ОСАГО (автогражданка) в Херсоне от «Polis24.com.ua»

A paid insurance policy may become unnecessary: the vehicle has been destroyed in a serious accident and cannot be repaired, or the vehicle has been permanently taken abroad and deregistered in Ukraine. In cases provided for by law, the owner has the right to terminate the contract early and receive a refund of part of the insurance premium for the unused months.

Please note two important features of the new law. First, it is not possible to temporarily suspend a Motor Third-Party Liability Insurance contract — the contract can either continue to be used or be terminated early in cases provided for by law. Second, when a vehicle is sold, the decision to terminate the policy early is made by the new owner, not the seller, because the policy remains valid and is transferred together with the vehicle (see the separate question about change of ownership).

To terminate the contract early, the policyholder must contact their insurance company with an application, attaching documents confirming the grounds for termination (a vehicle disposal certificate, an extract from the Ministry of Internal Affairs Service Center confirming deregistration, etc.), and provide bank details (IBAN) for the refund.

The refund amount is calculated proportionally to the number of unused days, while the insurance company may withhold a small percentage to cover administrative expenses. The main condition for a refund is that no road accident resulting in an insurance payment has been registered under this policy. For a policy purchased on polis24.com.ua, you can arrange the termination by contacting the service’s support team.

Road conditions in some regions leave much to be desired: while avoiding a pothole hidden under a puddle or an open manhole, a driver may sometimes lose control and collide with another vehicle. Who is at fault, and will an OSAGO policy purchased on polis24.com.ua provide protection?

From a legal perspective, the situation has two aspects. The first concerns your obligations toward other drivers. If you lose control because of a pothole and collide with another vehicle, the patrol police will most likely issue a report against you, arguing that you failed to take the road conditions into account and choose a safe speed. In this case, your Motor Third-Party Liability Insurance will work as standard: the insurance company will compensate the injured driver for the cost of repairing their vehicle, relieving you of the need to pay yourself.

The second aspect concerns repairing your own vehicle and holding the road authorities responsible. If you disagree with the charge and believe that the pothole was critically large and there were no warning signs, insist that the police call representatives of the road authority responsible for the road and draw up an inspection report for the section of road.

You will then need to hire an expert to assess the damage to your vehicle and take legal action against the road authorities. This is a lengthy process, and compulsory Motor Third-Party Liability Insurance will not help here because it does not cover repairs to your own vehicle. To protect yourself against the cost of repairing your own vehicle due to potholes or falling branches, it is worth additionally purchasing a CASCO policy.

Buying a new car from a dealership is a long-awaited event, and the buyer naturally wonders when they need to take care of mandatory insurance. Can you drive from the dealership to your home or to a Ministry of Internal Affairs Service Center without an insurance policy?

The law provides a clear answer: driving any vehicle on public roads without a valid OSAGO policy is prohibited. There are no exceptions such as “I have just bought the car from the dealership” or “I am driving to register it.” The risk of being involved in a minor accident on the way from the dealership due to unfamiliar vehicle dimensions is fairly high, and without insurance, the joy of your purchase may be overshadowed by the cost of repairing another person’s vehicle.

The specialists at polis24.com.ua recommend arranging insurance on the day of purchase, directly at the dealership before driving onto the road. In electronic format, this takes just a few minutes using a smartphone. Since a new vehicle does not yet have permanent registration plates, the policy is issued using the VIN (vehicle identification number), which is specified in the sales contract and acceptance certificate; in the “registration number” field, “Transit” is temporarily entered or transit plates are specified.

The policy is immediately registered in the MTSBU database. Once you receive the permanent vehicle registration certificate and registration plates at the Ministry of Internal Affairs Service Center, you only need to contact the service’s support team to have the permanent registration number added to the active insurance policy free of charge.

Shared fault is a situation in which both drivers are found responsible for causing a road accident. This often occurs at roundabouts, when both drivers change lanes simultaneously, or when one driver fails to yield while the other is driving significantly over the speed limit. Shared fault is established by patrol police officers or a court.

Many people do not know how compensation works in such cases, since both drivers are simultaneously considered at-fault parties and injured parties. The law regulates this as follows: if both parties are found at fault, the insurance companies of both parties are required to pay compensation, but the payment will not cover 100% of the damage — each person’s compensation is reduced in proportion to their degree of fault.

If the decision clearly specifies each party’s degree of fault as a percentage (for example, 70% and 30%), the insurance companies pay strictly in proportion to those shares. An injured party who is found to be 30% at fault will receive from the other party’s insurance company 70% of the calculated cost of repairing their vehicle.

If shared fault is established but the percentages are not specified, it is assumed by default that the drivers are equally at fault — 50/50. In this case, each insurance company covers half of the cost of repairing the other driver’s vehicle. The remaining amount is paid by the driver personally or covered by CASCO, if such insurance has been purchased. You can get clarification on such situations when purchasing a policy on polis24.com.ua.

A common myth among drivers is that OSAGO is valid only on public roads, while incidents in courtyards, at gas stations, or in underground parking garages are considered “non-insured events” by the insurer. Because of this, after a minor collision in a parking lot, drivers may panic or try to leave the scene in violation of the law.

In fact, Motor Third-Party Liability Insurance covers a driver’s civil liability for a road accident anywhere a vehicle can legally move. A “road accident” is an event that occurs while a vehicle is in motion and results in injury to people or material damage. A gas station area, residential courtyard, open parking lot in front of a shopping mall, or multi-level parking garage are all considered areas intended for vehicle movement and maneuvering.

Therefore, if you damage the fender of a nearby parked vehicle while reversing in a supermarket parking lot, this is a fully covered insured event. Follow the standard procedure available to polis24.com.ua customers: stop, document the damage, and if the damage is minor, the other driver has valid insurance, and there are no disagreements, complete a European Accident Statement without calling the police.

An exception is when the damage is not caused in the course of vehicle movement (for example, wind slams the open door of a parked vehicle, causing it to hit a neighboring car). Such incidents are often classified as damage to property in everyday circumstances and are regulated by the Civil Code rather than Motor Third-Party Liability Insurance.

Foreign driver’s licenses are common on Ukrainian roads — these include both foreign nationals and Ukrainian citizens who have lived abroad for an extended period. How does compulsory insurance work in such cases?

From the perspective of the legality of driving, Ukraine is a party to the Vienna Convention on Road Traffic. This means that national driver’s licenses issued by foreign countries that comply with the convention’s requirements (Latin transcription, vehicle categories, validity period) are recognized in Ukraine. A foreign driver or a Ukrainian citizen with a European driver’s license has the right to drive a vehicle. The restriction applies to Ukrainian citizens who have returned to Ukraine for permanent residence — under the law, they must exchange their foreign driver’s license for a Ukrainian one within the prescribed period.

As for purchasing Motor Third-Party Liability Insurance on polis24.com.ua, there are no hidden obstacles. The OSAGO contract is issued for a specific vehicle (according to its registration certificate), not for a driver’s license. The policyholder’s personal details are entered in the standard manner, while the series and number of the foreign driver’s license are entered in the “driver’s license” field.

The cost of the policy does not depend on the country that issued the driver’s license. Under free market-based pricing, insurers’ tariffs take into account the vehicle’s characteristics and place of registration, rather than the driver’s citizenship. In the event of a road accident, the insurance company will cover the damage under the standard terms, provided that the driver did not violate the rules (was not under the influence and did not leave the scene of the accident).

Drivers often change their license plates: they order personalized combinations, replace damaged plates, or re-register a vehicle. Since an OSAGO policy is registered in the MTSBU database, drivers may wonder whether the insurance is canceled when the license plates are changed and whether they could be fined by the police.

The good news is that when the license plates are changed, the insurance contract remains valid and continues in full force until its expiration date. The main identifier of the vehicle for the insurer and the state is not the license plate but the unique VIN (vehicle identification number), which is entered into the MTSBU database when the policy is issued and does not change. When checking the vehicle by VIN, a police officer will see that it is insured.

However, you should not ignore the change of license plates. To avoid misunderstandings on the road and problems in the event of an accident, the driver should promptly update the information in the existing contract: contact the insurance company or the personal account of the service where the policy was purchased and provide a copy of the new vehicle registration certificate.

The insurer will update the information in the MTSBU system free of charge, linking the policy to the new license plate number. If this is not done, automatic traffic enforcement cameras and police databases may return an error when scanning the new plate, leading to unnecessary explanations. To update a policy purchased on polis24.com.ua, you can contact the service’s support team.

Loss of market value (LMV) is the amount by which a vehicle’s market value decreases because it has been involved in a road accident and subsequently repaired. Even after a perfect repair using original parts, the vehicle loses value: a potential buyer can identify previous bodywork using a paint thickness gauge or vehicle history reports and demand a discount. This difference constitutes the owner’s actual loss.

Many vehicle owners believe that compulsory Motor Third-Party Liability Insurance automatically covers LMV. However, compulsory insurance compensates only for direct material damage necessary to restore the vehicle to its pre-accident technical condition (labor, materials, and parts). The calculation of LMV is not included in the standard list of OSAGO compensation payments, and insurance companies generally do not reimburse it voluntarily.

Nevertheless, it is legally possible to recover compensation for LMV. Under the Civil Code, the at-fault party is required to compensate the damage in full, including indirect losses. To receive compensation for LMV, the injured party must commission an independent automotive valuation expert assessment, which calculates the amount of LMV using a special methodology (usually for relatively new vehicles). The expert report can be submitted directly to the at-fault party, and if they refuse to pay, the injured party may take the matter to court. You can also receive advice on such matters when purchasing a policy on polis24.com.ua.

Insurance of vehicles registered abroad (in EU countries, the USA, Georgia, Moldova, etc.) but temporarily operated in Ukraine is regulated by special provisions. The absence of Ukrainian registration does not exempt the owner from the obligation to insure civil liability: driving a foreign-registered vehicle without insurance coverage may result in fines and, in the event of an accident, significant expenses.

There are two ways to drive legally. The first is a valid international “Green Card” issued in the country where the vehicle is permanently registered and valid for the entire period of its stay in Ukraine. In practice, foreign insurance policies can be expensive and inconvenient to renew remotely.

The second, more practical option available on polis24.com.ua is to purchase a special domestic OSAGO policy for foreign-registered vehicles. This is full Motor Third-Party Liability Insurance issued for a vehicle with a foreign registration certificate: foreign registration symbols are entered in the “registration number” field, while the main documents required are the foreign vehicle registration certificate and VIN.

One of the key features is the validity period: a foreign-registered vehicle can be insured under a short-term policy (from 15 days to several months), depending on how long the vehicle is expected to remain in the country under the applicable temporary import or transit rules. Tariffs are calculated using special coefficients, but remain affordable and provide reliable protection for the driver in the event of an accident.

Determining the proper liable party often leaves drivers confused: a road accident has occurred, the at-fault driver is obvious, but they were driving the vehicle under a power of attorney, a lease agreement, or simply “using the vehicle registration certificate.” This raises the question: whose insurance covers the damage, and who should be held liable if the insurance limits are insufficient?

Under current legislation, an OSAGO policy covers the civil liability of any person who legally operates the insured vehicle. If a standard policy has been purchased on polis24.com.ua, it covers the actions of any driver who was behind the wheel with the owner’s consent. Accordingly, the insurance company that issued the policy for the vehicle pays compensation to the injured party regardless of who was driving — the owner or the lessee.

The situation changes if the damage exceeds the insurance limits and the difference must be recovered, or if there was no insurance at all. The Civil Code distinguishes between the “owner” and the “person who caused the damage.” For damage caused by a source of increased danger (a vehicle), liability rests with the person who legally possessed and operated it at the time of the accident. If the vehicle was officially leased or transferred under a power of attorney, liability for damage exceeding the insurance limits lies with the at-fault driver. However, if the owner allowed a person without a valid driver’s license or under the influence of alcohol or drugs to drive, the court may also hold the owner liable for negligence.