The bonus-malus system for the auto liability policies (RCA), which takes into account all the car accidents involving the holder of a policy, will be introduced on January 1st, 2008, in addition to amicable settlements, say representatives of the Insurance Supervision Commission (CSA).
"We have a proposal to modify the insurance law, which will be enacted by an ordinance of the Government. We are currently deciding in cooperation with insurance companies on the terms of the amicable settlement form," stated Angela Toncescu, CSA chairperson.
An amicable settlement does not involve the police in the case of minor car accidents, with both of the insured parties reporting the accidents directly to their insurance companies.
Only minor accidents occurring after January 1st, 2008 will be reported to the system. Some insurance companies are already adjusting their auto liability policies and comprehensive policy prices against driver profiles (which includes the number of car accidents involving a particular driver), based on the driver's statements After January 1st, insurers will be able to view the entire record of accidents involving potential customers and adjust prices accordingly.
"The bonus-malus system and the amicable settlement system go hand in hand, they are connected," explained Toncescu. The amicable settlement has already made it into the law with the new Highway Code, which was released last year. However, insurers requested a modification of the law immediately after it was enacted and got it. They also requested and got a delay in the enforcement of the law arguing that implementing this law without a bonus-malus system in place could lead to a defrauding of the system. Insurers were afraid that drivers might have reached an agreement and reported another reason for an accident, instead of the real one. With a bonus-malus system in place, customers will no longer falsely take the blame because they know they will be paying more in their next policies if they do.
The bonus-malus system will be built as an extension to the current CEDAM database, which keeps a record of all the auto liability policies and crosschecks them against the domestic car fleet.
The CEDAM project will allow Romanian cars to travel to the rest of the EU without having their auto liability policy, which has been valid outside the country since January 1st, 2007, checked at the border.
Toncescu estimates that more than 85% of the already registered cars have an auto liability policy.
"We are trying to modify the regulations for the auto liability policy with a view to having more policies issued electronically, because our biggest problem at the moment is the large amount of registration errors," added Toncescu. She estimates that all auto liability policies will be sold using this method within the next two or three years. This means agents and insurance brokers will no longer be able to sell auto liability policies without running a database check on the customer or without an online registration.
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