Romania – The country of accidents per minute!

Romania, double Hungary or the Czech Republic in terms of road accidents.

By Romania Journal Last updated Jan 17, 2024

Get real time updates directly on you device, subscribe now.

UNSAR – The National Union of Insurance and Reinsurance Companies in Romania says that Romania is the “champion in road accidents”, surpassing most of the European member countries in this chapter. “The average frequency of accidents at the level of the entire fleet of vehicles in our country is about 6.6% , compared to Hungary or the Czech Republic, which each have 2.8%, or Slovenia with 2.6%, according to the latest data available,” says UNSAR in a press release.

“If we look strictly at the transport segment, the frequency is 3 times higher than the average for all types of vehicles (19% vs. 6.6%). Thus, on average, out of every 100 transport vehicles with a maximum authorized mass of more than 16 tons, at least 19 cause traffic accidents resulting in material damage or, unfortunately, bodily injuries and deaths. These accidents are, as a rule, significantly more serious than in the case of other categories of motor vehicles,” the union further argues.

In addition to the higher frequency, the average damage compensated under RCA policies for accidents caused by these types of vehicles is significantly higher than the average damage recorded at the level of the entire car fleet.

“Last but not least, a lot of compensation is paid for accidents occurring outside the country, especially since in some states there are no compensation limits for bodily injury or death or even for property damage”.

For each accident, insurers in Romania pay, on average, compensation of over 2,240 EUR based on RCA policies, more than in other Central and Eastern European countries. For comparison: in Hungary, the average RCA claim is EUR 1,910. This means that, for each accident, compensation is paid in Romania up to 17% higher than in Hungary.

“The number of road accidents and the compensations paid as a result of them (average RCA damage) influence the evolution of RCA premiums. Even if certain technical indicators related to RCA insurance published by ASF seem to have improved recently, it is important to say that they were in the “red zone” for over 10 years. In other words, RCA insurance has been a constant cause of losses for insurance companies. The last few years have also meant two important bankruptcies of some insurers who operated mainly in the RCA area and who practiced undersized tariffs, which did not allow them to pay their obligations towards customers and injured parties,” UNSAR says.

The insurance union also points out that in a market economy, the RCA premiums must reflect the risk assumed by the insurance companies, the benefits they offer in relation to the insured / injured party, but also the history of claims on this form of insurance. “In Romania, RCA tariffs have been “frozen” since April of last year, but not the compensation costs. The average claim paid under RCA policies in the third quarter of 2023 increased by about 12% compared to the same period in 2022. In addition, fees and contributions paid by insurers have increased significantly in recent years. Only 6 local insurers out of a total of 25 companies are active on the RCA market,” they say.

DONATE: Support our work

In an ever changing and challenging world, the media is constantly struggling to resist. Romania Journal makes no exception. We’ve been informing you, our readers, for almost 10 years, as extensively as we can, but, as we reject any state funding and private advertising is scarce, we need your help to keep on going.
So, if you enjoy our work, you can contribute to endorse the Romania Journal team. Any amount is welcome, no strings attached. Choose to join with one of the following options:

Donate with PayPal

Donate by Bank Wire

Black Zonure SRL
UniCredit Bank. Swift: BACXROBU
RON: RO84 BACX 0000 0022 3589 1000
EURO: RO57 BACX 0000 0022 3589 1001
USD: RO30 BACX 0000 0022 3589 1002

1 Comment

Panagiotis Spyridis says 11 months ago

This is the viewpoint of the banker insurers. Our view point is this: Romania lacks motorways but all infrastructure that exists is well signalled, maintained, policed and couple this with the zero alcohol limit, it is ok for all. Forget about the BMW retards because they are a extreme minority, There is no but no excuse for the high premiums. Gata!