Many Romanians drive without RCA and are not caught by the police: the “trick” that could cost you dearly, especially in an accident

If there weren’t already enough worrying details about the roads in Romania and the risks that every driver is exposed to when getting behind the wheel, now you need to consider one more detail.

Roads in Romania have become the host of a new phenomenon as dangerous as possible. More and more Romanians drive without RCA. These are mainly public transport workers (taxi, minibus) who have found a simple and effective way to defraud insurers. The “trick” has grown and, although it can be reflected in a criminal record and a huge damage to other road users, these details seem to matter less.

The biggest problem and the reason why the illegal practice has come to be widely adopted has to do with the fact that the Romanian Police cannot catch the drivers who do this. Most of the time, they are caught only in the event of a car accident, when it is too soon and when another traffic participant wakes up in the situation of having to repair his own car and sue the culprit in order to recover the expense.

How is it possible to drive without RCA in Romania

Romanian law allows insurers to offer compulsory RCA car insurance with payment in installments. Some drivers have found that you can pay the first installment or several installments and stay with the RCA. That is, the insurance remains valid until it expires, even if it has not been paid in full. Predictably, the practice is illegal, but the strange part is that the way the Romanian Police verifies the existence of insurance at this time allows and, to some extent, encourages the phenomenon.

“Payment of insurance premiums is made entirely or in installments according to the agreement between the insured and RCA insurer. The MTPL contract also takes effect if the insurance premium rate was not paid on time agreed between the insured / contractor / user and the MTPL insurer, if the insurer RCA does not–exercised the right to terminate the MTPL contract. The MTPL contract is enforceable for the due and unpaid installments ”, is shown in the law 132/2017 which benefits the troubled drivers.

The only solution to this problem, at least for now, is for the insurance company to be more efficient in terminating the contract in case of non-payment of installments. Unfortunately, termination of the contract is not a simple or quick procedure, given that courts must be involved in the equation. In any case, the situation is complicated, and with the passage of time it will only increase. As long as the police only check when the insurance expires, not if it is paid, the risk of being injured by a car without insurance increases from day to day.