Last year, a Romanian lorry driver caused a serious accident in the UK after he swerved into another lane without checking and crashed into a motorbike while talking on the phone. As a result of the accident, the motorcycle rider was killed, so the insurer RCA paid out more than 3.1 million lei to the at-fault Romanian driver.

RCA’s insurer in this case was Omniasig, which presented on Wednesday the situation regarding the largest amount of compensation paid last year.

The company says it paid out a total of approximately 1.1 billion lei in compensation last year, with the largest amounts paid out on RCA and property (fire and natural disaster) insurance.

3 serious accidents caused last year by Romanian drivers in other countries and record compensations paid by RCA

The largest compensation paid by RCA insurance amounted to more than 3.1 million lei after an accident in Great Britain in which a Romanian truck driver changed lanes without checking while talking on the phone and hit a motorcycle. As a result of the accident, the motorcycle driver died.

The second compensation in the amount of more than 3 million lei was paid for bodily injuries and death as a result of an accident in Francein which the Romanian tractor driver was unable to brake due to a malfunction of the braking system and drove into the collection point.

As a result of the impact, 16 vehicles and the station were damaged, eight people were injured, four of them were seriously injured and one person died.

On the third position on the list is compensation in the amount of approximately 2.3 million lei, paid for bodily injuries as a result of an accident in the city of Greece, during which the driver of a passenger car entered the intersection at a yellow flashing light and collided with a motorcycle that was traveling with restrictions. As a result of the accident, two vehicles were damaged and the motorcyclist was seriously injured, resulting in 95% disability (quadriplegia).

RCA insurance, which costs 1,500 lei per year, can cover losses of millions of euros

Many of us forget when we take out compulsory car insurance (RCA) for a car that such insurance can save us not only from paying for material losses that we might have in the unfortunate situation where we cause a traffic accident, but also from hospitalization or expenses for the death of the victims.

One-time RCA insurance, which costs, say, 1,500 lei per year, can legally cover the following maximum expenses after an accident:

• 6.07 million euros for personal injury and death
• 1.22 million euros for material damage

The costs borne by RCA insurers are not only related to paid claims. By law, insurance companies are required to create reserves for approved claims and reserves for claims that have occurred but not been approved.

Subsequently, the insurers emphasized that “these compensation reserves are not included in the reports on the compensation paid, but are included in the category of reserves and must be taken into account when calculating the cumulative sums of money that the insurance companies will pay for compensation.

In these reserves, non-pecuniary damage has an important weight, so these reserves can reach very high values, which will be paid out, depending on the decisions of the courts, even several years after the damage occurred.

Other compensations paid last year by Omniasig for other classes of insurance

Along the CASCO linethe largest compensation in 2022 was more than 850,000 lei, paid after an accident in which a car skidded and crashed into a highway guardrail.

In second place is the compensation of approximately 570,000 lei, which is paid out in the event of an accident in which a tractor-trailer collided with a dump truck in front of it, which suddenly braked when a cart ran into it. .

A third compensation of approximately 570,000 lei was paid after an accident between a car and a bus, caused by the car driver’s attempt to avoid another vehicle that had stopped at a pedestrian crossing, thus driving into the opposite side.

On the line of property insurance, the first three cost compensations are caused by fires. The largest compensation, approximately 37 million lei, was paid after a factory fire. In second place on this list is the compensation of more than 2.4 million lei, paid as a result of a fire caused by an explosion at an oil refinery. In third place is a loss of approximately 2.2 million lei paid due to a fire in a production workshop.

About the housing insurance segment, the first three cost compensations were also caused by house or house extension fires, the common cause of which was a short circuit. The highest compensation in this segment was more than 410,000 lei, the second place in this ranking is the loss of more than 270,000 lei, and the third place is the compensation of about 240,000 lei.

Fire is one of the most common causes of damage to buildings. According to the General Emergency Situations (IGSU) National Risk Assessment report, the total number of fires in 2022 was 43,234, a 41% increase from 2021, with a daily average of 119 fires.

According to this report, an average of 19 houses were destroyed by fire every day. Of the total number of fires in 2022, namely 7,070, 34% occurred due to faulty or uncleaned chimneys, 23% – due to the use of faulty or home-made electrical equipment, 13% – due to the use of heating devices, 13% – due to other circumstances, 9% from the use open fire, 4% from smoking and 4% from deliberate actions.

On the line of travel insurance, the largest compensation, approximately 130,000 lei, was paid for medical expenses related to multiple fractures following a traffic accident in the United States of America. A second compensation of approximately 120,000 lei was paid to cover medical expenses related to multiple injuries (cranial and thoracic) following a road accident in Indonesia. In third place is a compensation of approximately 95,000 lei paid to cover death due to a road accident while the insured was in Portugal.

On the line of medical insurance, Omniasig paid more than 47 million lei in 2022 for approx. 170,000 claims have been opened under health insurance policies. Imaging, laboratory medicine, medical rehabilitation, gynecology, and ENT were the five medical specialties most frequently consulted by insured persons. The average age of insured persons who used medical care during 2022 was 38 years for both men and women.

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