OREANDA-NEWS. March 02, 2011. IC ROSNO Initiates Roundtable Discussion "Green Card: Key Risks Borne by Russian Cargo Carriers Abroad" in St. Petersburg. The roundtable discussion was arranged by the publishing house TT Finance jointly with the Business News Agency, and the key insurance speech was delivered by Mr. Yevgeny Dubensky, deputy CEO, head of ROSNO’s North-Western Directorate, reported the press-centre of ROSNO.

Along with ROSNO, the roundtable discussion was attended by the North-Western representative office of the Association of International Road Carriers (ASMAP), cargo carriers (Lazan Ltd., Wolf Ltd.) and the Scandinavia tour operator, Group TTK Galaktika. The event participants discussed the current state of the Green Card market, the key risks borne by the Russian drivers abroad, and the loss settlement practices applicable in case of a traffic accident in a foreign country.

For the North-Western part of Russia, which is a border region, the Green Card market is of special importance. Many St. Petersburg residents often enter Finland for vacation or shopping purposes. The North capital lets through a large cargo traffic — in 2010, according to ASMAP, 61% of all Russian cargo deliveries pertained to the North-Western Federal Okrug. All this generates big opportunities for insurance companies. Prior to 01 January 2009, the RF insurers were just agents of foreign companies, selling their policies to the Russian car owners travelling abroad. "Russia’s accession to the international Green Card system has significantly increased the degree of responsibility of all participants of the Russian insurance market: insurance as issuers of Green Cards, insurants, agents, brokers", commented Mr. Yevgeny Dubensky, head of ROSNO’s North-Western Directorate. — While in early 90s policies were mainly sold chaotically, today we have stationary sales offices, partner relations with fuel stations, retail outlets, etc." According to Mr. Dubensky, in the post-crisis year 2010, the capacity of this market segment in Russia equalled 2 bn. roubles.

In autumn 2010, ROSNO’s North-Western Directorate launched the Green Card project mainly aiming to strengthen ROSNO’s presence in this market segment. As Mr. Y. Dubensky, ROSNO today is actively opening new sales offices along the routes of potential clients, including border regions. By now, 40 sales offices have been opened, and just as many are planned to be launched before the year end. In addition, ROSNO is committed to cooperating with cargo carriers. As regards the cargo transportation market, as experts note, in 2009 it sank by 38%, indirectly inducing stagnation in the sales of the Green Card policies in the corporate segment in 2009. "In 2010, the Russian carriers made 230 thousand trips per year", noted Mr. Konstantin Sharshakov, deputy head of the North-Western representative office of the Association of International Road Carriers (ASMAP), "while over 300 thousand trips were made in 2008, the pre-crisis year.

Both the cargo carriers and ordinary car owners face the same problems in case of a traffic accident abroad. A language barrier and a lack of understanding of how to behave in case of a traffic accident in a foreign country result in the Russians’ being recognized as a guilty party in such accidents — more often than not. According to Mr. Oleg Pavlov, deputy director of Lazan Ltd. (international cargo transportation), no one of 10 traffic accidents involving his drivers was judged in favour of the Russian party. Mr. Alexey Khanovich, director of Wolf Ltd. (international/Russian cargo deliveries) confirmed the colleague’s words. Based upon his experience in settling traffic accidents in France and Belgium, the Russian party was recognized as not guilty only in the most apparent case, when there were injured passengers in the car of a foreigner who violated traffic rules; still, in other cases the guilty party were always Russians. "Another big problem arises when our citizen is asked to fill out a traffic accident protocol in a foreign language", adds Mr. Khanovich.

The carriers’ personal experience is confirmed by the RIA statistics. Among the policies sold in Russia in 2009, there were 2,760 recorded traffic accident cases abroad, and in 2,129 cases Russians were recognized as the guilty party. Even if recognized as the guilty party in a traffic accident, Russian drivers face no financial problems, as all damages are compensated to the foreign car owners not by them, but by the Russian insurance company. However, these figures are unconsoling for the insurers, since after certain time passes, they are billed by the foreign insurance companies for the amount of insurance compensations paid by the latter.

As noted by Y. Dubensky, this statistics also indicates the importance of choosing the right insurer. "You may be sold an invalid policy, or the insurance company may not deliver on a promised service in case of a traffic accident", explains Y. Dubensky. — When you purchase the Green Card, a reliable insurer would furnish you with a memorandum containing the company’s emergency contacts and phone numbers of the RIA call centre. In case of a traffic accident you will be explained what should be done first."

ROSNO’s expert provided details on two possible scenarios in case of a traffic accident. If a Russian citizen causes a traffic accident, he or she must present to the aggrieved party the original Green Card document. In its turn, the aggrieved party will send a claim to its national bureau which will then evaluate the loss. Thereafter, the national bureau of the country where the traffic accident occurred will bill the Russian insurer. If the traffic accident is caused by a foreign car owner, the aggrieved Russian citizen must contact the RIA call centre (phone numbers are indicated in the Green Card policy. The operator will direct the aggrieved party to the national bureau or the nearest branch of the bureau partner which will settle the claim. "As a rule, the insurance compensation is paid by a foreign insurance company. However, even if the foreign car owner is recognized as a guilty party, the Russian citizen may face many difficulties in receiving insurance compensation from a foreign insurance company", noted Mr. Dubensky.

The Russian car owners and cargo carriers should keep in mind that, once they are recognized as a guilty party in a traffic accident, they should cover the costs of car repairs at their own expense, because MOD insurance is not effective abroad (unless otherwise directly stipulated in the policy). "The problems associated with the traffic accident in a foreign country can be minimal if the Green Card policy is purchased from a prime-class insurance company, provided that in case of a traffic accident you follow the instructions contained in the reverse side of the card, and provided that the policy is complemented with an additional option — extension of the MOD terms to foreign countries. And, indeed, a policy must be purchased only in official sales offices, not privately from suspicious individuals", concluded Y. Dubensky.