Inaccurate time: Russians complain massively about the timing of car repairs
Russians complain en masse about the violation of the terms of car repairs under CTP. The total number of claims against insurers to the financial commissioner's office exceeded 100,000, which is the maximum in three years, Izvestia found out. The main reason is disputes over mandatory car insurance and refusals to repair cars due to a shortage of spare parts and delayed deliveries. The problem is getting worse because of the sanctions. To remedy the situation, the Russian Federation is preparing a reform of CTP payments. Russians will be allowed to choose their own car service for repairs, and then the insurance company will pay them the cost of car wear. Whether this will help is in the Izvestia article.
Why do motorists complain about insurers?
In January –September 2025, the financial Commissioner's service received 101 thousand complaints against insurance companies, the press service of the Ombudsman told Izvestia. They clarified that this is 16% more than a year earlier. Moreover, their number turned out to be the highest in three years.
Claims against insurers have increased mainly due to disputes over CTP contracts. The situation has changed since the end of 2024. The number of consumer complaints began to grow rapidly after several years of consistent decline: 102.5 thousand complaints were registered in January–September 2022, 90.4 thousand in the same period in 2023, and 87.3 thousand in 2024.
— This state of affairs is largely due to the current economic situation in the car spare parts market. Their delivery time is quite long, and their cost is high, which is why insurers often realize in advance that they do not meet the requirements for car repairs established by the CTP law (30 days are given for this), and they do not organize it," financial commissioner Svetlana Maksimova told Izvestia.
Instead of CTP repairs, the company can pay monetary compensation. However, in this case, the cost of car wear is deducted from the amount, which sometimes reaches 50%.
The problem has become particularly acute in compulsory motor liability insurance, as in its most widespread form, Svetlana Maksimova emphasized. There is a judicial practice in the market to recover damages from companies for non-fulfillment of repair obligations (if the organization agreed to carry it out instead of monetary compensation, but, for example, did not meet the deadline set by law). Their amount is calculated based on market prices for repairs and may exceed the maximum amount of insurance compensation established in the legislation (for CTP it is 400 thousand rubles).
The service shared that there are cases when service stations (service stations), with which the insurer has a contract, refused to repair "due to the long supply of spare parts", "due to the inability to carry out repairs within the time prescribed by law," and sometimes without giving reasons at all. Solutions that violate the law are often proposed: for example, the station is located more than 50 km away or repairs will take 120 days instead of 30. Car owners have difficulties with maintenance not only in the regions, but also in Moscow. At the same time, we are talking about fairly common European and Japanese brands.
There are also problems with Chinese cars. And this also applies to repairs under voluntary car insurance. So, Natalia, a Muscovite, faced poor-quality restoration of a car under a hard hat due to the use of non-original spare parts. After replacing the windshield, the car's sensors and assistants stopped working. According to her, interaction with the insurance company and attempts to fix problems have become a long and difficult process.
Why are there not enough spare parts?
Repair difficulties exist and they are exacerbated by the sanctions policy against Russia, said Ivan Popov, Director of the Department of Motor Vehicle Damage Settlement at IC MAKS.
— We also continue to face such difficulties. We have been trying to convey information for a long time that, as specified in the law, a significant part of the repairs cannot be completed within 30 days," the press service of AlfaStrakhovanie shared. — The fleet has aged significantly, the average age of vehicles has passed 15 years, and under CTP, there is still a requirement to use only new spare parts for all cars.
In Rosgosstrakh's practice, like all insurers, there are cases when service stations refuse to take cars for repair because they cannot meet the deadlines set by law due to shortages, complex logistics or excessive cost of spare parts, said Sergey Sych, head of the department for work with partners in the Loss Settlement unit of the company..
Currently, about 95% of car owners receive CTP payments, rather than in-kind compensation, the Russian Union of Motor Insurers (RSA) told Izvestia. This is due to the fact that many companies do not have contracts with service stations or they cannot perform repairs within the time limits set by law, they explained.
The RSA added: a bill on the reform of CTP payments is under consideration in the State Duma. The existing order will remain, but additional options will be added to it. Russians will be allowed to choose their own service station for repairs. The insurer, as it is now, will be able to pay a person a monetary refund minus depreciation. Then the client will contact his car service, confirm the repairs performed, and then he will be able to request a second compensation from the insurance company — he will be reimbursed for the cost of wear.
The Bank of Russia does not note a serious increase in the number of complaints about in-kind compensation for CTP, the regulator told Izvestia. Mostly, citizens report the replacement of repairs with an insurance payment, non-compliance with the deadlines for paperwork, as well as the refusal of the service station to accept the car for repair.
What will the CTP payment reform change?
Nevertheless, there are more complaints about insurers and this is due to economic factors, rising prices for spare parts and the obsolescence of the fleet, said Alexander Suetin, associate professor at the Institute of International Economic Relations.
Today, supplier companies are facing major congestion at road crossings between Kazakhstan and Russia, as well as China, says Tatiana Patuzhnaya, co-founder of Sigma logistics company. According to her, this is due to the thorough customs checks that are carried out due to possible violations of the law: each batch of goods undergoes almost one hundred percent inspection, which leads to delays. So far, the situation remains difficult for Korean, European and Japanese cars that are under sanctions, and their spare parts are also imported through third countries. The problem is aggravated by the increase in recycling fees and the increase in transportation tariffs, Patuzhnaya added.
The increase in the number of motorist complaints is a systemic problem caused, among other things, by the inflexibility of the insurance market, says Lyudmila Bitkova, a member of the Russian Bar Association. According to her, there are also cases when companies use a shortage of spare parts as a formal reason to refuse repairs.
According to Bitkova, it is necessary to improve the current legislation on CTP, add information about service stations to the all-Russian unified database of insurance companies and constantly check the quality of services provided.
The reform of CTP payments can also improve the situation. The proposed innovation is relevant because this way motorists will be able to repair cars, Anatoly Aksakov, head of the State Duma Committee on the financial market, told Izvestia. The RSA expects an increase in the number of repairs for compulsory motor insurance due to the introduction of the victim's right to receive an additional payment for wear and tear. The share of car repairs in the total number may amount to 20-25%, the union estimates.
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