Big win with AlfaStrakhovanie this year - no issues with insurance and DMS, but now they're being stubborn about cancelling my duplicate OSAGO

Hello everyone, thanks for stopping by.

I used to have other insurance providers, but when I bought a new car, I decided to go with AlfaStrakhovanie, and it turned out they were the same company as my workplace's DMS.

The DMS had a bunch of insurance options, depending on how long I'd worked at the company, my position, and other stuff. I'm pretty average, no dental coverage, but with emergency services and home visits by doctors.

Okay, let's get started with the Osago

In April, it snowed unexpectedly in St. Petersburg. We were leaving the kids' activities, and right in front of us, a car slid down a hill and hit our parked car (

Are you serious? I thought...

We filled out the European protocol without any issues. The next day, they called me and told me where to go for an inspection. I was a bit annoyed, to be honest, since the office is on the other side of the city... and, of course, I had to go during working hours. It's always frustrating when you're not the one at fault, but you're the one who has to run around.

I had the option to repair the car or get the money. I chose the latter. Although many of the guys from work were trying to convince me to fix it, saying they'd pay out too little and it wouldn't be enough for the repair. But for me, time is more important. If I had to deal with the repair, I'd have to take time off work to take the car somewhere.

We filled out some electronic forms, and then I went there. They quickly inspected the car and told me to come back in five days to find out the amount. I was annoyed, saying it would be great if I didn't have to drive back and forth 100 times. They said they didn't know anything about it, maybe I wouldn't have to come back at all, since I'd already filled out the forms electronically. This lack of knowledge is a bit frustrating. Who's supposed to know all this?

As it turned out, the amount was 115,000 rubles, and they transferred it to me a few days later. My advisors were shocked, saying I'd gotten a much better deal than they had. I haven't done anything yet, but I'm happy with the amount.

Next up, the DMS

I won't be writing about minor issues. They called me, I scheduled an appointment, and I went.

I'll tell you about the emergency hospitalization and subsequent recovery.

I was feeling unwell, and I thought it was nothing serious, but I decided to go see a doctor. Through the app, there weren't many clinics where I could go without approval. So, I called and explained my symptoms, asked to be seen by a gastroenterologist (I thought it was my stomach), and specified the area.

A few hours later, they sent me a time and a clinic.

I went to the clinic. The doctor suspected appendicitis and recommended hospitalization.

I told him that the ambulance service was included in my DMS, so they called it for me.

10 minutes later, and I was on my way to the hospital, surrounded by worry and attention

I had the chance to experience the local hospital, which isn't exactly easy to get into as a regular person. I was in a private two-bed room, but I was the only one there.

The surgery went smoothly, and I'm really happy with the result. Just a few months ago, my friend had her appendix removed at the same hospital, and it cost her 170k. But I got it done for free through my DMS.

After I was discharged from the hospital, I was able to schedule a follow-up appointment with the surgeon without any issues.

I also had no problems with the post-operative check-ups.

However, I did have some issues with the wound healing. I had to go back to the surgeon a few times, and they did some ultrasounds and ran some tests. Everything checked out okay.

The only real issue I had was when I tried to schedule an appointment for the same day or the following Sunday. I called on Friday, but no one answered. When I messaged them on Sunday at 11 am, they told me that I had been scheduled for the 13th... which was the day I had to leave town.

Other than that, I had a great experience with AlfaStrakhovanie. I got good service and saved some money. I'll definitely continue to work with them.

Update, December 2025

I was on vacation and kept getting reminders that my car insurance was about to expire. I'm not really in charge of managing it, but I think I might have forgotten. So, I decided to extend my car insurance with Alfa, since everything seemed to be working okay. However, it turned out that I already had car insurance with SberStrakhovanie. I started writing to Alfa to cancel, but the app said that cancellation was only possible if the new policy had already started.

That's not how it's supposed to work... in theory, the second policy should have been rejected.

Can I get two car insurance policies for one car?

Russian law doesn't prohibit having two car insurance policies for one vehicle. In theory, it's possible to get two policies.

However, before issuing a new policy, insurance companies check the information from the client's application in the OSAOG AIS. This is a general automated information system that contains all data about concluded insurance contracts for vehicles.

If the vehicle owner already has an active insurance policy, they will be rejected for the second one.

But that's not all - they actually issued the second policy, and then refused to cancel it without a refund! The girl on the phone tried to justify it with some logic of her own, but not based on the law. I asked her how they were able to issue the second policy, and she said that it was because the owner had changed, and the new owner needed a policy for the car, even though the old one was still active. But my situation was different - nothing had changed.

Alfa's annulment policy even has a specific reason for canceling a policy - two OSAOG policies. And SberStrakhovanie was able to cancel it without any issues and return my money. It's clear that Alfa's staff is completely incompetent.