The grounds for early termination of the CMTPL agreement are directly provided for by the current legislation. Particular attention should be paid to the correctness of the calculation of the part of the insurance premium to be returned.
The validity of the OSAGO contract early terminates in cases regulated by the provisions of the Regulation on the rules of compulsory civil liability insurance of vehicle owners approved. Bank of Russia September 19, 2014 No. 431-P (hereinafter referred to as the Rules).
The possibility of returning a part of the insurance premium, and the amount of the return depend on the specific reason on which the OSAGO agreement terminated early.
The general rule is that a part of the insurance premium is refunded in the amount of its share intended for making insurance payments and attributable to the unexpired term of the compulsory insurance contract or the unexpired seasonal use of the vehicle (the period of use of the vehicle).
In other words, you can get a refund only with 77% of the insurance premium. The insurance company will keep 23%. Until October 11, 2014, the deduction of 23% from the insurance premium upon termination of the CMTPL agreement in court could be declared illegal. When collecting 23% in his favor, the policyholder proceeded from the legally enshrined structure of the insurance rate for OSAGO: 77% - the part of the insurance rate directly intended for payments in the event of an insured event; 20% - expenses of insurance companies for business management; 2% - reserve for current compensation payments; 1% - reserve of guarantees.
According to the logic of insurance companies, they bear expenses of 23% (20 + 2 + 1) in any case, regardless of whether the OSAGO contract is valid for the entire period or is terminated ahead of schedule. The counter-argument of attentive policyholders is that the law does not regulate such collection in favor of the insurer. Article 958 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation provides that "in case of early termination of the insurance contract … the insurer is entitled to a part of the insurance premium in proportion to the time during which the insurance was valid." A similar requirement was contained in paragraph 34 of the CTP Rules, introduced by the Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation No. 263 dated 07.05.03. "The insurer returns to the insured part of the insurance premium for the unexpired term of the compulsory insurance contract" - not a word about deductions in favor of the insurer. Despite the clear preponderance of argumentation towards policyholders, insurance companies stubbornly continued to collect 23% in their favor. People who are not indifferent to justice have successfully appealed against the decisions of insurers in court and returned their hard-earned, undeservedly collected 23% of the insurance premium.
The situation changed on October 11, 2014, when new rules came into force to replace the old rules, where the wording appeared that the return of a part of the insurance premium is made “in the amount of its share intended for making insurance payments”. The legislator emphasized that the refund is made from the amounts that should go to insurance payments, that is, from 77%, which brings us back to the ability of insurance companies to calculate the refund amount as follows: subtract 23% from the paid insurance premium, multiply the amount received by the number of days, remaining until the end of the term (or period) of insurance, and divided by 365.
The countdown of the number of days remaining until the end of the insurance period starts from the day following the date of early termination of the compulsory insurance contract. This date directly depends on the grounds for termination of the contract. The bases can be divided into three groups.
First group. Termination of the OSAGO agreement does not depend on the will of the parties:
- death of a citizen - insured or owner;
- liquidation of the legal entity - the policyholder (the insurance premium is not refundable);
- liquidation of the insurer;
- destruction (loss) of the vehicle specified in the compulsory insurance policy;
- other cases provided for by the legislation of the Russian Federation.
The date of the early termination of the agreement is the date of the event that was the basis for its early termination and the occurrence of which is confirmed by the documents of the authorized bodies.
Second group. The initiator of the termination of the CMTPL agreement is the policyholder:
- revocation of the insurer's license;
- replacement of the vehicle owner;
- other cases provided for by the legislation of the Russian Federation (the insurance premium is not refundable).
The date of early termination of the contract is the date of receipt by the insurer of a written application from the policyholder on early termination of the compulsory insurance contract and documentary confirmation of the fact that served as the basis for early termination of the contract.
Third group. The insurer is the initiator of the termination of the CMTPL agreement:
- identification of false or incomplete information provided by the insured when concluding a compulsory insurance contract that is essential for determining the degree of insurance risk (the insurance premium is not refundable);
- other cases provided for by the legislation of the Russian Federation.
The date of early termination of the contract is the date of receipt by the policyholder of a written notice from the insurer.
The term for the return of part of the insurance premium is 14 calendar days. If this deadline is not observed, it is possible to collect a penalty (penalty) from the insurer in the amount of one percent of the insurance premium under the compulsory insurance agreement for each day of delay, but not more than the amount of the insurance premium under such an agreement.
