Should you use your CASCO insurance policy or wait for the guilty driver’s compulsory MTPL insurers would take action? That is the question asked by the drivers injured in a transport accident, and they often choose CASCO because this voluntary insurance helps to make repairs faster. Data collected by BTA Baltic Insurance Company (hereinafter — BTA) show that since the beginning of 2022, 44% of all CASCO claims have been resolved within 7 days. However, only 22% of MTPL claims were settled within a week.

Drivers, who are not at fault in a transport accident, can choose to which insurer to submit a claim.  They can ask the guilty driver’s compulsory motor third party liability (MTPL) or their voluntary insurance policy (CASCO) to cover expenses. In BTA’s case, more and more customers choose the second option, as the insurer has developed such an efficient procedure for handling CASCO cases that almost half of the claims are settled within a week. Since the beginning of 2022, 16% of claims have been settled overnight, 15% in two to three days and 13% in four to seven days. Only in more complex cases that are more difficult to assess — around 14% — drivers have to wait longer than a month.

MTPL claims take longer to settle because there are more parties involved and the insurer of the guilty party is responsible for adjusting the claim. MTPL statistics show that only 4% of all claims are settled during the first day, 9% during 2–3 days and 9% during the remaining days of the first week. Settling of 30% of cases take more than a month. It means just one thing: car repairs are significantly delayed and victims have to wait for a rather long time until they can get their car back. If you turn to your insurer, the insurer will handle the formalities with the guilty party’s insurer, settle the claim, and later recover it from the guilty party’s insurer.

“Taking a CASCO policy for your car is as such a responsible action that protects you from unplanned expenses. The data on the settlement rate of insurance claims show that owners of CASCO policies can get their repaired car back sooner after the accident and even use a service car offered by BTA during the repairs, if their policy includes such a cover.
The amount of the CASCO premium, in the current economic situation, may cause certain additional complications, therefore BTA offers its MTPL customers to purchase not only technical assistance insurance, lawyer’s assistance, but also reimbursement from their insurer, if the customer is not responsible for causing the accident,” explained Kārlis Liepiņš, Director of the Insurance Claims Department of BTA, adding that the insurance company reclaims the repair costs from the MTPL policy issuer of the guilty driver in the form of a recourse claim.

The speed of processing claims is also positively influenced by the fact that the customer can choose the most convenient form of notification. In the case of CASCO, 75% of customers prefer phoning, 16% use the website and 6% of customers use the self-service portal, and the same advantages can be used by the customer to report the “OCTA with your insurer” accident.

Last week, unexpected storm hit the territory of Latvia and impacted many BTA customers. At the moment, we have received more than 150 CASCO claims in Latvia for punctured vehicle bodies, broken windscreens, headlights, creases caused by hail, as well as objects and broken trees falling on the cars during the storm. On average, the storm damages per vehicle is estimated around EUR 10,000.

About BTA
Insurance Joint Stock Company “BTA Baltic Insurance Company” is one of the leading insurance companies in the Baltics, offering the widest range of non-life insurance services in Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia. BTA employs more than 1,000 employees in the Baltics. BTA’s shareholder is Vienna Insurance Group AG (VIG) that is the leading insurance group in Austria and in the Central and Eastern Europe region. The Group with old traditions, strong brands and close customer relations includes more than 50 insurance companies in 30 countries. More than 25,000 employees of VIG take care of daily needs of 22 million customers. VIG shares have been listed on the Vienna Stock Exchange since 1994. VIG has obtained the rating of financial stability A+ by internationally recognised audit company, Standard & Poor’s, with a stable outlook. VIG closely cooperates with Erste Group that is the largest retail bank in Central and Eastern Europe.

Additional information:
Elīna Zvejniece
Director of the Marketing and Public Relations Department 
AAS „BTA Baltic Insurance Company”
E-mail: elina.zvejniece@bta.lv 
Tel.: 66936074, mobile: 29374827