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25 april 2024, 09:43
Insurance companies are employing unfair practices with the use of simplified hull insurance contracts, through which they subsequently reduce their risks of liability for violation of the term of repair under CMTPL insurance. This was reported by Financial Ombudsman Svetlana Maximova at the conference “Claims&Pays 2024. Settlement of Losses in Insurance”.
The point of the practice is that a legal entity and an insurer conclude a hull insurance contract in respect of a consumer’s vehicle. At the same time, there is no information that the legal entity acts on behalf of or with the consent of the consumer. The consumer is the beneficiary under the hull insurance contract. The insurance premium is 72 roubles and is paid by the legal entity (policy holder). Payment under the hull insurance contract is only provided for when the consumer is also entitled to payment under the MTPL contract in the order of direct compensation for losses and in the same amount.
“In this case, the repair period under the hull insurance contract is 45 working days and is calculated after the delivery of spare parts. When the consumer applies for insurance compensation, the insurer makes payment under the hull insurance contract instead of the MTPL one,” explained the Financial Ombudsman.
Thus, the insurer receives extended repair terms under the hull insurance contract, because under the MTPL contract they are strictly regulated by law. Besides, there is a different procedure for calculating penalties under the hull insurance contract, which is calculated on the amount of the insurance premium and cannot exceed its amount.
The Financial Ombudsman also told about the fact that insurance companies include conditions in hull insurance rules to exclude from the repair period the time from the moment of ordering to the moment when the service station receives spare parts for repair, which provides the insurer with the opportunity to not fulfil obligations under the insurance contract for an unlimited period of time. “It comes as a big surprise to a client when the repair period is stretched for a conventional 8 months,” Svetlana Maximova added.
She noted that information about such cases has been forwarded to the Bank of Russia.
