Russian legislation has many gaps that give scammers many ways to profit by deceiving consumers. Unfortunately, this did not bypass the insurance sector either. Today, there are many shell companies operating on the market that carry out illegal activities, which are based on the sale of invalid insurance policies. In recent years, a lot of vehicle owners have come under the influence of scammers because of their gullibility. In order not to be in an unpleasant situation in the event of a car accident, each citizen should know how to verify the authenticity of the CASCO policy.
How to protect yourself from cheating?
CASCO is a type of insurance that does not belong to the category of compulsory. Each person independently decides whether to use these services. Therefore, the legislation does not provide for a single sample document, which provides unscrupulous companies the opportunity to deceive their customers.
CASCO insurance is recommended at the office of the Insurance Company. In addition, before signing an insurance contract, you must carefully study it. It will not be superfluous to ask the representatives of the insurer for a license permitting insurance activities. If you refuse to provide it for any reason, then most likely you are a fraudster. If everything is in order with permits, then this does not guarantee that you will get a valid policy, so everyone should know how to check the CASCO insurance policy. To do this, you must know what information is indicated on the official document.
What information should be indicated on the form?
The following data must be indicated on the policy:
- information about the insurance company and beneficiary;
- policyholder data;
- car insurance information;
- territory covered by the policy;
- list of cases involving compensation for damage;
- insurance limit;
- a list of persons entitled to operate the machine;
- policy validity period;
- details of both parties involved in the transaction;
- print.
If any of this is not included in the policy, then most likely it is not valid.
Security elements
In addition to the mandatory information about the insurer, the insured and the conditions for the provision of services, it is possible to check the CASCO policy by the presence of the following protective elements:
- textile or polymer fibers;
- filigree;
- company logo SK;
- barcode;
- company seal and handwritten signatures of authorized persons.
If any of the above is not on the policy, then it is false, and therefore has no legal force. If all the security elements are present on the form, and the information entered is true, then you can be safe just in case, and check the authenticity of the CASCO policy by number. How to do this will be discussed later.
What to look for when applying for insurance?
Any business works for profit. This also applies to insurance companies, the number of which is increasing every year. Therefore, if SK offers you a substantial discount on its services, then this should at least be alarming. With each transaction, insurers earn about 20%.
Therefore, if you are promised a discount whose size exceeds 10%, then this can be explained by the following:
- you are a scammer;
- IC has been working relatively recently, and going to increased risks, it is trying to accumulate a client base;
- the company is on the verge of bankruptcy, and with the help of big discounts it tries to earn as much as possible in the end;
- the insurer cooperates with car dealers who can give them large discounts;
- The insurance contract has many reservations, because of which your real discount will be about 5-6 percent.
Before concluding an insurance agent contract, you need to be asked to provide you with a receipt and policy number. With this information, you can call the head office of the insurer and check the CASCO policy by number. Also, as a precaution, you can check the power of attorney, which gives the agent the opportunity to speak on behalf of the insurer.
A few words about filling out documents
If you managed to check the CASCO policy, and it turned out to be genuine, then the document must not be lost its legal force, it must be filled out correctly. This is very important, since even the most insignificant mistake made when filling out the form or contract will lead to the fact that, faced with an insured event, the company will have legal grounds for refusing to pay monetary compensation. Ask the SK employee to fill out all the documents by himself, and then check the correctness of the entered data.
The process of concluding an insurance contract
There are frequent cases when insurers, at the request of customers, provide them not with the original, but with a copy of the license, according to which it is impossible to determine the period of its validity. If the license is not valid, then the issued policy will not have any force. In this case, the Central Bank of the Russian Federation website can come to the rescue, where you can see which insurance companies were issued the license, and up to which year it is valid.
When the legal formalities between the insurer and the policyholder are settled and all the documents are signed, the IC must hand the following documents to its client:
- original insurance form and application;
- original payment document;
- vehicle inspection certificate (if any).
If you are going to check the CASCO policy at VSK or any other company for authenticity, then the main problem is that there is no common base in which the numbers of the forms of all companies operating in the insurance market were entered. However, it is still possible to find a fake by a unique number. It is entered into the electronic database of the insurance company, so if you go to the website or call the office, you can use it to clarify whether the policy is registered with the insurer or not.
CASCO policy verification for authenticity by visual inspection
Before you go to the insurer to arrange insurance, it is recommended to go to his website and study what the official insurance form looks like. This will allow you to verify the authenticity of the form using a visual inspection.
In the process of filling out documents, pay attention to the following factors:
- On both sides of the form should be a color picture.
- If the policy is filled in manually, then it must be three-layer. Two copies remain with the insurer, and you get one.
- Filled in the fields should not contain errors, corrections and empty spaces.
- The paper should have a fibrous structure.
- The policy must have watermarks and barcodes.
- Details of the company must comply with those specified in the charter documents.
- Customer information should be up to date.
The procedure for obtaining insurance is identical for all companies, including Rosgosstrakh. It is advisable to check the CASCO policy in any case, even if you contacted a large company, since many fraudsters can use the names of large insurers for their own selfish purposes.
Online Policy Authentication
Any insurer maintains its own database, in which the numbers of all insurance forms are entered. Thanks to this, everyone can check the CASCO policy by number online.
There are several ways to do this:
- Through the register of framed and false forms, which insurers publish on their websites.
- Using the online form, filling out which, the insurer will provide you with information about the policy.
- Through a personal account.
It is best to verify CASCO policies through the websites of insurers. It is not recommended to use third-party resources, as they publish information that is already in the public domain, as well as the data obtained will not have legal force, so it will not be possible to use it during the trial.
It is important to understand that it will not work to check the CASCO policy for authenticity. The thing is that the PCA has the right only to regulate the activities of insurers and help in resolving disputes arising between them and the client. This regulatory organization does not have the right to disclose or edit information entered in the database.
How to determine the authenticity of the policy at its cost?
Another option by which you can identify a fake CASCO insurance policy is its cost. As statistics show, the vast majority of policies whose value is significantly lower than market prices are fake and have no legal effect. Having such insurance, you will not only not receive any monetary compensation, but also gain yourself a lot of problems. Firstly, you will indemnify the other party to the accident, and also pay a fine, since driving a vehicle without an insurance policy is a criminal article. Therefore, do not try to save on insurance and do not chase a low price.
Insurance policy authentication by blank number
The most common and reliable way to protect yourself from fraudulent insurance companies is to check the CASCO policy in Rosgosstrakh by number. Any UK maintains a single electronic database, which stores the numbers of all policies. Fraudsters do not have any access to it, so they cannot make any changes. Therefore, if you entered the form number and received a notification that it was not found, stolen or has already been issued to another person, then you can avoid big problems.
Authentication of insurance by number should only be through the site. The thing is that insurers, for certain reasons, do not provide such information by telephone. If you do not have access to the Internet, then you should contact the security service of the insurance company, where you can get all the information you need about CASCO policies.
What if the policy turned out to be fake?
Despite all the precautions, there is no guarantee to avoid a fake policy. Moreover, problems can arise even in the case of official documents. The most common case that most motorists face is an incorrect filling out of the policy. If you find any errors, you should immediately contact the insurer to resolve them. If for some reason the insurer refuses to provide assistance, then contact the higher authorities immediately, because after a certain time your problem may not be solved at all.
However, this is only possible if problems were identified immediately. If the fictitiousness of insurance is revealed after getting into an accident, then it will be practically impossible to solve the problem without a court. Therefore, when concluding an insurance contract, you must be very careful, and be sure to check the correctness of filling out the documents and the relevance of the information entered.