an absurd situation: he wants to buy insurance (that is, in fact, he is ready to give his money to the insurance company here and now), but is refused. What should you do, break the law or take public transport? Of course not. Let's find out why the insurance company refuses to issue an MTPL policy for your car, whether the insurer has the right to do so and what to do in this case.

Legal reasons for refusing insurance?

There are only two reasons why an insurance company may refuse to conclude an MTPL insurance contract and issue a policy:

Malfunctions in the database of the Russian Union of Auto Insurers (RUA) . The insurance agent receives all data online using this database. If the PCA servers “fall”, the specialist will really not have the opportunity to sell you compulsory motor insurance. Another thing is that this is unlikely to last for several days: most likely, in a couple of hours everything will work and you will be able to continue issuing the policy. Errors were made on the part of the driver : you did not provide a complete package of documents or did not bring a power of attorney (if you are not the owner of the vehicle), and did not allow the vehicle to be inspected.
In this case, of course, there can be no claims against the insurance company. Remember that only these two reasons can be called legitimate.

Can an insurance agent refuse to obtain compulsory motor liability insurance in other cases?

But under no circumstances should you be interested in other people's benefits. Your rights to purchase an MTPL policy are confirmed by a number of laws:

• Federal Law No. 40-F3 (“On OSAGO”) states that you are required to have insurance. How can you get it if you don’t buy it?
• The auto insurance contract is public. The essence of such an agreement prohibits the seller from refusing citizens to purchase goods or services (Civil Code of the Russian Federation, Art. 426).
• If you understand that the policy will be sold to you only after purchasing additional services (this also happens), another law has been violated. Clause 2 of Art. 16 of the Law “On the Protection of Consumer Rights” prohibits “making the purchase of some goods (work, services) conditional on the mandatory purchase of other goods (work, services).”

So, the laws of the Russian Federation are completely on your side. All that remains is to understand how to behave after a refusal.

What to do if your application for compulsory motor liability insurance policy is refused?

Refused to issue an MTPL policy? Or were additional services imposed upon registration? Have you set a date for submitting a package of documents and issuing a policy a month or two after the expiration of your current insurance policy? These actions of the insurer are illegal, and it is possible and necessary to call him to order.

Why don't insurers sell MTPL policies?

Insurance companies have created an artificial shortage of motor vehicle forms for exactly one reason. OSAGO insurance has become unprofitable, or even simply unprofitable. Thus, in the first quarter of 2014 in three regions of Russia: Amur, Ulyanovsk and Murmansk regions, payments reached 90% of collections, and in the Kamchatka Territory the amount of payments exceeded the amount of collected insurance premiums and amounted to 107%.

At the beginning of the year, insurers everywhere began to close their offices in anticipation of an increase in tariffs due to summer changes in legislation.

The law on compulsory motor liability insurance has been updated, the schedule for changing tariffs for the year has been approved, the procedure for establishing basic tariffs and adjustment factors has been given to the Central Bank of the Russian Federation. However, the situation remains critical in many respects.

What does the legislation of the Russian Federation say?

During the first half of 2014, the Federal Antimonopoly Service registered 1,500 complaints from car owners against insurers in 66 regions of Russia. Insurance organizations universally refuse to issue an MTPL policy and impose additional services. 47 insurers received warnings, cases were initiated against 34, and the court has already made decisions on 27 violations. And the verdict is always the same: the insurer is wrong.

The list of unscrupulous companies included: Ingosstrakh, VTB Insurance, Yugoria, ASKO, Renaissance Insurance, Rosgosstrakh, AlfaStrakhovanie, VSK, ZHASO, SOGAZ, Alliance, BASK, Guta -insurance", MAX, SG MSK, "RESO-guarantee", "Soglasie", "Zurich", "UralSib". The Ministry of Finance on its website published an unambiguous position on this issue and offered the car owner a sequence of actions in the event of an unlawful refusal.

So, let's look at the laws:

• Federal Law No. 40-F3 “On compulsory civil liability insurance of vehicle owners” dated April 25, 2002 states that the owner of a vehicle is required to have an MTPL policy.
• In Art. 426 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation and Art. 1 of Law No. 40-F3 emphasizes that the MTPL agreement is public. That is, the insurer is obliged to enter into an agreement with everyone who contacts him . Refusal is not allowed.
• In paragraph 2 of Art. 16 of the Law of the Russian Federation No. 2300-1 “On the Protection of Consumer Rights” (dated 02/07/1992) states that conditioning the purchase of some goods on the mandatory purchase of others (in other words, the imposition of additional goods and services) is prohibited .
• Clause 14 of the OSAGO Rules states that the car owner has the right to freely choose an insurance company. The latter, upon receipt of a package of documents and a written application, has no right to refuse to provide this service.

According to Federal Law No. 223-FZ of July 21, 2014, an insurer’s unreasonable refusal to enter into public contracts and the imposition of additional services not stipulated by federal law entails administrative liability . Corresponding amendments have been made to Art. 15.34.1 of the Code of the Russian Federation on Administrative Violations.

Punishment: a fine of 50,000 rubles imposed on the official who committed the offense.

The competent authority is the Central Bank of the Russian Federation, the mega-regulator of the insurance market. Heads of territorial divisions are authorized to resolve issues of control and supervision in the field of financial markets, incl. insurance

1. The car owner can contact any insurance company.
2. The insurer has no right to refuse to sell a compulsory motor liability insurance policy.
3. It is also unlawful to force someone to buy additional options (for example, a life insurance policy for the policyholder or drivers included in the policy).

If this happens, then, according to paragraph 4 of Art. 445 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation, the insurance organization is forced to conclude a contract in court and compensate for losses caused to the car owner by its refusal .

Remark by RSA

At the end of September 2014, RSA published the “Procedure for notification by insurance organizations of the refusal to conclude an MTPL agreement to owners of RSA vehicles.” It is based on clause 7 of Art. 15 of the law on compulsory motor liability insurance, which states the insurer’s obligation to issue a written refusal and notify higher authorities - the Central Bank and the RSA. From the entire document, we are interested in the list of acceptable grounds for refusal to issue a motor vehicle license. Among them:

• lack of connection with AIS SAR;
• failure to present the vehicle for inspection (can be carried out both at the location of the insurer and at the place of residence of the policyholder);
• failure to provide a full set of documents required by law;
• lack of a power of attorney to conclude an insurance contract on behalf of an individual entrepreneur or legal entity.

However, the lack of connection with the base will still need to be proven, and after it is restored, the client will need to be invited (in writing!) to conclude an agreement. The issue of failure to present a car for inspection is also controversial, since there is a diagnostic card that serves as the basis for selling the policy. In general, it can be debated whether the grounds for refusal given by the RSA do not contradict the Law of the Russian Federation. And there is no doubt that the courts, when considering cases, will appeal only to officially approved norms.

What to do if the insurance company refuses to issue a compulsory motor liability insurance policy?

The MTPL insurance policy is a mandatory document, without which the operation of a car on the territory of the Russian Federation is prohibited. If the insurance company refuses to issue it, the policyholder has a number of effective ways to challenge its actions. The car owner is simply obliged to know his rights and use them in resolving controversial issues. In this article we will try to answer the questions: for what reasons do insurers refuse to issue an MTPL policy and what should the policyholder do in this case.

Reasons for refusal to issue MTPL

Difficulties during the execution of an MTPL agreement for car owners occur quite often in all regions of Russia. The Law “On Compulsory Motor Liability Insurance” (Part 1, Article 4 of Federal Law No. 40 of April 24, 2002) forces all vehicle owners to take out a civil liability insurance policy in case of damage to third parties. Thus, every car owner must have an MTPL policy, and its absence is the reason for the prohibition of operating the vehicle in accordance with Article 3 No. 40-FZ. At the same time, traffic police officers have the right to issue fines for lack of insurance.

At the same time, insurance companies licensed to insure civil liability of drivers are often reluctant to enter into such contracts for a number of reasons, the main one of which is the high unprofitability of this segment of services. In their opinion, the current tariffs are not commensurate with the cost of repairs and the prices of spare parts for cars, which are growing daily. In addition, in recent years, the car park in the country has significantly shifted towards more expensive imported cars, and this, in turn, affected the amount of average payments by insurers. Even the latest tariff increase could not change the situation for the better.

The main reasons for refusals to issue MTPL agreements include:

• increasing the payment limit to 400,000 rubles;
• introduction of a unified system for calculating losses;
• extension of the law protecting consumer rights to compulsory motor liability insurance;
• an increase in the cost of imported spare parts, leading to an increase in the amount of payments under compulsory motor liability insurance.

The unprofitability of this type of service forces many agencies to stop selling MTPL policies or even close their companies. But this state of affairs is not a basis for refusing to issue a policy to the owner of the vehicle.

Imposing additional services

It often happens that the owner of a vehicle is not sold an MTPL policy without purchasing additional services. Agencies offer to insure life, various property, and purchase accident insurance along the way. This way of doing business allows these agencies to make at least some profit from the sale of unprofitable OSAGO.

And only in the case when the driver agrees to such conditions and agrees to issue an additional, but in fact unnecessary service, the insurance company employees agree to issue compulsory motor liability insurance. Such phenomena have become widespread in many regions of the country.

Any actions of insurance company employees trying to impose additional services, in accordance with paragraph 2 of Article 16 of the Federal Law of the Russian Federation 2300-1 “On the Protection of Consumer Rights” are illegal. The car owner can and should appeal them, provided that he does not need the imposed proposals. To do this, the owner of a vehicle to whom additional services are illegally imposed must file a complaint against the insurance company with the RSA, the regional branch of the Central Bank of Russia, the prosecutor's office or the FAS.

Methods for recording a failure

If company employees do not want to refuse to issue a policy in writing, it is necessary to obtain legal grounds for going to court. Such grounds can be obtained by recording the fact of refusal on video or audio media (video camera, mobile phone, etc.). For this method to be legal, before turning on the recording means, it is necessary to warn the insurance agency employee that audio or video recording will be made. Before doing this, after turning on the fixation means, you also need to voice the information that the employee has been warned. The policyholder must also record this warning on his recording device. Only in this case can this method have serious weight in court. It is advisable that witnesses be present when recording communications with a representative of the insurance company. You can take testimony from them, also recording it on video.

If the insurance company employee was not notified that a recording was being made, this method of recording will be considered illegal and cannot be used in court.

Procedure for filing a complaint against an insurance company

Agents' persistent reluctance to issue an MTPL policy is grounds for challenging a negative decision. In order to challenge the insurance company’s refusal to issue insurance, you must prepare the following documents:

• a written application (offer) for the purchase of a compulsory motor liability insurance policy with the stamp, date and signature of a representative of the organization that accepted it;
• refusal of the insurance company in writing (if received);
• Testimony from vehicle owners who find themselves in a similar situation can be recorded on a flash drive or disk.

These documents must be sent to the following competent authorities:

• to the judicial authority at the place of residence;
• to the RSA department;
• to the regional branch of the Central Bank of Russia;
• to the prosecutor's office;
• FAS.

Even before filing an appeal to these authorities, you can warn a representative of an unscrupulous organization about the possibility of such a development of events. Often, in response to these threats, they still agree to take out a policy, without taking radical measures.

The prosecutor's office and the court, mentioned in such cases, force employees of insurance agencies to immediately forget about their negative decision and facilitate the issuance of a compulsory motor liability insurance policy at the request of the client.

After submitting the application, the policyholder will no longer be required to take any action - he will not be required to appear in court or at the above departments. After submitting the application, an inspection will be carried out, and the policyholder will only receive the results of the investigation by mail. After the inspection, the applicant will only have moral satisfaction, since the fines paid by the insurance company will go to the budget.

How to force an insurance company to issue compulsory motor liability insurance?

A car owner whose insurance representatives refuse to issue an MTPL policy must:

1. In the presence of witnesses, request a company representative to formalize the refusal. The insurer must justify in writing the reasons that became the basis for such a decision.
2. Try to obtain compulsory motor liability insurance from another company that provides civil liability insurance services. If here, too, the car owner is shown the door, he must in any case demand a reasoned written refusal.
3. Knowing that the actions of insurance employees are illegal, you need to refer to the provisions of the Law “On Compulsory Motor Liability Insurance” (Part 1 of Article 4 No. 40-FZ of April 24, 2002) and paragraph 2 of Article 16 of the Federal Law of the Russian Federation 2300-1 “On the Protection of Consumer Rights " You can also call the head of the department - if the insurance company employees see that their visitor is legally savvy, then most often they will agree to resolve the issue in favor of the client.
4. Record on video (as mentioned above) all the actions of a company employee who does not want to issue a form or give a written refusal. Gather witnesses and also record their testimony on a video camera or mobile phone.
5. Warn the insurance company employee about liability for violating the law, remind him of the administrative liability of officials who commit such offenses.

In most cases, this tactic works, and insurers satisfy the application of the vehicle owner. When, nevertheless, the client is refused to issue an MTPL policy, and still manages to obtain a refusal in writing (as practice shows, this is very difficult to do - almost always the result is close to zero), this document can be the basis for filing a claim against this insurance company.

Procedure for filing a claim in case of refusal to take out a policy

If it is impossible to obtain a policy, the car owner can file a claim with the insurance company using one of the following methods:

1. Take the offer application in person to the agency office.
2. Send an application via Russian Post.

An application submitted in person must be made in two copies. One of them remains with the insurance company, the second with the recipient’s signature, seal and date of acceptance must remain in the hands of the policyholder. It must be registered and assigned an incoming number, which is also indicated on the second copy.

The letter must be sent by registered mail with acknowledgment of receipt. In accordance with the law, the MTPL agreement is public, therefore the client’s written request must be considered without fail. In response to this request, the insurer must send a written refusal or a signed contract.

Responsibility and penalties for violating the law when applying for compulsory motor liability insurance

The Law “On Compulsory Motor Liability Insurance” states that the owner of a vehicle has the right to independently choose an insurance company to conclude a contract. If the company he has chosen has received all the necessary documents and a written statement from the car owner, it is obliged to issue him an MTPL policy (Article 426 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation and Article 1 of Federal Law No. 40).

In accordance with Federal Law No. 223 of July 21, 2014, if, when concluding a public contract, the refusal of the insurance company was unfounded, while other services that were not mandatory were imposed on the policyholder, this situation is an administrative offense (in accordance with Art. 15.43.1 of the Code of the Russian Federation on Administrative Offenses). These changes make it possible to impose fines on insurance companies that unreasonably deny a car owner the legal right to take out a policy. The same punishment threatens when additional services are imposed.

There is no need to be afraid to be straightforward; you should confidently defend your rights. It is necessary to have strong nerves and use the rules of the law, which, if the insurance company refuses to issue compulsory motor liability insurance, are on the side of the car owner and do everything possible to obtain the necessary policy.

Conclusion

It is necessary to prepare for the purchase of an MTPL policy in advance, remembering that insurance companies try to refuse the client in any way, citing the impossibility of concluding a transaction due to the lack of forms. In addition, they may require a check of the technical condition of the car before processing documents, and set a date for inspection of the vehicle in a month or a month and a half. There is no need to fall for such tricks of unscrupulous organizations providing this type of service. Knowing your rights and understanding that the law is on the side of the car owner, we can say with confidence that he will have a positive solution to all issues related to the purchase of an MTPL policy.

Is it legal for an insurance company to sell a compulsory motor liability insurance policy?

Refusal to sell the policy

The refusal of an insurance company to sell a compulsory motor liability insurance policy has a variety of reasons, although most often the true reasons are not stated. For example, if you live in the region and try to get insurance in Moscow or St. Petersburg, you may well get a refusal, because it is simply unprofitable for the insurance company if you purchase insurance with a lower regional coefficient and travel around Moscow. Other reasons may include frequent accidents and others. Is it legal for an insurance company to refuse to sell a compulsory motor liability insurance policy and what to do if the insurance company refuses to sell it to you? Let's find out, referring to the legislation in force for 2019!

Legality of refusal to conclude a contract

To answer the question about the legality of the insurance company’s refusal, we need to know what legal acts govern it. We only need two such acts:

• Federal Law “On Compulsory Motor Liability Insurance”,
• Civil Code of the Russian Federation.

So, the first law regulating legal relations between citizens and insurance companies in its very first article regulates that the insurance contract (and this is the policy that the company refuses to sell you) is public.

The compulsory insurance contract is concluded in the manner and on the terms provided for by this Federal Law and is public

“ But what does this matter to us!? " - you ask. Here's what! Public contracts have their own rules for their execution and restrictions, which are already regulated by the Civil Code. Thus, Article 426 of the Civil Code in its part 4 tells us the following:

3. The refusal of a person engaged in entrepreneurial or other income-generating activities to conclude a public contract if there is an opportunity to provide the consumer with the relevant goods, services, or perform the relevant work for him is not allowed .

An insurance company that provides auto liability insurance essentially sells what every car owner (the policyholder) is required by law to have, with exceptions, of course. Therefore, it is quite logical to prohibit refusing to conclude such an agreement.

Thus, the refusal of the insurance company to sell MTPL insurance as of 2019 is illegal.

Calculate the cost of your MTPL policy

What to do if the insurer refuses to sell insurance?

The first thing to do in this case is to remind the refusing party of the severe sanctions for violating the conclusion of a public contract. Moreover, the punishment is applied directly to insurance companies or agents/brokers.

What is the penalty for refusing to sell a policy?

For refusal to sell an MTPL policy, a substantial fine is provided under Article 15.34, Part 1 of the Code of Administrative Offenses:

Unreasonable refusal of an insurance organization, insurance agent, insurance broker to conclude public contracts provided for by federal laws on specific types of compulsory insurance, or the imposition of additional services on an insured or a person intending to enter into a compulsory insurance contract that are not stipulated by the requirements of the federal law on a specific type of compulsory insurance, entails imposition of an administrative fine on officials in the amount of twenty thousand to fifty thousand rubles; for legal entities - from one hundred thousand to three hundred thousand rubles .

Moreover, if you contacted the office of the insurance company, then it will be responsible for the refusal as a legal entity. If you go to a broker or insurance agent (usually a small office where they can (but not necessarily) sell policies of different insurance companies), then the fine for refusal is imposed on them as officials if they work as individuals or as entrepreneurs, but not as an organization.

But in any case, such a fine will significantly exceed the prospect of savings for them for refusing to sell you insurance.

Reasons such as expired policy forms or absence of an employee on site do not justify the refusal. These are the problems of the insurance company - to organize uninterrupted work, according to their work schedule, to issue policies.

You must file a complaint:

​You can file a complaint with all authorities at once if things get “boily.” But it is better to videotape the refusal process for evidence.

However, a video recording is not the strongest evidence of refusal - at trial, the insurance company can indicate that the refused employee did not work for the company and even show a letter of resignation retroactively. Unfortunately, this practice also happens in 2019.

What are the ways to force an insurance company to sell a policy?

Therefore, you can submit a written application with the necessary package of documents, sending it by mail with a list of attachments and notification of delivery. But here, too, trouble awaits us - the insurance company can consider such an application up to 30 days after receiving your letter, according to Article 445 of the Civil Code:

1. In cases where, in accordance with this Code or other laws, the conclusion of an agreement is mandatory for the party to whom the offer (draft agreement) is sent, this party must send to the other party a notice of acceptance, or of refusal to accept, or of acceptance of the offer for other conditions (protocol of disagreements to the draft agreement) within thirty days from the date of receipt of the offer .

Here, of course, lies a significant drawback - for the majority of those who are wondering about buying MTPL insurance, it is relevant for the very near future, since you cannot drive without it, but you need to drive right now.

However, if the insurance company refuses to apply in this way, there will be an almost 100% fine, so it is very rare that insurers refuse to enter into a contract with a written application.

But try to bring an already written written application with the necessary documents to the insurance office and, on video, demand a written refusal to conclude a public contract. This sometimes works too.