A victim in a traffic accident can receive compensation from the insurance company of the at-fault driver if both participants in the accident have CTP insurance. If the driver who caused the accident does not have a policy, obtaining compensation is much more difficult, but it is still possible. This was stated by auto lawyer Lev Voropaev.
If the at-fault driver does not have a CTP insurance policy, they must fully compensate for the damage caused. This means that all responsibility lies with them.
The same applies to situations where a policy was purchased, but its validity period has expired. In this case, the document becomes invalid, which is equivalent to the absence of insurance.
In addition to paying compensation, the vehicle owner will have to pay a fine for not having a mandatory insurance policy. For the first violation, the fine is 800 rubles, and for a repeated violation, it ranges from 3 to 5 thousand rubles.
In some cases, when a driver who has a CTP insurance policy is involved in a traffic accident but does not have the policy with them, their liability is considered insured. In this case, the insurance company compensates for the damage.
If the policy is issued in electronic form, the driver can download the document to their mobile device and present it in electronic form. However, in cases where the policy is paper-based and left at home, the driver faces a fine of 500 rubles. The same fine applies if the driver is listed in the policy but does not have it with them.
If there was a policy, but at the time of the accident, the person driving was not listed in it, the insurance company will compensate for the damage but will then demand reimbursement of the paid amount from the at-fault driver. A fine of 500 rubles will also be imposed.
If there was a CTP insurance policy, but it turns out to be fake, the injured party will have to cover the costs associated with the accident themselves.
How to Obtain Compensation
Auto lawyer Lev Voropaev recommends the following course of action:
- Call the traffic police to the scene of the accident.
- Establish the vehicle owner.
- Conduct an independent assessment of the damage.
- Go to court to recover compensation from the at-fault party.
However, there are a number of difficulties on this path that you need to be aware of.
The first step that needs to be taken is to call the State Traffic Inspectorate to record all the circumstances. If the at-fault party is some kind of commercial transport (truck, bus, minibus, taxi), it is necessary to ensure that the traffic police officers obtain a waybill, invoices, and other documents for the vehicle from the driver of this vehicle.
These measures are of great importance and may contribute to the successful resolution of the problem in the future.
Practice shows that the owner of the vehicle is held responsible for 50 to 100% of the assessed damage. Therefore, it is necessary to establish in detail who the owner of the vehicle is so that the traffic police officers rewrite detailed information about the car from the documents. Sometimes they don't do this.
After all the necessary data and documents have been collected with the assistance of traffic police officers, the individual or their employer, if the at-fault party is, for example, working as a driver, is offered to voluntarily compensate for the damage. However, in most cases, this requirement remains unanswered. In this case, you should go to court. There are also certain features here.
We go to court against the owner and the direct driver of the vehicle. If it is possible to establish that the owner is the actual employer, then we turn to the employer to recover the damage caused.
In the event that an employee is at fault in a traffic accident, proving their status as an employee or contractor under a civil law contract with the vehicle owner may be difficult, but possible. However, the legal entity will try in every way to prove its non-involvement in the incident.
To confirm, you can use:
- the driver's own testimony;
- documents confirming the transportation of goods;
- waybills;
- lease agreement.
This is enough to shift responsibility to the employer.
According to Voropaev, in some cases, people who do not have citizenship of the Russian Federation and are not registered in the country become participants in traffic accidents. In such situations, a lawsuit is filed against the vehicle owner.
In the case of a taxi, compensation is recovered from the taxi company, even if the driver is not officially registered. This usually happens through an individual entrepreneur who owns the taxi company.
It is important to thoroughly understand all the nuances and determine the true culprit in order to achieve compensation.
Often, companies seek to avoid responsibility, and in such cases, it is necessary to provide evidence that the lease agreement was actually executed by the person responsible for the accident. This can be done using various confirmations, such as payments, payment through the "Platon" system, and others.
Earlier, www1.ru wrote about the rules of vehicle inspection in 2025. From January 1, tariffs for passing vehicle inspection increased in Russia. The minimum cost of the service will increase in proportion to the inflation rate. At the same time, the further the region is from Moscow, the higher the tariffs will be. The highest tariffs are in St. Petersburg, Norilsk, in the Nenets Autonomous Okrug and the Amur Region.
Read more on the topic:
Rules for CTP insurance payments are planned to be changed
A unified CTP insurance system has started operating in Russia and Belarus
"Gosuslugi" will start sending reminders about the expiration of CTP insurance
Rode hard: the largest fine for a traffic violation in 2024 amounted to 400 thousand rubles
