In 2020, UFG sent to vehicle owners 199.2K calls to pay an additional fee in connection with a break in continuity liability insurance. For comparison, in 2019 there were 126 thousand. such cases. Means an increase of as much as 58 percent Some of these cases concern vehicles brought into the country to be sold later. Many people, however, neglected to extend their third party liability insurance policy, believing that it was due to coronavirus pandemic they get away with it.
As the institution explains, the allegedly difficult contact with the insurance agent is not an excuse. – It is difficult to accept such a translation in a situation where the possibility of purchasing a policy over the Internet or by phone has now become a standard. Of course, the fund carefully analyzes each individual case in which there is no insurance protection and there are cases where such an explanation is justified. In many other cases, “pandemic” has become a catch-phrase, and the reference to it has not been documented in any way, says Hubert Stoklas, vice president of the Insurance Guarantee Fund.
In at least a quarter of the cases, this “pandemic digital divide” is hard to believe when you look at the details. According to the UFG, as many as three out of four uninsured drivers in 2020 are men, the majority of cases (approx. 25% of all) were in the 30–39 age group.
According to Polish regulations, motor vehicles must have a valid civil liability insurance policy from registration to deregistration. It does not matter if the car is used or even if it is roadworthy. The UFG is responsible for the enforcement of penalties for the lack of third party liability insurance, at the same time ensuring the payment of compensation to victims of accidents caused by uninsured and unknown perpetrators. In 2021 the maximum fine for the lack of a third party liability insurance policy for a passenger car is PLN 5,600. For a break of up to 3 days you have to pay PLN 1,120, and if it lasts from 4 to 14 days, the penalty will be PLN 2,800.
Many people are unaware that the third party liability insurance policy does not always extend automatically. You have to make a new contract if the vehicle has changed hands. Then the person who bought the car can use the predecessor’s policy only until the end of the protection period. The liability insurance will not extend also in a situation where the third party liability payment was broken down into installments and at least one of them was not paid.
Importantly, a policeman is not needed to detect the lack of a third party liability insurance policy. So you can “drop by” even if you don’t drive a car. It is possible thanks to the IT system of the Insurance Guarantee Fund. The algorithm compares the data on the concluded policies, which are sent to this institution on an ongoing basis by individual insurers, with the data on registered vehicles collected in the Central Vehicle Register. When the system detects a break in the liability insurance policy, a call is sent to the owner of the vehicle.
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The penalty for the lack of liability is severe. Even more serious, however, can be the consequences of an uninsured vehicle accident. Then the compensation has to be paid out of your own pocket. The record holder has PLN 1.4 million to be returned.
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