Accident Perpetrator Unknown: How to Resolve Compensation Issues through Insurance
An experienced insurer is familiar with the rights of the injured and how to recover damages, as well as the amounts claimed for each type of damage resulting from an accident. Although the accident perpetrator has fled the scene and remains unidentified, victims of a road traffic accident are entitled to compensation for material damage and bodily injuries.
Compensation for Material Damage
Material damage is understood as damage caused to a vehicle that did not cause the accident, meaning the restoration of the damage to return it to the state it was in before the accident. In cases of comprehensive insurance (CASCO), the owner also has the right to be compensated for the time they were deprived of the vehicle and unable to use it. Finally, they can claim from insurers all items that were damaged or irretrievably lost as a result of the accident. However, among the most common damages are the repair of the vehicle or compensation for its total loss.
The total loss of the vehicle occurs when the insured property disappears or is completely destroyed, suffering damage that is impossible to materially repair or technically inadvisable.
Compensation for Bodily Injuries
In the context of bodily injuries, repairing them becomes a more serious discussion, as we are talking about injuries and consequences that affect the physical integrity of a victim of a road traffic accident, whether they are the driver of one of the vehicles, a passenger, or a pedestrian, consequences that limit activities, functions, and personal and family life. And in this measure, injured persons have a "number" of articles for which they must be compensated, ranging from the disability they have suffered, the period of functional work deficit, aesthetic damages, sexual damages, the need for permanent medical care, etc.
Compensations should not exceed the amounts capped by Law 414/2006, set at a level of:
a) 1,000,000 lei - for damage to or destruction of property, regardless of the number of victims in an accident;
b) 1,000,000 lei - for each person injured in the case of bodily injuries or death, but not more than 5,000,000 lei, regardless of the number of victims in an accident.
Also, the law introduces a new category of compensation for moral damages due to disability or death of persons involved in the road traffic accident, with a compensation limit of 5,000 euros for one injured party or 10,000 euros, regardless of the number of injured parties. In this context, the document provides a formula for calculating the amount of compensation based on the moral damage caused.
The insured victim will be compensated
Even if the perpetrator of the accident has fled and is not identified, victims of the accident will be compensated anyway. Also, in accordance with Law 414/2006, Art. 20, (5), "The rights of a person harmed by a motor vehicle accident in which the author and/or the vehicle remain unidentified, or the guilty person does not have valid compulsory motor vehicle liability insurance, are exercised against the National Bureau of Motor Insurers (BNAA), and compensation is paid in accordance with Art. 14".
To receive compensation from the BNAA, it is necessary to submit a written application with the attachment of a copy of the document, a police certificate confirming the circumstances of the accident.
BNAA will pay bodily damages in cases when:
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- The maximum circumstances for documenting the accident have been observed;
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- Photos, videos, witness testimonies, etc., have been attached;
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- The police and the insurance company were immediately notified;
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- The person responsible for the accident is unknown or does not have insurance;
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- When the insurance company of the guilty driver is in insolvency;
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- BNAA will pay material damages in cases when:
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- The person responsible is unknown, and there is significant bodily injury (death or hospitalization for a period equal to or greater than seven days, or absolute bodily incapacity).
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- When the vehicle that caused the accident was abandoned at the scene, it is not insured, and the police have drawn up the relevant minutes, confirming the presence of the vehicle at the scene of the accident
All these rules, described above, are valid in the case of third-party liability insurance (RCA), "Green Card" insurance, and CASCO insurance. Also, the behavior of the victim driver is the same in the case of trips beyond the borders of our country.
