Almost 40% of the approximately 12,000 road accidents related to the mandatory motor third party liability insurance (MTPL), which occurred in the first eight months of 2023, were solved through the amicable settlement procedure. The National Commission for Financial Markets noted that the number of drivers who resort to such a procedure in case of minor accidents has increased, IPN reports.
The total insurance paid in the period, based on the MTPL policy, amounted to 219 million lei, of which 33 million lei represented damages paid as a result of road accidents solved through the amicable settlement procedure.
Since the launch of the amicable settlement procedure for vehicle accidents, in September 2019, until September 2023, drivers have submitted almost 30,000 insurance claims based on amicable settlement, of which 25,600 applications have been dealt with. Also, more than 4,000 insurance claims based on amicable settlement were rejected in the period for the reason that the procedure didn’t meet the legal norms. In these situations, the injured parties were directed to the police to document the vehicle accident and the damage files were subsequently regularized and paid by the insurers according to the documents issued by the law enforcement agencies.
The most common shortcomings in the implementation of the amicable settlement procedure include the lack of photos and the presentation of noncompliant photos. “It is important to know that photographs from the scene of the accident documented through the amicable settlement procedure must include the general panorama of the accident, including both accident vehicles, license plates, damaged parts of vehicles, which should be visible, and traces of braking and shards on the spot, if any, given the conditions provided by the Law on compulsory motor third party liability insurance for damage caused by motor vehicles,” said the Commission.
The amicable settlement is a simplified and voluntary procedure for documenting vehicle accidents, which consists in the completion and signing by drivers of vehicles involved in the accident of the Amicable Accident Report. The amicable settlement procedure is applied if only two vehicles are involved in the accident, if the accident results in material damage that doesn’t exceed the amount of 15,000 lei and if the accident didn’t result in bodily injuries. Also, both of the drivers of the vehicles involved in the accident must express their consent to document the accident through the amicable settlement procedure and reach a consensus on the circumstances of the accident and the visible damage caused to the vehicles involved, while the person responsible for the accident must accept blame, etc.
