A Total Nightmare: My OSAGO Claim with Rosgosstrakh
Hello!
I've dealt with Rosgosstrakh before, and I'm sure many car owners have. They're like a giant in the OSAGO world. Some people love 'em, some people hate 'em. I used to be a fan, but after my recent experience, I'm not so sure.
Getting OSAGO with Rosgosstrakh
Back in the day, before online OSAGO became a thing, we used to go to the office to get our policies. There were plenty of offices in our city, and I remember we always went to Rosgosstrakh since 2012. They were always the go-to, while other companies came and went. We even tried Alfa once, but they rejected us, so we went back to Rosgosstrakh.
Getting a policy used to take about 20 minutes, and we never had to wait in long lines. They offered extra services, but they didn't push us to buy them.
Then, they started introducing online OSAGO. We kept going to the agents for a while, but I decided to try it online.
Online OSAGO
It seemed simple enough. We just go to their website, follow the prompts, answer the questions, and fill in the necessary info about the car and drivers. You can choose the insurance period - from 20 days (the 'transit' option) to a year.
By the way, an online OSAGO policy starts working in at least 3 days, while the 'transit' option starts working the next day.
So, when I first tried to get an online policy, I got redirected to RSK's website at the last step, suggesting I get OSAGO from other insurance companies or visit their offices. By that time, their offices had closed, and there were only a few left in the city, in inconvenient locations. I had no choice but to get insurance from another company.
Next year, everything went smoothly, and we went back to Rosgosstrakh.
When I tried to get online OSAGO for a different car, I had the same issue - either go to the office or get it online from other companies.
My accident experience (if you're not interested, you can skip below)
I'll never forget the day this happened. I was driving to work, minding my own business, when I made a smooth turn. Suddenly, a car comes speeding towards me, and it's clear it's about to make a turn too, but it just keeps going straight at a decent speed. All I could do was give the wheel to the side of the road to avoid a head-on collision. Next thing I know, I'm hit on the left side, and my car spins around almost 360 degrees, ending up in the oncoming lane.
I was lucky in many ways. Firstly, the steering wheel on the right side saved me, as the left side of my car took a beating. Secondly, there was no one else in the car with me at the time. And thirdly, neither of us was hit by any other vehicles. It was just one of those weird coincidences.
What happened? The driver of the other car simply fell asleep. The good news is that everyone is alive.
What to do in case of an accident? The order of actions at an accident scene
First things first, I turned off the engine, activated the hazard lights, and set up a warning triangle. I tried to stay calm, as much as possible, and took a quick look at the damage.
Saying I was in shock when I saw the state of my car is an understatement. The other driver's car was also badly damaged. The damage was over 50,000 rubles, so we couldn't use the European accident protocol, and we had to call the GIBDD or accident inspectors. In our case, the other driver called the accident inspectors, and we waited for them to arrive. The inspectors, unlike GIBDD officers, charge a fee (the other driver paid 4,000 rubles), but they were helpful.
Half an hour later, the inspector arrived, took photos of the damage, drew up a report, wrote up our statements, called a tow truck since both cars were undrivable, and scheduled a time for us to go to the GIBDD to sort things out. It turned out that was just the beginning.
After that, we parted ways, but two days later, I walked to the GIBDD office with all the necessary documents and photos from the inspector to get a certificate for my insurance company.
Insurance incident in Rosgosstrakh
With all the necessary documents in hand, I could finally file a claim with my insurance company. But, as it turns out, it wasn't that simple. The Rosgosstrakh website has a dedicated page for filing claims, but I got stuck when I reached the VIN number field. The problem was that neither of us had the VIN number, which is required by law, and the website wouldn't let me proceed without it. I had to call their hotline to get help. Luckily, I was able to file the claim and schedule an appointment at an office over the phone.
So, I had to call them to get the ball rolling, but then I had to physically take all the original documents to their office, which, might I add, is on the other side of town. You can only make an appointment, and they'll send you a text with all the important details, like the time and what documents you need to bring.
Fast forward to the scheduled time, my husband (he's the one who's insured) and I headed to the office, where a staff member processed the claim, made copies of the documents, and scheduled a time for the vehicle inspection. Since our car wasn't roadworthy, the expert came to our place for the inspection. If your car is operational, you'll need to take it to the office for the inspection.
The next day, the expert showed up, took photos of the damage, documented everything in a report, and we double-checked it all to make sure it was accurate.
Now, we just had to wait for the payout.
How much will I get from Rosgosstrakh's OSAGO insurance?
In the text, I also got the case number and a link to track the status of the payout.
The entire process takes around 21 days, which is roughly three weeks, from the moment you file the claim to the payout.
We filed the claim on September 27, and the payout arrived on October 12, so the whole process took a bit over two weeks. It was pretty efficient, but...
I should mention that our car had sustained quite a bit of damage. We had to replace two left doors, the threshold, the front fender, the rear wheel disc with a tire, and the windshield. The front bumper and rear fender needed repairs, and we also had to repaint all the replaced parts. Plus, we had to straighten the front and middle struts because they'd been pushed inward from the impact. And that's not even counting the hidden damage. Oh, and I almost forgot to mention that we had to pay for the tow truck, too, which was included in the payout.
And we got a total of 71 thousand rubles for all this. Subtracting 2,500 for the tow truck, we're left with 68,500 for the repairs and restoration of the car. Do you think that's enough to get the car back to its original state? Of course not.
I know of only one case in my circle where Rosgosstrakh paid out a fair amount for repairs. In all other cases, it's the same story.
You've got to give credit where credit is due, so here are the pros and cons of Rosgosstrakh:
✔ Their website is super easy to use and understand;✔ The staff, from operators to experts, are all super polite and helpful;✔ Their tech support is available 24/7, and you can easily get through to their hotline and get some advice;✔ They don't drag out the process when you're making a claim;✖ The website can be a bit glitchy, and sometimes it won't let you get an OSAGO or even register a claim;✖ They seriously lowball the payout for a claim;✖ The offices where you can get help with a claim are super inconveniently located – there are only two in the whole of Novosibirsk.Rosgosstrakh is great when it comes to OSAGO until something actually happens. But the payouts for accidents are a whole different story. It feels like they're calculating the payouts in prices from the 2000s.
PS. There's a really interesting discussion in the comments below the review with a representative from the insurance company – if you're interested, go check it out 😉