Independent examination after an accident under compulsory motor liability insurance

When and why is damage assessment required after an accident?

The purpose of assessing damages is to determine the amount that a victim of an accident can receive. Based on the characteristics of a particular accident, you can claim compensation in the following areas:

• actual damage to the car caused by a collision during an accident;
• loss of commodity value, i.e. reduction in market price due to replacement of parts or repairs;
• expenses incurred by the car owner for repair and restoration work (if the repair was made before applying for insurance or filing a claim against the culprit).

The obligation to fully compensate for damage follows directly from the provisions of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation. To protect the interests of road accident participants, the MTPL program is in place in Russia. It provides for the payment of compensation for the at-fault driver, but the amount of compensation is strictly limited.

To submit claims for damages, you need to calculate them correctly and accurately. To do this, you need to comply with traffic rules and Law No. 40-FZ “On Compulsory Motor Liability Insurance” already at the initial stage of document preparation, i.e. at the scene of the accident. Drivers must:

• fill out a notification of an accident yourself (according to the European Protocol), or with the involvement of a traffic police inspector;
• notify your insurer about the accident, submit a notice and present the car for inspection;
• obtain evidence of costs incurred for repairs, if permitted, before contacting the insurer.

Note!
When filling out the notice, you must indicate all visible damage to the car if it is related to the accident.
Hidden defects cannot be identified in this way, so the law obliges those involved in an accident to present the car for inspection to the insurance company. Each insurer has an agreement with auto experts and appraisers who conduct inspections, draw up conclusions and reports. Since insurance companies pay the victim with their own money, they have a direct interest in reducing the extent of damage. Therefore, damage assessment through insurer specialists is often biased. To protect the interests of the victim, the law allows for independent examinations and challenging the assessment results. You can find out more about all options for asserting your rights after an accident during a consultation with our lawyers.

Assessing car damage after an accident

In the event that a car gets into a traffic accident, the insurance company is obliged to pay the victim under compulsory motor liability insurance the amount determined by law for several victims, and under CASCO insurance the insurance is paid to all participants in the accident, regardless of who is at fault. In order to determine the amount required for insurance payments, it is necessary to evaluate the car after an accident.

It is not uncommon for insurance companies to appoint or advise that a vehicle be assessed by specific companies. But such appraisal companies may not count some seemingly insignificant damage, the repair of which can actually be very expensive, or, for example, count their cheaper analogues instead of original spare parts for repair.

Accordingly, in order to avoid an unfair assessment of damage, you should contact an independent appraisal company, where the car will be assessed - independent and professional. The estimated cost of a car is determined based on the technical condition of the car and its natural wear and tear. In essence, an independent assessment of a car after an accident is an assessment of its market value at the time of contacting the appraisal company.

The most important point when assessing a car in this case is the depreciation of the car and the degree of wear and tear. Wear and tear can be physical or functional. In addition to wear and tear, the market value is also affected by the make of the car, its mileage, age and other characteristics. During the inspection, the expert determines the method, type, and total scope of the required repair work. It is necessary to assess the nature and extent of damage to the car after an accident. When calculating the cost of painting, it is necessary to take into account the painting of all damaged parts, full or partial. A decision is also made about the need to replace the unit, unit, and other parts. In the case when a decision is made to replace expensive car parts, for example, the chassis, they must undergo a troubleshooting procedure with disassembly.

To evaluate a vehicle, you must provide the following documents: identification card, documents on the ownership of the car, available information for repairs, as well as car maintenance. When examining a vehicle after an accident or natural disaster, an assessment of the vehicle must be completed before repair work begins. This point is fundamental.

The advantage of an independent vehicle assessment is not only impartiality, but also the efficiency and professionalism of all procedures. The appraisal report provided by an independent appraiser is an official document that can be used in court as evidence.

If the insurance company refuses to make insurance payments, then, if you have a report, you can safely go to court to protect your rights.

Methods for assessing damage

Even if drivers filled out a notice under the Europrotocol program and themselves determined the list of visible damages, they are still required to show the cars to their insurers. This requirement applies even to the culprit of the accident, who initially does not have the right to claim compulsory motor liability insurance. If the car owner does not present the car for inspection and assessment, he may lose the right to compensation for damage or face a recourse claim.

To obtain insurance

To receive payment under compulsory motor liability insurance, the damaged car must be submitted for inspection to the insurer's experts. Law No. 40-FZ prescribes that this must be done within 15 days. However, an insurance claim must be submitted within 5 days, so it is possible to fulfill both of these requirements at the same time. The action algorithm for assessing damage under compulsory motor liability insurance includes the following measures:

• each driver submits the car to his own insurance company;
• inspection of damage and calculation of damage is done by an expert who has entered into an agreement with the insurer;
• all parties can take part in the inspection of the vehicle;
• Based on the results of the inspection and calculations, conclusions and reports are drawn up indicating the amount of payments.

Important!
Despite the requirements of the law, most insurance company experts do not indicate loss of marketable value (LCV) in their reports.
Currently, the Central Bank of the Russian Federation is considering new rules for calculating the TCB, which will allow the majority of mutual claims to be removed. Until new rules are adopted, the loss of marketable value after an accident can be assessed through an independent assessment. The driver will receive a conclusion or report from the appraiser. If there are objections based on the results of the surveys or the calculation of the amount of payments, you can submit a claim to the insurer. To substantiate your claims, you must contact an independent expert, order a re-inspection and calculate the damage after an accident. This can be done both for a damaged car and a car that has undergone restoration repairs.

For recovery through court

Compensation through the court can occur in case of disagreement with the amount calculated by the insurer, or in direct recovery from the culprit. It is possible that the MTPL limit will be too small for full compensation. In this situation, you can submit to the court reports and conclusions drawn up during the inspection of the car by the experts of the Investigative Committee.

Typically, when filing a claim in court, the victim submits an appraisal report obtained through an independent appraiser. In order for this document to be recognized as appropriate evidence, it must be drawn up by a specialist who is a member of the SRO of appraisers and has a qualification certificate. Forms confirming expert status must be submitted along with the report.

To bring a claim against the culprit

You can file a claim for damages against the culprit of the accident if he did not have insurance, or the compulsory motor liability insurance limit is not enough to pay full compensation. When filing a claim, you must provide evidence of the extent of damage and an estimate of damages. To do this, the following nuances must be observed:

• if the victim contacted the insurance company before going to court, a report from the insurer’s appraiser can be attached to the claim;
• if the plaintiff orders an independent examination, he is obliged to notify the culprit of the accident about this (usually telegrams are used for this);
• the defendant has the right not only to present his objections and evidence, but also to insist on a re-evaluation with his participation.

Legal advice!
If at the time of going to court the repairs have actually been completed, keep all contracts, work orders, and payment documents.
The person at fault for the accident will probably want to reduce the amount of damage, so you must prove every penny in the calculation. The law does not limit the maximum amount of payments when assessing damage from an accident. For example, if a newly purchased car is completely destroyed in an accident, the victim will receive almost all of its full value. In case of partial damage, standard and actual wear and tear, the cause-and-effect relationship of all damage and the consequences of the accident will be taken into account.

Why carry out an inspection?

The main goal when conducting a vehicle examination is to assess the scale of the damage caused and calculate the cost to compensate for it. Insurance companies provide their own vehicle inspection services after an accident. In practice, the results of insurance technicians do not agree with the conclusions of subsequent independent examinations. This is done deliberately in order to underestimate the amount of losses and subsequent material compensation, which is beneficial for insurers. This brings up the second purpose of conducting an inspection by third-party experts - to protect yourself from false conclusions regarding the scale of damage. This step will help in the future to challenge the insurance company's findings in court.

The independent examination that the car enthusiast turns to should not be in partnership with insurers. Otherwise, its conclusions will not be beneficial to the victim. Truly independent appraisers conduct a full inspection of the vehicle and describe all visible and hidden damage to the car. Based on these data, the average market value of the damage caused is calculated. As a rule, it is several times higher than the assigned amount for insurance payments. With a correctly compiled report from an expert company, you can file a lawsuit against the insurers to recover the difference between the two amounts upon re-inspection.

Damage from road accidents. Damage assessment for submission to the insurance company under compulsory motor liability insurance

Get a discount coupon

Fill out the telegram form

Road accident Step by step

Relatively recently, the law “On compulsory civil liability insurance of vehicle owners” came into force in Russia. Insurers assumed some responsibilities for compensating the victim. We have several articles on our website about how diligently they perform their duties. So, we will not repeat why it is recommended to use the services of an independent expert to assess damage. One more point should be noted. Many insurance companies pay for damages in the so-called undisputed portion. What does this mean? Calculation at the bare minimum! Excluding hidden damage!!! Without taking into account the repair of parts not specified in the accident certificate, but clearly related to this accident!!! Without taking into account the work that is necessary according to the repair technology!!! And, from the point of view of the Law, they fulfilled their obligations, but with a small “BUT” - in the undisputed part! Mainly, such companies base their policy on the fact that legal costs are significantly lower than full payments. This is so, because the percentage of those who go to court for justice is negligible. Most victims do not want to get involved in court cases, not wanting to experience the legal red tape. But by leaving the arbitrariness of insurance companies unpunished, you create a favorable environment for them to assert and strengthen their principles. It's actually not all that scary. It's worth just trying. Take the first step - find out how to act in a given situation. ATTENTION!!! Remember that if you are assessing the damage in an independent expert company, you are, in any case, OBLIGED to provide the vehicle for inspection to the insurer! And this, in general, is normal. The payer, although potential, must see with his own eyes what he should pay money for. In addition, these are the requirements of our legislation.

And one moment!!! To submit your vehicle for inspection, you are NOT obligated to go to the insurance company. You can invite representatives of the insurance company to inspect the place where your car is stored by telegram. After this, you, with all the documents and the conclusion of an independent examination, are sent to the insurance company to submit an application. Don’t forget to notify your insurance company about the accident within 5 days. You can notify by phone - by providing the policyholder's name, brand, state registration. vehicle number and policy number of the culprit. In this case, you will fully comply with your obligations to comply with the Law. And there will be nothing to complain about. What to do if you, after all, agreed to persuade the insurance company to make an assessment with them . If you are here, apparently you received the news with horror about the amount of the insurance payment, which is indecently small compared to the actual damage.

The situation is more than unpleasant, but do not despair. Perhaps everything will be resolved without judicial intervention. It is necessary to file a pre-trial claim with the insurance company with a request to review the calculation of insurance compensation and pay for the damage in full. The claim must be accompanied by documents issued by an independent expert organization. Copies of claims must be sent to the Russian Union of Auto Insurers (RUA) and the Federal Insurance Supervision Service (FSSN). These organizations will have to understand the legality of such payment. The intervention of the FSSN has a rather sobering effect on insurance companies. When contacting an independent expert organization to assess the damage in this case, two options are possible: First . The option for you is more labor-intensive (you will have to stand in line again at the insurance company), less correct, but less expensive. It is necessary to try to obtain from the insurance company the documents on the basis of which the payment was made. Why try? Because most likely they will not give them to you. But every rule has exceptions. Somehow, sometimes it works. Ideally, if you managed to obtain a complete Assessment Report, containing both the vehicle inspection report and the calculation of the cost of repairs. If you were only given a vehicle inspection report indicating the damage and a conclusion on the repair of damaged parts, we can draw up a report on the existing inspection report. If you were given both a vehicle inspection report and a cost estimate, in this case it is possible to write a review of the estimate to determine whether it matches the manufacturer’s repair technology and the actual cost of the repair. Disadvantages of this method: Damage in the report issued to you may not be fully described, without taking into account hidden damage. Even if you think that everything seems to be indicated correctly, it is difficult for a non-specialist to assess the correctness and completeness of the inspection report. Second option . More correct, but more expensive. You will have to pay additionally for drawing up an inspection report, and, possibly, for an expert to visit you. But here there is a one hundred percent guarantee that ALL damage will be described and the calculation will be made in full. In this case, you do not need to ask representatives of the insurance company to pay you a little more attention to issue the documents you need. You need to follow simple steps to order an independent assessment of your car. And finally... Recently, cases of non-payment of significant insurance amounts by insurance companies have become more frequent. For example, one well-known insurance company calculated 13,745 rubles. After inspection and calculation of the damage by our company, the amount of damage was 80,217 rubles. Another example is the calculation of the insurance company - 45,192 rubles, our calculation - 160,720 rubles. Do you feel the difference? In both cases, the insurance companies lost the lawsuits; in the second case, the court ordered them to pay 120,000 rubles, but that’s a completely different story.

Cost of damage assessment services:

Cars and motorcycles…

The cost depends on the degree of damage to the car (the number of parts indicated in the inspection report):

* The degree of damage depends on the number of damaged parts indicated in the inspection report : light - up to 5 damaged parts; average - from 6 to 20 damaged parts or with the presence of 1 to 3 distortions of the opening; complex - over 20 damaged parts or the presence of more than 3 distortions of the openings. ** The cost depends on the number of sheets of photographs (200 rubles per 1 sheet. Up to 8 photos on 1 sheet).

* The degree of damage depends on the number of damaged parts taken into account in the calculation : light - up to 5 damaged parts; average - from 6 to 20 damaged parts or with the presence of 1 to 3 distortions of the opening; complex - over 20 damaged parts or the presence of more than 3 distortions of the openings.

Trucks…

The cost depends on the degree of damage to the car (the number of parts indicated in the inspection report):

* Damage level: light - up to 5 damaged parts; average - from 6 to 20 damaged parts or with the presence of 1 to 3 distortions of the opening; complex - over 20 damaged parts or the presence of more than 3 distortions of the openings. ** The cost depends on the number of sheets of photographs (200 rubles per 1 sheet. Up to 8 photos on 1 sheet).

Construction and other special purpose equipment…

The cost depends on the degree of damage to the car (the number of parts indicated in the inspection report):

* Damage level: light - up to 5 damaged parts; average - from 6 to 20 damaged parts or with the presence of 1 to 3 distortions of the opening; complex - over 20 damaged parts or the presence of more than 3 distortions of the openings. ** The cost depends on the number of sheets of photographs (200 rubles per 1 sheet. Up to 8 photos on 1 sheet).

Damage assessment after an accident online!!!

Additional Information:

What services need to be ordered when assessing damage after an accident How to calculate the cost of services for assessing damage after an accident Full price list for the provision of services for assessing motor vehicles