Third-party insurance: find out how your coverage works
Optional Vehicle Liability Coverage (RCF-V) may vary according to the chosen policy, but a deductible cannot be charged
The main car insurance coverage, according to the Private Insurance Superintendence (Susep), is: Comprehensive, including Fire and Robbery, Collision and Fire, Passenger Personal Accidents, and Optional Civil Liability for Vehicles (RCF-V). In this report, we explain the last modality, popularly known as insurance against third parties.
What is third-party insurance?
The Optional Civil Liability Insurance for Vehicles is coverage that reimburses the compensation that the insured is obliged to pay to third parties as a result of bodily and/or material damage caused by a traffic accident.
Third-party insurance is, then, the one that reimburses the consumer for the money spent to repair the car of a third party involved in an accident or the amount referring to their medical expenses.
According to Susep, since there are mandatory insurances, such as Traffic Insurance – Personal Damage Caused by Land Motor Vehicles (DPVAT), insurance against third parties must be contracted at second risk. That is, it must be triggered when the damage caused by the incident exceeds the amount covered by mandatory insurance.
It is worth mentioning that the DPVAT is intended to support victims of traffic accidents only in cases of death, permanent disability, and medical assistance expenses and supplementary expenses (DAMS). Coverage cannot be requested to pay expenses with material goods.
What does third-party insurance cover?
The RCF-V is governed by Circular 27/84 and Circular 106/99, by Susep. The documents state that the main guarantees offered by third-party insurance are:
- • Material Damage (provides reimbursement of amounts claimed by the third party in its material property);
• Bodily Injury (is related to physical damage caused to other people – death, disability, and medical expenses);
• Moral Damage (complementary coverage that guarantees that the judicial or extrajudicial indemnities that the insured person may be condemned to pay for moral or aesthetic damage are paid by the insurer, within the contracted amount);
• Loading and Unloading;
• Contamination and or Pollution;
• Towing Vehicles;
• Trailers or Semi-Trailers uncoupled from tugboats;
• Extension of Coverage to South American Countries.
What happens, however, is that insurers can come up with their own conditions for coverage. This, of course, respects the other laws governing car insurance.
Due to the freedom that companies have, it is worth the consumer to check the policy chosen when contracting the service. It is in the policy that the insurance broker determines the value limit for servicing third-party vehicles damaged as a result of accidents.
How to trigger third-party insurance?
When a traffic accident happens, the driver should try to find out what are the physical conditions of the occupants of the vehicles involved. If there are no victims, it is necessary for the parties to remove the cars from the road. Once that’s done, it’s time to file a police report (bo).
With the record of the accident in hand, the driver must contact his insurer, to communicate the incident and request the activation of insurance against third parties.
In this first contact, the contracted company will communicate the internal procedures for carrying out the coverage/reimbursement.
After delivery of all documents requested by the insurer, there is a maximum period of 30 days for the insurer to pay the indemnity. In case of reasonable and justifiable doubt, the insurer may request new documents, and in this situation, the time count will be suspended and restarted after the delivery of the newly requested documents.
In general, the victim driver of the insured person can choose the workshop where his vehicle will be repaired.
Third-party insurance pays deductible?
A common question for drivers is whether it is necessary to pay a deductible when third-party damage insurance is triggered. The answer is categorical: no.
In an interview with AutoPapo, the press office of the General Insurance Federation (Fenseg) stated that the deductible is for the insured car – and not for third parties.
The institution reiterates the importance of paying attention to the policy, to check if you are, in fact, contracting this type of coverage and also to the reimbursement value that your insurance for third parties guarantees.
This is because if the amount intended for third-party coverage is exceeded, the consumer is responsible for paying the difference.
How exclusive third-party insurance works
Currently, it is possible to hire only auto insurance for third parties. The practice is common for drivers who cannot pay for all warranties or those who own a car with low market value but are aware of the risk of collision with another vehicle.
When contracting auto insurance only for third parties, the insured must be aware that the insurer will pay for property damage, personal injury or bodily harm to others involved in the accident, but that the contractor’s vehicle is not included in the coverage.
There is also on the market the option of taking out insurance only against theft and theft.
