Question from a reader:
« Good day Sergey. I have a question for you - we recently got into a serious accident, on a winter road it was carried into a ditch, since we practically did not suffer. However, the machine cannot be restored! The pillows worked, the body moved, the engine broke through, etc. etc. the damage is very big! Since we have a new car, we insured it under full CASCO insurance, if it is not subject to restoration, what kind of compensation can we expect? We are very worried with my husband, thanks for the answer, Larisa»
It's good that they themselves remained alive, and the car - you will work out another one, don't worry, it's just metal! Your question is clear, read on...
Let's first think about what it means - the car is not recoverable.
This term was introduced by insurance companies. It means that the restoration (repair) of the car is impractical, since the cost of repairs will exceed the cost of this car in normal condition. Usually, if the repair amount is already 70 - 80% of the cost, then the insurance company already recognizes it as non-recoverable.
It should be borne in mind that a specific car is being evaluated, its year of production and mileage. That is, if the car is not new, then it will not cost like new, but adjusted for the year of production and mileage. It is from this value that the damage should be considered.
We read the CASCO agreement
You are really lucky that there is a CASCO agreement. You will recover almost the entire amount for the car, including interest for depreciation. This is where you need to read the contract. This is where the pitfalls lie, and in different insurance companies they may be different. Therefore, initially, when buying and insuring a car, you must carefully choose a reliable insurance company with a long history of work.
So, for example - when I insured the car, it was written in black and white - that in the event of the complete destruction of the car (for whatever reason, accident, arson, etc.), the full amount of the cost is paid, minus 1.2% depreciation for each month of insurance. That is, if you used insurance for 10 months minus 12% of the cost of the car! Almost all insurance companies have this practice!
However, you need to be on your guard, and as I always urge you, before concluding an agreement with an insurance company, read the entire agreement from cover to cover, and especially the small print and marginal callouts.
So my friend says in the CASCO policy - when the car is completely destroyed, the following calculation - for the first month, wear is considered 7% of the cost, and the next 1.5%, this is a lot! So if you used a car for 10 months, then - the first month 7% + (9 months X 1.5%) = 20.5%! Just think, the insurance company will not pay you 20.5 percent of its price! From 1,000,000 rubles you will receive less than 205,000 rubles. This is a huge amount!!
So, Larisa, carefully read the contract, everything is really written there.
broken car
Many ask the question - What do you do with a car that is beyond repair? Leave it at the insurance company?
Guys no! You need to take it yourself - WHAT ARE YOU !!! Think for yourself, you insure your car against damage, whether partial or complete, so what if it is completely destroyed, you paid for your insurance, and therefore this pile of scrap metal is YOURS!
What I'm driving at is that even this pile of metal costs money, and not small ones at that (especially if you have an expensive foreign car). You can sell documents, and sometimes it is 15 - 20% of the cost of a car, you can hand over the rest for spare parts, and this is again 15 - 20%. Yes, plus insurance, so you get a little more money than a new car.
However, my advice to you until all the money has been transferred, do not even think about selling - disassembling the car, or doing anything with its documents. Insurance companies are tricky and may require additional due diligence, such as a month after an accident. And you have all the cars dismantled! So wait, don't rush!
In your case, Larisa, you need to calculate depreciation, look at the contract, how much you get per month, if there is no information, then contact your insurance company. If the total amount is much lower. Most likely it will. THEN there is a simple move - an independent examination - then the court - obtaining the missing amount. All these "going through the throes" are not as scary as they seem. And almost always justified. The solution of such issues through independent experts and the court is a normal well-established practice. And in most cases, the court takes the side of the car owner. And the last thing - be sure to pick up a broken car for yourself.
As for the fact that you had an accident, do not worry, of course, if the car cannot be restored - this is unpleasant and insulting, but think about the good - WHAT WERE ALIVE! And this is the most important thing. Do as I told you!
And that's all, I think I helped you. Read our AUTOBLOG!
Often, insurance companies recognize the constructive death of a car for their own benefit, and not at all because of the technical condition of the car. At the same time, managers rely on the legal illiteracy of the client, because such actions are illegal. In what cases can the decision of the insurance company be challenged?
When is the insurer entitled to recognize "total"?
Each insurance company independently decides in which cases it is possible to recognize the constructive death of the car. However, the CASCO rules of most insurers indicate that the total death of the car occurs in the following cases:
- If the cost of repairs exceeds a certain percentage of the sum insured (usually 70-80 percent).
- If there is no technical possibility to repair the car.
In fact, both points mean the same thing, because it is difficult to imagine a situation where, with a repair cost of 40-50 percent of the sum insured, there is no technical possibility to restore the car.
Some companies prefer to indicate in the CASCO rules that the constructive loss of a car can only be recognized by decision of an expert organization.
Payout options
In the event of a total death of the car, the car owner has the right to decide what to do with the usable remains of the car. Undamaged parts can be handed over to the insurance company or kept for yourself.
In the first case, compensation is paid in the amount of the sum insured. If the car owner decides to use the second option, the insurer will deduct the cost of good balances from the amount of the payment. In both cases, the payment is reduced by the depreciation percentage specified in the CASCO rules.
Some insurance companies have partnerships with intermediaries involved in the sale of emergency vehicles. Such an insurer can offer the client another option for settling an insured event. Namely, the car owner sells good leftovers through an intermediary, and the insurer pays compensation minus their cost.
If you decide to use this option, you should ask about the reputation of the intermediary. Sometimes insurance companies cooperate with rather dubious firms, therefore it is impossible to judge the reliability of an intermediary by the reputation of the insurer. Whichever payment option you choose, we will talk about a large sum of money.
Do not be surprised if the insurance company insists on cashless payments. It is more convenient for insurers to pay large sums in a non-cash form.
Payment term
Each insurer sets its own term for settling the total loss. Most often, insurance companies indicate in the CASCO rules that a decision on a payment case must be made within thirty days. After that, the insurer has another ten days to transfer money. However, these periods can vary greatly from insurer to insurer, so the insured should find out in advance exactly when to expect payment.
But with the start date of the loss settlement period, everything is somewhat simpler. Any company starts counting from the moment when the applicant provided the last required document. You should ask managers for a copy of the act of acceptance and transfer of documents, otherwise it will not be possible to appeal against the actions of the insurer in case of violation of the payment terms.
In some cases, the settlement of the loss may be suspended until the conclusion of an additional agreement on payment. Often, car owners refuse to sign this document, as they are not satisfied with certain clauses of the agreement. This gives the insurer a legitimate reason to delay payment. You can resolve such a conflict situation with the help of abandon.
What is abandon?
This term refers to the right of the car owner to refuse the damaged car in favor of the insurance company. To do this, you must submit a written application to the insurance company. After receiving such an application, the insurer is obliged to pay compensation, and the car owner can count on payment in the amount of the sum insured.
The peculiarity of the abandonment is that the owner of the car does not need the consent of the insurer to pay. In the event of a trial, it is sufficient to prove the fact that the application was transferred to the managers of the insurance company. As a rule, insurers prefer to resolve abandonment issues through the courts, so it is better for a car owner to be patient.
How to dispute the "total"?
Quite often, the decision of the insurer to recognize the complete destruction of the car causes indignation among the car owner. This is not surprising, especially if the car remained on the move after the accident. In addition, often the managers of the insurance company deliberately inflate the cost of repairs in order to get a damaged car. Usually service station employees also participate in such scams.
To be completely sure that the cost of repairs was overstated, you should contact one of the official dealers of a particular brand of car. It is desirable that such a service station does not cooperate with the insurer. Specialists of the dealer service station will determine the cost of work in accordance with the manufacturer's repair technology.
Also, the car owner can contact an independent expert. His opinion and the opinion of the specialists of the dealer service station will help to objectively assess the validity of the decision of the insurer to recognize the constructive death of the car. If the car owner is sure that the insurer is trying to deceive him, you should go to court.
The insurance company that insured the car under CASCO, according to the contract, is obliged to pay full compensation for damage resulting from an accident. To estimate the cost of restoring damage, the car is delivered to the service station, where auto mechanics calculate the estimate for damage repair.
Suppose that the cost of repairs was 80% of the cost of the car.
According to the CASCO insurance rules, "Total loss" (actual or constructive - Total) means damage to the vehicle, as a result of which it is not technically possible to perform repair and restoration work to ensure the elimination of damage resulting from the occurrence of an insured event, or the cost of their implementation exceeds 75% of the insurance value, minus depreciation.
Thus, by virtue of the terms of the insurance contract, the car is considered lost. The insurance company makes a decision - total. Further, "good remains" are evaluated - what is left of the car.
In the future, two ways of development of events are possible. Some insurance companies give the client the opportunity to choose the option of compensation for losses according to the “total” that is acceptable to him, while others impose their point of view.
Total loss - options for obtaining insurance compensation for CASCO:
First option. The insurance company pays the client the entire amount according to the contract, minus the deductible and depreciation (if these items are provided for in the CASCO contract). The client draws up his refusal from the usable remains of the car and transfers them to the insurance company.
Second option. Pick up the good leftovers from the car yourself. Then an estimate of the value of suitable residues is carried out. This amount reduces the insurance indemnity. Everything that is left of the car can be sold to the service station, where it will be patched up and sold again. You can still try to fix the car yourself, and thus avoid the cost of removing and registering with the traffic police.
“I will always remember this trip!” exclaims the mother of three-year-old Zakhar, who fell ill at a Turkish resort. On the seventh day of rest in a five-star hotel in a small village an hour's drive from the city of Kemer, the baby was severely poisoned. “For two days he vomited like a fountain, he could neither drink nor eat. Nothing from the range of medicines that we had with us in case of serious poisoning helped,” Irina complains.
When the tourists realized that the child's illness was more serious than they thought, they tried to get through to the representative of the insurance company, whose policy they bought along with the ticket. “It was necessary to report the insured event to one of the CIS countries. We called the Skype specified in the insurance contract to make it cheaper - they explained to us that we need to contact it by phone, they will not accept the application via Skype and will not give instructions. For two days they called from the reception to the Turkish mobile number indicated in the contract - the call was cut off each time before being connected. Useless assistance, we were left to our own devices,” says Irina.
Tourists thought to go to the local hospital on their own, but the tour operator's manager warned that it would cost $1,000 - and a taxi to the nearest hospital, and tests, and a doctor's appointment. In the end, the situation was saved by the director of a pharmacy nearby, who received his medical education in Lvov and spoke Ukrainian. He prescribed anti-emetics and medicines for poisoning, and after a couple of days the child recovered. But the vacation was already ruined.
To avoid such a situation, you should carefully choose a travel insurance policy when traveling abroad. And if you buy insurance along with a ticket, then take an interest in the level of the policy and the features of assistance on it. Perhaps it will be cheaper to order another policy (if it is not possible to refuse the one imposed by the tour operator) than to remain abroad without treatment later.
General patterns
According to a study by Prostobank Consulting as of July 28, 2015, a 14-day medical and additional cost insurance policy for traveling abroad for 14 days, purchased from Ukrainian insurance companies, will cost 100-800 hryvnias for a child of two years and 100-400 hryvnia per adult. The policy for the countries of the European Union (both to Greece and Germany) is slightly cheaper in some companies, and at the same price in others.
When the buyer of the policy needs medical services abroad, according to the terms of the contract, he must contact the company - a foreign partner of the UK, which sold him the insurance. This company will provide the so-called assistance to the insured - it will inform which hospital to apply to and tell important nuances about medical care in his particular case.
It is noteworthy that the same companies often act as partners of different Ukrainian insurance companies abroad. For example, in the summer of 2015, the most common companies providing assistance to Ukrainians abroad are Balt Assistance and Smile Assistance. “Indeed, there are few assisting companies on the market, and the principle of service is the same. The same can be said about supermarkets: the same suppliers of products, the general principle of service, but we like some more, others less. It all depends on how the insurance company works with the assistant. What are their service algorithms, what are the requirements for the timing of the organization of assistance,” says Olga Sidoruk, Manager of the Personal Insurance Department at PZU in Ukraine.
According to insurers, if the same partner abroad is in different UK, this does not mean that tourists abroad will be served the same way. In fact, the range of services is determined by the terms of the contract between the UK and a foreign partner and the UK with a tourist. “The assisting company is obliged to serve the insured person within the terms of the insurance contract, that is, when choosing an insurer, the terms of the contract are the priority, and not the assisting company,” says Yulia Levchenko, Deputy Head of the Personal Insurance Department of TAS Insurance Group.
As a rule, insurance programs from insurers differ in their parameters - the sums insured, the terms of payment, the list of medical and additional services, exceptions, and so on. Most noticeable is the difference in sublimits - additional restrictions on the sums insured for certain types of assistance. “For example, in company A, a sublimit of 100 euros is allocated for dentistry, in company B - 150 euros. If emergency dental care for a tourist costs 150 euros, then under the policy of company A, you will have to pay extra 50 euros,” explains Vitaly Grebenik, deputy director for direct sales of the ASKO-Medservice insurance company.
“For example, if the total sum insured is UAH 30,000 in the contract, then the sublimit for outpatient care can be only 1,000 euros. It is even worse when a sublimit is provided for one of the most expensive types of medical care - inpatient care, ”warns Olga Sidoruk.
Another nuance that you need to pay attention to before buying a policy is exclusions from the list of insurance events. “For example, one company covers losses that occurred while riding a touring bike, while another does not, a third considers this an additional risk and asks for an additional payment for it. Even if the assisting company is the same for all three insurers, it will act differently,” Olga Sidoruk says.
Self-guided trip to the doctor
In some insurance companies, you can choose a policy without assistance - it will be cheaper than with such a service. In this case, you will be compensated for medical expenses after contacting the insurer in your home country. For policies that provide assistance, an ex post reimbursement scheme is also available. “As a rule, the policy also provides for the possibility of self-payment of medical services by a tourist with subsequent reimbursement of the funds spent upon returning to Ukraine. At the same time, the tourist must inform the assistance about the disease, and the operator will recommend which doctor to contact. There are policies on the market without assistance services, but they are not suitable for traveling to a country in the Schengen zone,” says Victoria Voloshina, Chairman of the Board of IC NOVA.
There are a few clear cases where you will have to pay for medical services yourself. “Self-payment is possible only in cases where the client reported the event after receiving the honey. help, or when the client is in a small town where there is no clinic, and the appointment is conducted by one private doctor for cash payment. When it comes to inpatient treatment, the bills for it are really colossal, so the insurance company makes settlements with the clinic by bank transfer,” says Olga Sidoruk.
In order to be able to contact the assistance without problems, think in advance how you will do this. The cheapest thing is to buy a local mobile operator card. The most expensive thing is to call from a hotel room. In some hotels you can call the reception for free. Also, some managers of tour operators offer their mobile phones to the guests in case of emergency.
Insurers recommend not to pay for services on your own, but to contact the assistance in any case. “Another point confirming the expediency of applying for assistance is the competence of doctors and an established network of medical institutions that provide quality medical services. In addition, in a foreign city it is difficult to navigate in a situation where a person feels bad. Some drugs familiar to us in Ukraine may not be sold in the destination country. And the language barrier can affect the quality of medical care and lead to the fact that the doctor incorrectly diagnoses the disease, ”explains Vitaly Grebenik.
Freelance situations
In any case, if you do not inform the assistance about the insured event within the period specified in the contract (usually two days from the date of the event), you will not receive compensation. This rule also applies to particularly difficult cases with transportation by ambulance: you must notify the assistance as soon as possible and provide the hospital with your policy. “In emergency cases, when the patient himself cannot seek help, this can be done by a relative, a person with whom he travels together, medical personnel,” says Vitaly Grebenik.
If you rest in a place remote from large cities, then it is possible that your assistance does not apply to the nearest hospitals. “There are situations when a tourist is in an area where the assistance company does not have an agreement with a nearby clinic. In this case, two options can be offered - the tourist pays for the treatment on his own with subsequent reimbursement of the amount spent, or the assistance organizes his delivery to the clinic from a network of partners, ”says Viktoria Voloshina.
If the policyholder is brought to a hospital with which the assistance has not signed an agreement, and at the same time it is forbidden to transport him, then the reimbursement will be processed differently. “In this case, the assistance will negotiate with the medical institution on an individual basis - on the terms of payment and the amount for the medical services provided, provided for in the contract. If the amount for the rendered medical services is small, the client, in agreement with the assistance (with the permission of the IC), can pay for them himself on the spot. Then, upon returning to Ukraine, the insurer compensates the incurred agreed costs in full,” Vitaliy Grebenik explains.
The cost of policies for a child and an adult for a period of 14 days for Turkey and Greece according to a study by Prostobank Consulting as of 28.07.2015, UAH.
Foreign partner | Policy program name | Türkiye | Greece |
|||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
For a child 2 years old | For an adult | For a child 2 years old | For an adult |
|||
ALFA INSURANCE | Savitar group | standard | ||||
"Smile Service" LLC, "FIRST ASSIST" (Türkiye only) | Program-A | $18.2 | $9.1 | |||
ASKO - Medservice | Smile Assistance | Program-A | ||||
AXA Insurance | Balt assistance | classical | ||||
WELFARE and PROTECTION | Smile Assistance | Program-A | ||||
Program-A2 | ||||||
DOMINANT | Nova assistance | Program-A | ||||
EUROPEAN INSURANCE ALLIANCE | Smile Assistance | Policy when traveling abroad | ||||
ILYCHEVSKOYE | Smile Assistance | |||||
INGO Ukraine | Europe assistance | INSURANCE WHEN LEAVING ABROAD | ||||
International insurance contract, program B | ||||||
Kyiv INSURANCE HOUSE | Balt assistance | travel insurance policy for those traveling abroad | do not insure children under 3 years old | 40-50 cents/day | do not insure children under 3 years old | 40-50 cents/day |
Turkey - Remed, Europe - IT company | PROGRAM "A" | |||||
Policy for traveling abroad: program B | ||||||
EuroCross international Central Europe | Policy for traveling abroad | |||||
program A | ||||||
ROM Ukraine | Balt assistance | |||||
Smile Assistance | Standard | |||||
PROVIDNA | Balt assistance | Traveling abroad | ||||
SIMPLE-insurance | Smile Assistance | Standard | ||||
TAS Insurance Group | All assistants | Standard | ||||
UKRAINIAN INSURANCE GROUP | Smile Assistance | Standard | ||||
Ukrainian insurance capital | Brokbusiness insurance | Standard | ||||
UNIVERSAL | Smile Assistance | |||||
European travel insurance | Standard | |||||
Smile Assistance, Remed | Policy when traveling abroad | |||||
Opinion
Vitaly Grebenik, Deputy Director for Direct Sales of ASKO-Medservice insurance company
Many insurance companies cooperate with the same assistance company (hereinafter - assistance) on the issue of organizing the provision of medical and additional services to clients who have purchased from them an insurance contract for medical and additional costs while traveling abroad.
Does this mean that the client will receive the same amount of medical and additional services for purchased travel insurance from any of these insurance companies? Definitely - no. Assistance organizes the provision of medical and additional services only to those and to the extent that is provided for in travel insurance, and acts within the framework of its powers provided for by the contract-order concluded with the Insurance Company.
Therefore, from whom to buy a policy is very important, since the insurance programs provided by travel insurance for all companies may be different.
The scheme of payment for an insured event, so as not to compensate for medical care out of pocket, is as follows:
1) you need to choose the right insurance program that covers medical expenses in the host country, depending on the purpose of the trip;
2) study the insurance contract - write out assistance telephone numbers for yourself;
3) upon the occurrence of an insured event, immediately contact the assistance, provide the employees of the medical institution with an insurance policy.
Victoria Voloshina, Chairman of the Board of IC NOVA
It is more convenient for a tourist to receive services through an assistance company. Visiting a medical institution abroad is expensive, and many of our citizens do not have the necessary amount with them, especially for hospitalization. Therefore, most insurance programs provide for emergency medical care through an assistance company.
Previously, there was a situation on the market when the majority of Ukrainian insurers cooperated with CORIS Ukraine (the current name is APRIL Assistance). But today the choice of assistance has expanded significantly. Of course, it is difficult for the consumer to understand all the nuances of the assistance company, and which one is better, but representatives of travel companies, based on the reviews of tourists, are already paying attention to what kind of assistance the insurer works with.
Yulia Levchenko, Deputy Head of the Department of Personal Insurance, IG "TAS"
Some insurance companies do have the same partners abroad, it can be both clinics and assisting companies. However, it is important to remember that when servicing insurance contracts, assisting companies are guided, first of all, by the terms of the insurance contract, that is, the policy that a person acquires when traveling abroad. Thus, the assistance organizes medical care for the insured person exclusively in accordance with the terms of the policy of a particular insurance company (different insurance companies have different conditions). But in the end, it is the terms of the policy that determine the insurance coverage, and not the assisting company. Therefore, the issue of choosing an insurance company remains relevant.
According to the terms of the contracts of most insurance companies, compensation for self-spent funds is provided, as well as the organization of medical services, and subsequent payment to contractors. As a rule, the services are organized by the assistance and paid for by the insurance company, in exceptional cases the insured person is forced to pay for medical care on his own. In such cases, a person must have a certain financial support to pay for services.
The accreditation of an insurance company in the embassy of the country where the insured person is going means that certain conditions of the policy of this insurance company comply with the requirements of the host country, but this does not mean that other insurance conditions are the same in the policies of all accredited companies, so customers can be advised to carefully study the insurance contract before signing it.
A car after an accident cannot be restored: car assistance
Just a lot of subtleties and nuances exist in such a problematic topic as insurance payments for a car that cannot be restored after an accident. How not to fall for possible abuses of the insurance company, how to quickly and seamlessly solve the difficulties that arise along the way, how and to whom to sell the remains of a long-suffering car?
The first difficulty is to take care of the contract in advance
Few people, when making CASCO, pay attention to such an item as recognition of the constructive death of the insured car. This is quite natural, because an experienced driver is unlikely to assess his chances of getting into such an accident as high. Nevertheless, anything happens on the road, and it is also due to someone else's fault.
“I was driving to work along my usual route, where I know every hole, every sign, and it seemed to me that I could drive through it with my eyes closed,” says Polina, an experienced driver with ten years of experience. There was an old truck ahead of me. I overtook him on the left side, and at that moment he decided to turn left to refuel. Not only was there no entrance to the gas station - there was a brick. So his rear turn signal didn’t work yet! ” Polina got into the so-called "dead zone" of the truck driver's visibility, and could not know about his desire to turn. “When I had already overtaken him, I saw a working front turn signal, and tried as much as I could to avoid an accident. But the collision happened anyway, the car became uncontrollable, I was skidded, thrown to the side of the road into a tree. Only airbags and a fastened seat belt saved me, - Polina recalls with horror. - The most interesting thing is that the truck driver did not understand what happened. He came up to me and his first phrase was: "From here they bought foreign cars - they fly here." Possible dangers are not limited to such cases: there are plenty of unpredictable situations on the road, and not everything and not always depends on our driving skills. Therefore, it is necessary to study the conditions of insurance before concluding a contract.
The specifics of insurance of "total" damage to a car is that each insurance company has its own approach to recognizing the constructive death of the insured vehicle.
“Insurance approaches are based on the ratio of the cost of restoration repairs to the cost of the car at the time of insurance, that is, to the sum insured,” explains Sergey Mishkur, director of the insurance broker FinansServis LLC. - However, each insurance company takes a different value as a basis. The spread fluctuates in the range of 60 - 75%. In practice, this means that a car worth 100,000 hryvnias can be recognized as structurally destroyed with a cost of restoring repairs of 60,000 hryvnias in one company (60%), and in another, compensation will be paid in the usual manner (75%).”
The complexity of the choice - who are the leftovers?
So, if you have already drawn up a contract, and then got into an accident, and the car is significantly damaged, then you need to agree with your insurance company on whether the car can be restored or not, and for this you need to imagine how much it costs to repair.
Determining the cost of repairing a car is a long and rather complicated procedure. Repair costs cannot be determined visually, and the calculations of maintenance stations are not officially taken into account by the insurance company, but are simply an indicator of whether it is necessary to conduct a special auto-merchandising study for the appraiser. And only the calculation of the damage by the latter determines whether the car can be recognized as unrepairable. If the decision on the constructive death of the car has already been made, then it’s up to you to choose the most optimal tactics of behavior.
As a rule, in the insurance contract for the client, two options for the development of events for the compensation of losses by the insurance company are prescribed. Scheme one: the remains of the car are taken by the insurance company and deal with their future fate, while reducing the insurance payment by the amount of the deductible, proportional depreciation and other deductions in accordance with the terms of insurance. As a rule, such a scheme is practiced for cars that are on credit from a bank. In this case, the borrower will have to compensate the bank for the lack of funds from the insurance payment to repay the loan from his own pocket.
Scheme two: you keep the broken car for yourself, and then, in addition to everything that is deducted in the first scheme, the cost of the remains, estimated by specialists, will also be deducted from the insurance compensation. And here there is a wide field for activity - after all, the profitability of this item depends on how exactly the assessment of the residues was carried out.
Difficulty with insurance - the subtleties of determining the cost of repairs and residues
The value of the remains is determined by a separate study after the car was declared unrecoverable. And here come up the nuances associated with the previous stage of determining the cost of restoring a car. The fact is that insurance companies, as a rule, use the services of partner or expert subsidiaries when evaluating repairs. Therefore, theoretically, they have the opportunity for a kind of fraud, in order to subsequently profitably acquire leftovers or minimize damage with leftovers that are very unprofitable to sell. To do this, the IC is simply enough to agree with the expert company on the underestimation or overestimation of the cost of repairs and the cost of residues. And get the desired result: either "total" where it is not, or the absence of a decision on "total" where it is frankly required. As for the assessment of balances, there can also be abuses here: for example, if the car is of interest to the insurance (for example, in cases where the insurance amount is pegged to the dollar, and it has grown significantly, the cost of the car and its parts has increased accordingly), then the cost residuals may be underestimated. And if you sell the remains of the car yourself, then on the contrary, it is overpriced. Therefore, if you do not agree with expert assessments, then feel free to argue with them at all stages.
If you are not satisfied with the cost of repairs, determined by an expert appraiser proposed by the insurance company, then contact another appraiser that you trust - preferably from a state expert company. To conduct an assessment, it will be enough for you to provide the expert with photos of the damage and a copy of the invoice from the service station. If your suspicions of an inadequate assessment are confirmed, then for negotiations with the insurance company (and for greater persuasiveness in court in the event of a negative development of events), it is worth ordering another expert assessment. If even after that you failed to reach an understanding with the insurance company, then feel free to go to court.
However, the decision for each specific car depends on the situation. “If you have not agreed with the insurance that the car is not “total”, then it makes sense to pick up the leftovers and consider the option of self-repair, since there will not be enough compensation for a similar car. In this case, you can count on a dispute over the value of suitable balances, by which the payment will be reduced. Do not agree - make an alternative assessment, - advises Sergey Mishkur. - The solution may be to repair the car not at an authorized service station. At the same time, try to minimize the cost of repairs. Refuse to replace airbags, for example. This is not very good, but still, you will have a vehicle. If there were no mistakes made during insurance, then get a refund and buy a new car. Although the amount of costs that insurance will not cover can also be significant - depreciation, deductibles, car registration fees, insurance costs, and so on.
The last difficulty - we sell the leftovers on our own
The process and result of selling the remnants of a hopelessly damaged car can also grow into a whole problem. Polina, who had an accident with a truck, was looking for buyers of the remains of her car via the Internet - she sent them photos of damage so that they could understand what condition the car was in. “In fact, there were no people interested in buying at all: out of 20 of my appeals, only one was responded to,” Polina shares her experience. “At the same time, gangster-like “brothers” arrived, who took both the car and documents for one and a half thousand dollars: in fact, they bought the remains of the car at the price of documents, despite the fact that the damage was not catastrophic.”
Difficulties are associated with a limited circle of potential buyers. Three categories may be interested in what is left of your car:
- intermediaries, such as those associated with SK, who, taking advantage of the undervalued balances, earn on the difference between the amount of the purchase of your car and the balances resold in the future;
- experienced participants in the repair services market (for example, owners or heads of service stations, private businessmen, etc.), they can restore the car and then resell it at a fairly high price. In addition, they can sell cars for parts at the prices of used parts;
- fraudsters who, in fact, under the guise of leftovers, buy documents for a car, and then use them in various illegal schemes.
It is clear that all three categories of buyers will try to buy from you the remains of a car at a price as low as possible in order to earn more from it. And here there is no panacea - the only way, according to experts, is not to rush to sell. “A longer period will give an opportunity to maneuver for bargaining and obtaining more favorable conditions,” advises Sergey Mishkur, director of the insurance broker "FinanceService" .
Emergency commissioner in Ukrainian: a fairy tale and reality
What to expect from the emergency commissioner of your insurance company.
Despite the fact that during his short driving experience, the author of these lines twice got into minor accidents, he did not see the accident commissioner of his insurance company and communicated with him only by phone. Moreover, none of the author's acquaintances - both among beginners in car driving and seasoned racers, regardless of the severity of the "adventures" - have also never met these mysterious employees of insurance companies. However, this does not mean that they do not exist.
Prostobank Consulting will try to figure out how emergency committees can help a car enthusiast, and how they can harm.
What is good…
What should the ideal emergency commissioner look like?
In the event of your getting into an accident, upon your call:
- arrive at the scene of an accident before the traffic police;
- inspect everything;
- assess damages;
- provide psychological assistance (and for girls - also bring coffee with you J);
- help to prepare all documents;
- interrogate witnesses.
Are you smiling? Many of these rights / duties / powers are granted to the emergency committee by Ukrainian legislation (“Model regulation on the organization of the activities of emergency commissioners”, the Law of Ukraine “On compulsory insurance of civil liability of car owners”, etc.), contracts with insurance companies or insurance contracts.
Moreover, if the accident is without casualties, and both / all three / all four, etc. participants are insured, then the emergency committee has the right to draw up a report instead of the traffic police. And then take it to the regional department and then make a romantic journey of dealing with the payment of compensation to you through the authorities. Although, on the other hand, if you and Ivan, who has slightly bounced from behind your brand new “girl”, “Bought-rights-for-fat” on the “six” (it doesn’t matter, Mazda or Zhiguli) agree that he is to blame, you can figure out the accident scheme with him for two and without emergency committee. And then bring it to the regional department and it will not be considered an escape from the scene of the accident. And it will be faster than through an emergency committee.
However, experienced people still urge to call the traffic police always: what if contradictions arise between the emergency committees of different companies?
However, in order for the miracles described above to happen in the event of your getting into an accident, several conditions must be met.
Third, this emergency committee should not have at that time the registration of another accident / lunch break / corporate party and other circumstances that prevent it from coming to the “scene”. According to the insurance companies themselves, only 15% of emergency committees go to road accidents. And according to the law, he, in principle, is not obliged to appear at the scene of the accident, but must perform his functions within three days.
Fourth, even if the emergency committee arrived, he should have enough skills to resist Sergeant Petrenko-violating (if he had already managed to get to the collision point). In Western countries, emergency committees are practically all savvy lawyers. We have just people with higher education who should understand the car. A law degree is an advantage when applying for a job, but, as a rule, not a decisive one. As a result, as the chairman of the board of one of the large insurance companies told the author, “well, we arrived at an accident - and who are we there?” Although many insurance companies use a rather controversial wording on their websites: they say, emergency committees are almost the car owner's lawyers in the event of an accident. So, if you really need a lawyer, then it’s better to have his number in your mobile phone.
Fifth if the accident commander Serezha Pomagayko won the verbal fight with the sergeant and defended your legal rights (read: provided psychological assistance and prevented psychological pressure from law enforcement officers) of the victim, it is not a fact that, left alone with your car, he will turn on the correct functional keys on your calculator.
His primary task is to find out if the accident is a falsification.. If all the signs of the “veracity” of what is happening are there, then the emergency committee will most likely act on the principle of minimizing the costs of its employer. This can manifest itself in various forms and at different stages. For example, if a part - according to service station specialists (who, by the way, are also not without sin - but today is not about them), is to be replaced, then the emergency committee can easily assess the damage as requiring a maximum of cosmetic repairs. In addition, soft, unobtrusive offers of specific service stations are possible, where "everything will be done cheaper for you." Is it worth it to "be conducted", it is up to everyone to decide for themselves. But practice shows that the quality of work is high where they can be personally controlled.
By the way, the emergency certificate, which is issued by the accident committee, serves only as evidence of the loss. But at the same time, it is only a recommendation for the insurance company regarding the amount of payment. I mean, kind of a gimmick.
Well, the last. Even if the emergency commissioner behaved like an exemplary sweetheart at the scene of the incident, it is not necessary that he or the successors of his case in the loss settlement office will knock themselves off their feet, running around the traffic police departments, courts, etc., delivering all your certificates. So, in order to move things forward, you can safely call the emergency committee at the office or on your mobile at least twice a week.
… and how to deal with it
As with any specialist, there may be claims against the emergency commissioner, and, in such an ambiguous situation as a road and transport "adventure", they are not unfounded.
The first way to solve the problem of a suspiciously unsuitable specialist for you is call the dispatcher and ask them to send you a new. As you understand, despite the fact that in the country, in principle, there is a tension with emergency committees and intelligent call center operators, implementing this “good advice” from the website of one of the insurance companies is something from the realm of science fiction. And it only works if the accident committee arrived at the scene drunk as a brat.
If he incorrectly (from your point of view) calculated the damage, did not take into account all the circumstances of the accident, or simply openly familiarizes himself with the traffic cop, there can be two ways out: a complaint to the MTIBU or to the court.
In the first case, the “Procedure for attracting accident commissioners by the Motor (Transport) Insurance Bureau of Ukraine to determine the causes of insured events, the amount of damage and verify the actions of the insurer” suggests that the driver can apply to the MTIBU with a request to check the legality of the actions of the insurance company when determining the amount of insurance payment. That is, the Bureau can recalculate the losses. Now the calculation will be carried out not by the emergency commissioner cooperating with the insurance company, but by the MTIBU commissioner. They - and hence the possibility of appeal - are in most regions of Ukraine. You need to get a decision from the insurance company on the amount of payment and write a corresponding application. The bureau will apply to the insurer independently.
But since the conclusion of the MTIBU is exclusively advisory for the insurer, it may be better to immediately go to court.
Other
There are also options for attracting accident commissioners not from an insurance company to an accident. For example, these can be independent experts, representatives of car clubs, companies providing technical support (assistance) on the roads. Their advantage is that they:
- First of all, they will definitely come
- secondly, they are not interested in considering the damage in the direction of minimization in the interests of the insurance company,
- thirdly, they are theoretically more motivated to work out their trip as efficiently as possible, since each call of such an expert, as well as a tow truck or technical support service, is paid and starts from 300-400 UAH. within the city and at least 3 UAH/km beyond the city limits.
The disadvantage of such an emergency committee is that the results of its assessment may seem too client-oriented to the insurance company, and it may appoint its own re-examination of damage. Accordingly, making payments according to their results.
To avoid technical misunderstandings even with an independent accident committee during the registration of the circumstances of an accident, drivers with solid experience and conservative views are advised not to trust him 100%. And in case of an accident, always have a camera with you (at least in a mobile phone) to capture the extent of the damage and the scene of the accident. Also, independently record the names and contacts of possible witnesses who, in which case, could speak on your side. And, goes without saying, that the car must have a motor third party liability insurance policy and a first aid kit.
Everyone should know about what the first actions after an accident are. It is written in the rules of the road. But if all the requirements are met, there are no victims, and the car cannot be restored, then you should contact the experts. It often turns out that it is impossible to even receive compensation from an insurance company from a broken car. Then other business participants come to the rescue.
Today, it is quite easy to find a company that will take on further problems in the disposal of scrap metal. Without leaving your home, regardless of the time of day, you can leave a request on the site and get answers to your questions.
Perhaps the easiest, fastest and most profitable way to get rid of equipment is to buy a car from the scene of an accident. If the situation requires an urgent solution to this issue, then immediately after solving all the formal issues, you need to fill out an application. To do this, you can use a smartphone, tablet or any other electronic gadget connected to the Internet. Difficulties with transportation, loading and unloading of a damaged car fall on the shoulders of service representatives. The company will also pay for the services of a notary and carry out all the work.
If an outdated car is idle in the garage, which is not needed, then you can also turn it in and get a certain amount of money. This is much more profitable than insuring a vehicle that is not being used. Well, about what to spend their money on, each owner decides for himself. Nevertheless, you definitely no longer have to worry about where it is most profitable to find a ransom for broken cars. Nizhny Novgorod is also serviced regardless of the area, so there should not be any difficulties due to remoteness from the center.
As for the duration of all operations, if necessary, issues will be resolved within a day. Whoever has no time to wait will be able to receive qualified assistance and quality service by company representatives in just a few hours. To find out the information, it is enough to indicate your data: phone number, name and, if desired, e-mail. An initial consultation will be held over the telephone. More specifically, it is possible to stipulate the terms of the transaction only after examining the object of the contract at the site by an expert who arrived from the company.
For whom this service is really interesting, be sure to save contact information about the company. After all, you never know at what point you may need the help of those who can easily save the owner from a pile of scrap metal or a car that has lost its original properties.
About the author: Andrey Strashko
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