The Number Of The Uninsured Vehicles Has Increased By 0.5% For The Last Month
The obligation to have valid liability insurance covering the use of motor vehicles comes to little more than 91%. That is what the Guarantee Fund records read, prepared by the Information Center of the body in the beginning of May 2007 - May 6th. The record is based on the reports submitted by the insurance companies and Traffic Police. The insured vehicles count 2 098 099, in the meanwhile the vehicles that are supposed to be insured count 2 303 448. 55 721 motors have been detected of uninsured driving.
The MTPL insurance range of 91.5% (2 071 422 valid insurance policies as to 2 320 431 vehicles, 55 856 of which were suspended by March 31st 2007).
Figures show that for the period of March 31st - May 6th some 26-27 thousand MTPL insurance policies were sold. In the meanwhile Traffic Police has reported for 32 thousand newly registered vehicles which are insured because they cannot be registered otherwise. So it turns out that the number of policies is increasing but the percentage of the insurance vehicles decreases.
The VAT free import of old vehicles bought in EU did not compensate for the fact that some of the expired insurance policies are not being renewed. There first critical moment came at the end of
the first three-month period, March 31st, a year passed from the first re-registration deadline. The next critical moment will be the end of the of May, since the greatest number of 133 000 new
number plates were issued during the last month of 2006.
Some of the motorists driving uninsured vehicles deliberately did not renew their MTPL insurance policies. Most, however, confess that they forget to do so, that is why the reminder letters
practice, which is to be launched in July is supposed to solve this very problem.
The Guarantee Fund confirmed to be receiving weekly updates from Traffic Police about the numbers of the newly registered vehicles, since April 10th, which facilitates the Guarantee Fund
statistics. Mrs Ralitsa Agian, head of the Insurance Supervision department, said that if the trend is sustained the obligatory insurance range may drop below 90% by the end of the first half of
the year; and that is the time when we are supposed to join the multipartite agreement. FSC officials define that moment as a moment of great risk since the road accidents caused by uninsured
drivers are compensated for by the public resources managed by the Guarantee Fund.
The MTPL range was of 97% in 2006 and now it has dropped near the critical 90%. The government and the insurance companies did all the necessary to let the public know why the motor insurance
practice is obligatory. Traffic Police officer - Mr Alexi Stratiev said that the insurance range will not drop under 90%. By April 8th 2007 the number of the uninsured vehicles was 4 450, while in
all of 2006 their number was 7 540.
Traffic Police statistics show that uninsured drivers involved in road accidents are not too many. 1003 uninsured vehicles were involved in road accident during the first three months of the year,
whose total number is 21 280, i.e. uninsured driving is involved in 4.7% of the cases, which means that 95.3% of the drivers are insured. The ration to uninsured and insured vehicles involved in
road accidents is one of the methods of determining MTPL insurance range used in EU, and Bulgaria proposed its application but it was not approved.
The above-90% range will be sustained not only by means of fines imposition, the Insurance Codex rules a fine of BGN 400-600, i.e. a few time the MTPL premium. But Traffic Police collected fines of
less than 6% which means that the drivers are not afraid of being fined since they do not pay their fines. In the same token some new amendments are to be carried so the drivers will have 30 days
to pay their fine otherwise their motor card will be taken away and the drivers will be additionally sanctioned, as the practice in most EU countries is.
The other issue is the co-called border insurance, Bulgaria has been an EU state for 5 months now and their is no clear order ruling the notion of border insurance as the Guarantee Fund has
occasionally reported for uninsured cargo vehicles which had been allowed to enter the country. 10 road accidents were caused by such vehicles only last year. The Insurance Codex order the
Guarantee Fund to compensate for all road accidents caused by uninsured drivers no matter if they are Bulgarian citizens or not, which is quite unfair because these individuals have not deposited
anything and expend public money of average amount of BGN 1 000-2 000.
The resources accumulated in the Guarantee Fund amounted BGN 17 570 000 (about EUR 9 million)by May 10th 2007. The fund managed to collect more than
BGN 3.5 million for a month only, as its reserve came to BGN 14 million by March 31st 2007. The claims brought to the GF counted 733 - 521 were damages claims and 375 of which were due to uninsured
driving as well other 97 non-damage claims. The Fund made damages compensation payments of BGN 438 252. A single compensation payment comes to BGN 989; the payments covering for body injuries and
death come to an average amount of BGN 17 200. The GF secretary Mr Nicolay Sotirov said that some claim damages of BGN 100-400 000 in case of death.
GF offcials say that it will be better if a certain percentage of fines collected by Traffic Police stays in the bureau; presently the collected money is deposited in the state budget and the
Ministry of Interior distributes them and thus only a little part goes for the Traffic Police department. The proposal rules that the retained percentage will be spent on technical equipment
facilitating the checkings etc.
