​The Competition Council gave a favorable opinion on the establishment of maximum rates for RCA, but with a recommendation: during the 6-month price freeze on RCA, a limit for compensation for material damage should also be established, i.e. a limit on the cost of car door repair services.

What Competition in OK recommends for RCA maximum bids

The body, headed by Bohdan Chiritsa, formulated the following recommendation to the government “which is considered a measure proportionate to the establishment of maximum tariffs for RCA policies”:

• “When applying the provisions of this Government decision, the level of compensation for material damages will be established on the basis of information received through platforms specializing in the assessment and management of car damages at the time of their assessment.”

With the appeal of HotNews.ro, the president of the Competition Council explained the following:

• “We propose that repairs should be carried out during the limitation period, but not only based on damage assessment platforms such as the Audatex platform,” – said Bohdan Chiritsa.

What does this mean for drivers?

The platforms referred to by the authority are actually specialized loss calculation systems such as Audatex, DAT, Eurotax, etc.

In other words, property damage costs should no longer exceed the value in systems like Audatex, which receives data from automaker importers.

Currently, according to insurance specialists contacted by HotNews.ro, there are car dealers who have contracts with insurers and practice lower prices than dealers represented on Audatex.

But there are other independent dealers who sell parts for 70% more than Audatex.

• SEE THE CONCLUSION OF THE COMPETITION COUNCIL HERE

Video surveillance to detect and penalize those without RCA on the move

In addition, the Competition Council considers that “a measure to establish maximum rates for RCA policies should be accompanied by measures necessary to establish some functional market mechanisms that will lead to its stability and development in the medium and long term, so that at the end of the period of the establishment of the measure Government intervention will no longer be necessary.”

The authority offers 6 structural measures:

• 1. Completion of Art. 6 paragraph (8) of Law no. 132/2017 with a new sentence according to which the indemnities incurred will be covered by the insurer by referring to the contracts concluded between the insurer and the repair unit, and if there is no such contract, the payment of indemnities will be made by referring to the tariff environments that can be obtained through specialized platforms on car damage assessment and management.
  This measure aims to avoid RCA insurance fraud and to avoid additional costs for insurers due to the lack of control over costs caused by compensation payments;
• 2. Completion of Art. 22 of Law No. 132/2017, regarding the establishment of compensations, with a new paragraph that provides for the possibility of insurers to pay compensations in cash, using platforms specialized in the assessment and management of car damage to determine them;
• 3. The possibility that RCA policies can be concluded exclusively for periods of 6, respectively 12 months, in the case of individuals. The option of insurance concluded for several periods in one month leads to an increase in the costs of the insurer, thus predicting a higher annual cost than the cost of policies for a longer period, according to the possible deterioration of the degree of inclusion in the insurance;
• 4. Increasing the degree of insurance protection. This measure will involve the implementation of an IT system that will collect traffic data (registration number obtained from CCTV) to identify vehicles that do not have a valid RCA policy, a system that will aim to link the databases of the Home Office and the Ministry transport The structures of the Ministry of Internal Affairs will check the existence of an insurance policy;
• 5. Development of a state policy aimed at improving road infrastructure (road markings, changing the configuration of intersections, etc.), which should lead to an increase in the level of safety and a decrease in the number of road accidents, both within the city and beyond. their;
• 6. Development of a state policy that encourages defensive driving in order to improve driver behavior.

Finally, the Competition Council emphasizes that when providing this opinion, it only analyzed the possibility of introducing a restriction measure, without making a conclusion regarding the level of calculation of the maximum tariffs established in the draft Decision.

This task was under the auspices of the Financial Supervisory Authority (ASF) and the draft, which was sent to the Ministry of Finance, caused a very sharp reaction from the insurance industry.

• Read more: “It’s a nightmare!” Insurance against RCA maximum rates and what they mean for drivers

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