The huge amount paid as the largest RCA claim, for an accident that happened in France, when a Romanian truck entered a toll station

Eight people were injured, four of them seriously, and one died. The Romanian driver was criminally convicted in France, and the Omniasig insurer confirmed for HotNews.ro that it has paid approximately 18 million lei in compensation so far and the case is still not closed.

A tragic accident in France 9 years ago brought the largest RCA claim paid in Romania, of all those paid last year, the Omniasig insurance company itself explained to HotNews.ro. Last year alone, the insurer paid over 8 million lei, but the total amount is much higher and the claims and compensation process is not fully completed.

His brakes didn’t hold

The Romanian driver of a truck could no longer brake due to a malfunction in the braking system, entered a toll station, damaged 16 vehicles and the toll station. Consequences? Eight people were injured, four of them seriously, and one died.

The driver who caused the accident had the truck insured by the company, and the RCA policy cost 2,000 lei and was valid for 6 months, according to the insurer’s information.

Following the accident in 2015, the Romanian driver was tried and convicted in the criminal case opened in France.

Compensation went to the victims

“Until now, on this file, total compensations of approximately 18 million lei have been paid, of which: approximately 3 million lei are material damages and approximately 15 million lei were for bodily injury and death. The vast majority of compensation claims in this case were settled amicably, but there are also cases settled in French courts. The claims of the second injured person are still pending,” said the insurer’s officials.

That means two victims of this accident are still fighting in court to receive compensation beyond what Omniasig would agree to pay.

The insurer did not want to provide information related to the amounts that are currently being sought in court.

The company said it could not state the value of the technical provisions it had made in this case, but stated that “they have been constituted and updated according to legal provisions”.

Any RCA insurer is obliged to make technical reserves for approved and unpaid claims (RBNS) and for claims not yet approved (IBNR), separately from the claims paid.

The latest public data from the Ministry of Finance show that in 2022 Omniasig had technical reserves of over 2.1 billion lei, and the profit obtained from the general insurance activity (dominated by RCA and CASCO) was approximately 83 million lei lei.

The company is in 8th place in the RCA market in Romania with 6% of the total car insurance in force at the end of last year.