The RCA victim from Galatza waited almost a year to receive just a fraction of the money he paid to repair his 2019 RCA-insured Nissan Qashqai car with Euroins. After suing the insurer, which refused to pay him the amount he had paid for the repairs, the court ruled in his favor and approved recovery of the amount owed by the insurer, as well as a late payment penalty.

Euroins is currently facing a wave of foreclosures settled in the courts over claims for non-payment of compensation or repair costs, so the Insurers’ Guarantee Fund (FGA), as interim administrator, wants to apply for the insurer to be declared bankrupt.

Such an enforcement case, which was decided in the courts even before ASF declared bankruptcy of Euroins, is presented in the case law of the Galátsk Court.

The driver claimed more than 25,000 lei for the repair of his car damaged by RCA, insured with Euroins

The data in the file indicates that on August 6, 2019, the driver of a Nissan Qashqai was involved in an accident in which his vehicle was damaged, the driver of a Skoda insured by RCA at Euroins being at fault. .

The injured party applied for compensation to the Euroins company, which opened a lawsuit.

For more than a month, the insurer drew up 3 reports of damages, in which points were highlighted, according to which repair/replacement/repainting was agreed.

The injured party repaired his car and on November 12, 2019, asked the insurance company to pay him an amount of more than 25,400 lei – the cost of the repair. In support of his legal claims, the victim provided a tax invoice and an estimate of the work performed at the auto repair shop.

• According to the law, within 30 days after filing a claim for compensation, the insurance company must make a reasonable offer of compensation to the injured party.
• In case the RCA insurer fails to fulfill the specified obligations or their improper fulfillment, including unjustified reduction of the amount of compensation or delay in the payment of compensation, it was obliged to pay a penalty of 0.2% per day of delay, calculated at the level of adequate compensation. the amount or difference of the unpaid amount. Payment of fines is carried out simultaneously with payment of compensation.

Euroins should have made a reasonable offer of compensation to the injured party, but the insurer refused to pay the requested amount.

Euroins made its own compensation calculation and decided to pay him less

Belatedly, Euroins offered him to pay just over 16,400 lei. The injured party did not agree and sued the insurer on July 20, 2020.

Euroins filed an objection, in which it asked to refuse the plaintiff to satisfy the claims and to oblige him to pay court costs.

In the justification, Euroins claimed that it fully paid the compensation in the amount determined by the law, noting that it does not recognize other amounts as a debt as compensation for damage caused through the fault of the insured.

The first court ruled on March 10, 2021 that Euroins did not follow the mandatory procedure established for the settlement of damage cases and did not formulate a reasonable offer of compensation in time, therefore it decided to pay the injured party the amount of more than 25,400 lei paid for the repair of the car , the value of which was to be charged with penalties in the amount of 0.2% per day of delay, starting from July 20, 2020 until the actual date of payment.

The final decision: “Euroins” unjustifiably reduced the amount of compensation, and the partial payment was delayed by almost a year

The insurer filed an appeal, but was unsuccessful. On October 14, 2022, the Galati court ruled that Euroins had unjustifiably reduced the compensation.

This is how he motivated his decision:

“The court notes that in accordance with Art. 22 par. 1 in combination with Art. 14 paragraphs 1 and 3 of Law 132/2017

“(3) The cost of repair shall be determined by means of specialized evaluation systems or through documents issued pursuant to law in which the vehicle repair department may use its own cost of the labor hour reflected.”

It follows that there are two possibilities for payment of compensation:

• premium for early payment of a claim, for which the insurer uses specialized scoring systems (where you can enter average values ​​of parts and labor) and
• the second to pay the final repair compensation in the event that it is not a total economic loss, when the insurer pays the compensation, as it appears from the documents issued according to the conditions of the law, in which the car repair department can use its own cost of the indicated working hours.

All the objections formulated in the appeal request of the insurer related to the establishment of the average price of compensation, as in the situation when he made an advance payment. There is no such situation in the case, since the plaintiff did not ask the insurer for an advance payment, but for the final payment for the repair,” the material says.

The court shows that Euroins delayed payment for almost 1 year:

• “The insurer unjustifiably reduced the amount of compensation without valid reasons, as established by the court of first instance, therefore, according to Art. 21 paragraph 5 of Law 132/2017, he had to pay a penalty for late payment in the amount of 0.2% from the date when the compensation should have been paid, i.e. on the 10th day after the end of 30 days from the moment of submitting the claim for compensation.
• Thus, the claim for compensation was submitted on 11/12/2019, and the compensation offer had to be made before the end of the 30-day period from the moment the claim for compensation was submitted, i.e. by 12/12/2019 inclusive.
• The offer presented by the defendant for defense was issued by the insurer on 19.12.2019, that is, after the expiration of 30 days provided by law, the insurer did not confirm its notification even on 19.12.2019 to the plaintiff.
• At the latest, the payment had to be made within 10 days after the end of this 30-day period, i.e. until 22.12.2019 inclusive, and starting from 23.12.2019, the defendant incurred arrears.
• Partial payment was made by the insurer on 03.12.2020, i.e. after the fulfillment of the above-mentioned terms, almost a year after the date when the payment should have been made,” the court said.

The Galatsia court ultimately upheld the first court’s decision and ordered Euroins to pay the amounts owed to the injured RCA for repairs and fines for each day of delay.

The lawsuit went further: the aggrieved party demanded the recovery of the owed sums from “Euroins” and won in court.

Data on the website of the Galati court shows that on November 28, 2022, the court granted a request for approval of enforcement filed by this aggrieved party RCA against Euroins to recover an amount of more than 25,400 lei as compensation, plus late penalties of 0, 2%/day starting from 07/20/2020 and until the day of actual payment.

Court costs of more than 3,300 lei will be added to them, as well as executive costs. The decision of the court is not subject to appeal.

Read more articles about RCA damage:

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• Two young women roll over in the woods with an uninsured RCA ATV: Who pays for damages in this case
• Cyclist failed to stop at traffic lights and was fatally hit by county councilor’s car / What RCA compensation his family received
• In the city, at a speed of almost 90 km/h, a young driver drove into an underpass. What moral damage could the wife of the deceased driver receive
• Real RCA Tort Case: How much money is being claimed for a 4-car accident in Constanta
• You’re in a taxi, UBER or STB bus that crashes: who pays if you’re injured?
• Record losses on RCA: what accidents caused by 3 Romanian drivers last year in the UK, France and Greece and compensation paid to victims

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