One of the essential conditions of an insurance product is the period of validity of insurance protection. It is determined by insurance programs, the client’s life or work circumstances, or his personal desire. The validity period of the policy is interpreted by two dates - the beginning of the validity of the insurance agreement and its end. Insurance contracts usually contain a third date, determined by the day the contract is signed, but its validity begins only after payment of the insurance premium. Are there time restrictions when concluding insurance contracts, and who should control the terms of their validity?
What is the term of insurance
This means a certain period of time when the corresponding legal relations exist between the counterparties and when they bear obligations to each other established by the agreement, the Rules, and the law.
Some provisions are contained in:
- Chapter 48 of the Civil Code;
- Law 4015-1 of November 27, 1992 “On the organization...” (hereinafter referred to as Law 4015).
Types of compulsory medical insurance policies
Until 2011, each insurance company had the right to choose the appearance of the document issued. Later, three formats were established that all organizations must follow:
Paper document (old style)
Available on A5 sheet in light blue color.
This is the most common option.
The main disadvantage of this format is that it is plain paper and can be easily damaged. Many people try to fold the A5 size, which is not the most convenient, and because of this, it can also quickly become unusable. Some information becomes unreadable or difficult to distinguish over time.
At the very beginning it was issued for a period of one year.
Now the policy is unlimited.
Do I need to renew my paper policy? No, it does not need to be renewed either after a year or at other intervals.
Information on many Internet sites can confuse people.
A dated note from the insurance company representative on the back of the policy is not the expiration date of the policy. This is the date of registration of you as a client of this insurance company. The policy is valid despite the fact that it contains a note for 2013, 2014, 2015.
If there are several marks, as in the photo, this indicates that the policy holder has changed insurance. I changed companies, but did not renew it.
Do you have any doubts and want to check the validity of your policy by number or passport details? This may not be possible in all regions. How - in our article.
Plastic card (new sample)
It is smaller in size than a paper document.
On the front side there is an electronic chip with a contact pad, making it look like a bank card. All additional information about the policy holder is electronically stored on the chip.
Expiration date on the reverse side (where it can be seen in the photo)
Plastic wears out much more slowly, and therefore the information on it is retained for a long time, and there is no need to change it due to its unsuitability.
Electronic policies are not issued in all regions of the Russian Federation. Such documents require new equipment to read information from them.
Sometimes plastic compulsory medical insurance policies of a new type are issued without specifying a validity period, since they are indefinite and valid for the life of the owner.
Universal electronic card (UEC)
The main advantages of the UEC are that it has the format of a bank card that is already familiar to everyone and that it is quite difficult to damage or spoil it.
The card is valid for 5 years. Now they are no longer issued, but previously issued ones continue to be valid.
It was assumed that it would be changed only when personal data was changed, for example, last name, as well as passport, as well as upon expiration of the 5-year validity period.
Not all medical institutions have equipment for reading information from electronic media. This led to the fact that the implementation of the UEC was initially delayed and was later stopped.
Insurance period and contract term
The policyholder, another person directly or indirectly participating in the relevant legal relations, should differentiate the meaning of the concepts “Insurance Period”, “Contract Validity Period”.
The validity period of an insurance contract is understood as the period of time during which the obligations assumed by each party to each other are valid. Simply put, the policyholder, the insurer, within a specified period of time, is obliged to fulfill everything that is regulated by law, contract, Rules, and after the expiration of the presented interval, they may no longer fulfill it. For example, the policyholder is obliged to notify the insurance company of an increase in the insurance risk from the first second of the contract’s validity (Part 1, Article 959 of the Civil Code).
The insurance period is considered to be the period of time during which the insurance is valid as such. That is, the insurer is obliged to pay compensation only if the insured event occurs during the insurance period, not during the validity period of the contract.
Attention! The insurance period cannot last longer than the duration of the insurance contract (it can be shorter).
When does the compulsory motor liability insurance policy come into effect?
The insurance contract begins to be valid from the date specified in it . According to Federal Law No. 40, you can issue a new MTPL policy 3 months before the end of the old contract. But it will begin to “work” only after the previous insurance expires. Otherwise, the owner of the vehicle will have to terminate the previously issued insurance. The validity period of compulsory motor liability insurance expires exactly one year after its conclusion. If the policyholder has not taken care of extending the contract in advance, he will not be able to drive his car the very next day without the risk of being fined.
Example of calculating the insurance period
Let's look at how the insurance period is calculated using simple examples.
Example No. 1. Let the policyholder enter into a property insurance contract. The said agreement did not change the dispositive norms specified by stat. 957 of the Civil Code.
Let the contract be concluded on June 1, 2021 at 0:00, for 12 months. The policyholder paid the insurance premium the next day - June 2, 2021, 12:00. It is from this moment that the validity of the contract is calculated (12 months), and the counterparties bear mutual obligations under it. Immediately after the payment of the insurance premium, the insurance took effect - that is, on June 2 at 12:00. This means that if an insured event occurs from June 2, 2021, 12:00 until June 2, 2021, 11:59, it is possible to claim insurance compensation.
Example No. 2. Let’s take the data from the previous example and imagine that the insurance company has changed its mandatory rules:
- the contract comes into effect from the moment of conclusion;
- the insurance begins to be valid 3 days after the contract comes into force.
This means that the mutual obligations of the parties under the agreement will begin on June 1, 2021 from 0:00. From this moment the contract will come into force (12 months will begin to count). It is possible to receive compensation only for insured events that occurred on June 4, 2021 from 0:00 – May 31, 2021 until 23:59.
How long can you travel?
So, how long can you drive if you have run out of compulsory motor insurance? Any auto liability policy will expire sooner or later. But many motorists naively believe that the auto liability policy is renewed automatically and they can drive safely and pay for the next insurance period in the near future. Some drivers believe that they still have a “grace period” and that they have the right to drive on their policy for another 30 days from the end of its validity period.
How long does the insurance last after graduation? Previously, the driver was given these 30 days, during which the policy was valid and the motorist could safely operate his vehicle, but now the expiration date of the policy is considered to be the date indicated in the contract form. Many drivers are mistaken about the terms of renewal of insurance contracts and therefore find themselves in unpleasant situations. There are no grace periods and the driver must take care of renewing his policy in advance. Read more about when and how to renew your MTPL policy in this article.
Now you know how long you can drive if your policy suddenly runs out.
Is it possible to change the deadline
Counterparties of insurance legal relations have the right to agree on changing the duration of the contract - shorter or longer, by concluding an additional agreement (Article 452 of the Civil Code). If any of the counterparties does not agree to change, nothing can be done.
The insurance period does not have retroactive effect. The right to compensation is lost when the insured event occurs before or after the insurance commencement date - regardless of the contract validity dates.
Important! It is legally possible to change the period of insurance in order to receive compensation for an earlier or later insured event (Part 2, Article 425 of the Civil Code), but then the whole point of insurance as such is lost (and it is unlikely that any insurer will do this).
Who can get insurance
The age of the insured at the time of purchasing insurance must be from 18 to 75-80 years. Policies are sold not only to citizens of the Russian Federation, but also to foreigners. It is quite rare for a contract to be refused, but if the client is already on the “black list” due to suspicion of fraud, then refusal is quite possible.
Insurers are also wary of insuring older people, as well as those who already suffer from some serious illness. They may limit the insurance period, add additional restrictions on payments to the contract, or offer higher rates.
The insurance payment can be received by the client himself if he survives to the date specified in the contract, or by his beneficiary, for example, heirs. The money is paid in a lump sum or in the form of an annuity (monthly payments), depending on the terms of the policy.
Term of insurance in OSAGO
The above applies to cases of voluntary insurance. With compulsory insurance, the minimum and maximum validity periods of insurance contracts and the insurance period are determined by the relevant federal laws (clause “g”, part 4, article 3 of Law 4015). Regarding compulsory motor liability insurance – Federal Law No. 40 of April 25, 2002 “On Mandatory...” (hereinafter referred to as Law No. 40). Frequently 1 stat. 10 of Law No. 40 regulates that an “automobile” insurance policy is always issued for 12 months, except in some cases.
MTPL also differentiates the concepts of “Contract Validity Period” and “Insurance Period”. In a standard situation, the legal relationship between the parties lasts all these 12 months. The period is set by stat. 16 of Law No. 40, which can be 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11 months during the specified year.
Minimum allowed period
The minimum MTPL validity interval for insurers insuring cars registered abroad and temporarily used in Russia is 5 days (Part 2, Article 10 of Law No. 40).
Attention! When a policy is needed to get to the place of inspection or to the traffic police department in order to register a car after its purchase, it is possible to buy compulsory motor liability insurance for a period not exceeding 20 days (Part 3, Article 10 of Law No. 40). The minimum period is not limited by law (it seems that it is possible to do compulsory motor liability insurance even for an hour).
Is it worth saving by term insurance?
When a citizen drives a car only during certain months of the year (for example, only in the summer), it is possible to conclude a contract with a condition for seasonal use.
When concluding a contract, specific months are indicated. Let, for example, March, April, May, June, July, August. Total – 6.
There are features:
- the contract is also drawn up for 1 year;
- You need to pay less for the policy, of course, because a reduction factor is used (see table below);
- The obligation for civil liability insurance is considered fulfilled during the validity of the contract (12 months), and not the insurance period, that is, to attract privately. 2 stat. 12.37. Code of Administrative Offences, they will not be able to impose a fine of 800 rubles;
- if you drive a car in those months that were not specified, you will be attracted more often. 1 stat. 12.37. Code of Administrative Offenses – fine 500 rubles;
- the most important thing is that if you drive a car in the wrong months, the insurer will pay compensation to the victim in the event of an insured event, then through the court it will recover all losses from the tortfeasor (clause “e”, part 1, article 14 of Law No. 40).
As you can see, insuring in this way is not very profitable due to fines, possible recourse, and the fact that the KS coefficient does not reduce the insurance premium too much (for example, you can use a car for only 3 months a year, and the premium will only decrease by half, and not 4 times).
So, the legislation provides for the concepts “Validity of the insurance contract”, “Insurance period”, which you need to know and understand. If the insurance period is not agreed upon, the contract may be invalidated. Read the following article about this procedure.
Survival insurance rates
The cost of a life insurance policy averages from 5 to 30 thousand rubles per year, but there are also companies that set the minimum level at 50-60 thousand rubles per year. Tariffs are calculated individually depending on the client’s age and gender, insurance period, risk to life from professional activities, and health status.
But first of all, the size of the amount that the client plans to save is important. For example, if it is a million after 10 years, then this amount is divided over the entire insurance period. The maximum terms of life contracts are usually 25 years, less often 30-40 years.
