Recurrences are often expensive. One of them is the application of malus to persons who are no longer the right holders of the vehicles involved in accidents. Of course, it also raises problems for the authorities by making it difficult to identify people who commit crimes or misdemeanors on public roads in order to hold them accountable according to the law.

The seller (the old owner) has not only the obligation, but also the interest to notify the insurance company or broker about the transfer of ownership of the car. In case of an accident caused by the fault of the new owner, he is charged with malus for each event. Insured events occurring after the sale of the car, but during the period of validity of the RCA, cannot be removed from the insured’s claim history due to the damages recorded on the RCA contract.

Law no. 132/2017 (“RCA law”), says that the insured is obliged to notify his insurer whenever “the information entered in the RCA contract has undergone changes during the course of the contract”. A sale of the vehicle and, thus, a change of the person obliged to insure, with respect to that car, is considered a change that obliges the old owner to notify the transfer.

From the experience of the claims department, one of our clients found himself downgraded with 4 malus bonus classes 3 months after selling the car. The previously mentioned RCA contract was valid on the date of the occurrence of the two insured events, the RCA insurer not being informed of the alienation of the vehicle according to the provisions of Art. 7 of Law no. 132/2017 specified in the contractual conditions for the implementation of the RCA compulsory civil liability insurance. Considering that the RCA insurer was not notified by the insured according to the provisions of Art. 7, letter a) from Law no. 132/2017 regarding the transfer of ownership of the insured vehicle, the risks arising from the contract concluded with the insurance company maintained their validity and once the insured event occurred, the insurer RCA had the obligation to compensate the injured party for the proven damages suffered as a result the accident caused by means of the insured vehicle.

According to Art. 7 of Law no. 132/2017, “The RCA contract terminates:

1. a) on the date on which the owner of the vehicle notifies the RCA insurer regarding the transfer of ownership of the vehicle, accompanied by supporting documents;
2. b) on the date the vehicle is removed from circulation;
3. c) upon completion of the term established in the RCA contract.”

A measure that could be applied by our company, in the current context considering that there is no longer any insurable interest in the alienated vehicle, is the introduction of certain filters in its own computer program in based on which RCA policies will no longer be issued to our company based on the CNP of the former owner and the identification series of the alienated vehicle.

Marius Constantinescu – Claims Director