The free ASF service that helps you get greater damages from insurers. The largest amounts received

Customers dissatisfied with the damages received from insurance companies after car accidents or accidents can resort to the free conciliation procedure from ASF, before addressing the courts. Last year, the amounts obtained in addition In total, they reached about 1.7 million lei.

• Of the 332 applications allowed for conciliation last year, only 10 injured obtained over 1.3 million lei, while others obtained modest amounts. Most of the money is required as RCA damages, and Allianz-Tiriac, Grawe and Groupama have the most admitted applications.

The structure that deals with the alternative settlement of insurance disputes, the capital and private pensions market is called Sal-Fin and works within the Financial Supervisory Authority (ASF). This is independent of the institution's supervision and control activity.

Insurances dissatisfied with the amounts offered as compensation by the insurance companies can be addressed to the 20 conciliators in Sal-Fin, who can solve the dispute through two procedures: one for proposing a solution (PPS), and another to impose a solution (PIS).

332 requests accepted last year

Of the total of the 332 requests accepted last year for conciliation, the injuries chose the procedure for imposing a solution (PIS) for a number of 285 applications (86%), the data from the annual Sal-FIN report shows.

The procedure for imposing a solution lasts on average 55 days and involves the issuance of a tax decision, which, if not appealed within 15 calendar days from the date of communication, has an enforceable title. The amounts that can be obtained by such injured are significantly higher.

The second procedure assumes that the injured person understands with the insurer on a payment amount, under the guidance of a conciliator, but the amounts obtained are smaller. However, the average duration of resolution is less than 30 days.

7 of the 10 largest amounts are on RCA

HotNews.ro requested ASF details about the amounts obtained last year by conciliation, and the data received show that the 10 largest amounts obtained exceed 1.3 million lei.

The Sal-Fin decisions are communicated to the parties within 15 calendar days from adoption and produce effects from the date of communication. These can be challenged at the competent court.

The decisions that are not appealed within 15 calendar days from the date of communication have an enforceable title.

Thus, the role of Sal-Fin ends at the time of communication of the decisions to the parties, with no legal prerogative that allows the entity to pursue the exercise or not of the right of the parties regarding the challenge of the decisions, respectively of their execution.

The highest amount obtained in addition – 332,715 lei

The ASF data show that half of the Sal-Fin decisions by which the injuries obtained the largest amounts last year were challenged in court.

The highest amount obtained by a consumer was 332,715 lei, as a result of the conciliation of a dispute regarding the compensation related to a fire of a building (building+hall).

Seven of the 10 largest amounts represent RCA damages, and the amounts are over those initially offered by insurers.

The highest amount obtained by a RCA injured was 230,000 lei.

Obtained an amount of more than 2 times higher than that provided by the insurer

According to Sal-Fin data, the insured, the victim of a road accident asked the trader to be damaged by 823,417.69 lei, of which:

• 3.317.69 lei – material damages consisting of expenses incurred following the road accident;
• 320,100 lei – moral damages representing the indemnity of the score granted exclusively for the damages related to the physical pain, according to the insurance medicine report.
• 500,000 lei – moral damages representing the allowance for the psychic traumas suffered as a result of the road accident.

After analyzing the file, the insurer offered a significantly smaller amount than the requested one.

“The insurer informed the legal representative of the injured party that the offer of compensation for the body damage suffered by the consumer is worth 93,317.69 lei (of which 90,000 lei for moral damages and 3,317.69 lei for medical expenses), amount paid by the trader in the account indicated by the consumer,” said ASF.

The consumer addressed Sal-Fin requesting “obliging the trader to pay the differences, resulting from the amount paid partly and the rest requested by the request for compensation, as well as of the penalties of 0.2% starting with the expiration date of the 30 days for issuing the compensation offers”.

The conciliator Sal-Fin partly admitted the consumer's request, forcing the trader to pay the damages in the amount of 230,100 lei as damages, for the bodily injury.

The decision came after 3 months

The procedure was finalized within the legal term related to the PIS procedure, respectively 89 days. The settlement of this case did not generate costs for the consumer, considering that the opinion of the conciliator was formed exclusively on the documents on file, not necessary to carry out a new expertise, ASF said.

In other cases, the injured persons fail to obtain through the conciliation procedure only a few hundred or thousands of lei over the compensation initially offered by the insurer, according to the data transmitted by the ASF.

Further, the tax decisions decided by Sal-Fin can be challenged by both insurers and injured. If the decisions are not challenged, the money obtained by conciliation will reach the injured.

Allianz-Tiriac, Grawe and Groupama, in the top of the RCA disputes solved by conciliation

Of the 332 applications admitted to conciliation last year (not only RCA, but also CASCO or Housing Insurance), most targeted Groupama Asigurări (80 applications), the largest insurer, followed at a short distance from Allianz-Tiriac (76 requests), Grawe (66 requests), Omniasig (34 requests), general (30), (22 applications), according to data from the annual Sal-Fin report.

Strictly on the RCA sector, most files were targeted at Allianz-Tiriac (66 applications), on the following places being Grawe (63), Groupama (60), Generals (27), Omniasig (20) and Asirom (18).

How many tax decisions are challenged in court

The number of decisions issued by conciliators and challenged in court increased in 2024 to 38, compared to 2023, when there was a number of 29 such situations.

Last year, for the first time, challenged decisions related to disputes regarding CASCO type insurance, life insurance and mandatory housing insurance (PAD) appeared for the first time.

These appeals were related to a number of 7 insurers. Most of the appeals belonged to Allianz (16), but compared to the number of disputes solved with Allianz, the share of this insurer of the contested decisions was approx. 21%, says ASF.

There are also 4 decisions that were challenged by consumers, 3 of them aimed at RCA files.

The challenged files are in the role of the courts in different procedural stages, with no definitive ruling in any dispute, the Sal-Fin report shows.