Only about 72% of cars registered in Romania had the mandatory insurance RCA at the end of June 2015, although the European institutions require a minimum of 85%, according to Romania’s Competition Council.

Apparently this means that three out of ten cars run without the RCA insurance. However, the Competition Council representatives said that the percentages were not very clear. About 30% cars don’t have insurance, but it’s not very clear how many of them actually run in the streets, according to local news site Profit.ro.

The mandatory car insurance or liability insurance, simply known as RCA, pays for the other driver's medical, vehicle repair, and other costs when the policyholder is at fault in an accident.

The percentage of insured cars dropped between 2011 and 2015. In 2011, about 74% of the cars had the RCA insurance. By mid-2015, the rate went down to 72%.

Among vehicles such as trucks and vans, the percentage of those insured is even lower, amounting to about 52% at the end of June last year, according to the Competition Council.

However, not all parts agree on these percentages. Sorin Greceanu, head of the Street Victim Protection Fund, said that the number of cars that have the mandatory insurance was between 90% and 95%.

“What the Competition Council wants to show is that the number has been dropping in the last years, but the percentages are not exact,” Greceanu said, according to Profit.ro.

The Street Victim Protection Fund (FPVS) is an institution that deals with the compensation of people affected by drivers who drive without RCA.

The number of accidents caused by drivers without a mandatory car insurance RCA has gone up in the last years, as well as the value of the damage they have been producing, according to the fund’s data. After the first nine months of 2015, FPVS liquidated over 500 claim files, compared to only 340 during the same period in 2014.

The Romanian Police should increase its traffic controls whereas the Financial Supervisory Authority (ASF) should change the method of issuing RCA policies, according to the Competition Council. These methods would lead to an increase in the number of insured cars.

The RCA policies should be issued in the same way as the Romanian road tax – the rovignette. This can now be bought including via SMS.

Diana Mesesan, diana@romania-insider.com