The DGT warns: your insurance can make an accident very expensive if you have been drinking
“would you pay 1,000 million euros for one too many drinks“?” The question was asked this Monday by the president of Associated European MotoristsMario Arnaldo, to warn drivers that insurers can claim the costs of the damage they have caused in an accident if they test positive in alcohol.
Also the general director of Traffic, Pere Navarrohas warned of this: “If you are driving and cause damage to people or things and test positive The company covers it but may pass on the costs to you. Likewise, if you leave your car, they will look for you. little joke with this,” he said.
Right of repetition: what is it and what does it mean?
Is called right of repetition and is collected in the Law on civil liability and insurance in the circulation of motor vehicles and empowers companies to recover the amount they have paid for the costs of repairs and possible injuries caused to third parties when your client has had a road accident under the influence of alcohol or drugs.
Traffic officials and representatives of road safety organizations and the insurance sector have debated this topic at a conference organized by the General Directorate of Traffic (DGT) and the consultant PONS Mobility. There, Arnaldo explained that those 1,000 million euros are a estimate regarding the amount of compensation that the insurers and the Insurance Compensation Consortium under that right of repetition that assists them.
To reach that figure, AEA has taken into account the payments made by insurers in 2022 for material damage (4,321 million), personal (1.8 billion) and health expenses (525 million), which represents a total of 6,646 million euros. If you take into account that, According to the EU, alcohol is present in 25% of accidents…it is easy to calculate with a simple rule of three, he stated.
The DGT is putting special emphasis on controlling drunk drivers.
A real case: the driver’s parents, on the street
The president of the AEA has also put another question on the table: “Would you leave your parents on the street for one too many drinks?” Arnaldo explained a real case of parents whose house was seized by a court to face the 360,000 euros with whom they had to compensate their son’s friends to whom they lent the car and who overturned when they returned from a party. And it is that not only the driver is claimed, but also the owner or the policyholder when the person who caused the accident is insolvent.
Although there are no official statistics, Cristina Casado, technical-legal manager of UNESPAthe business association that brings together insurance entities in Spain, has specified that Companies only exercise the right of repetition in 0.3% of cases and only in 0.1% the result is favorable, which It represents around three million euros.
Furthermore, he has pointed out that Only personal damages are claimed, never material damages.and has proposed extending that right to cases in which the accident is due to mechanical failure. More than 7 million vehicles circulate without having passed the ITV or without the inspection being favorable, he recalled.
Insurers could impact Spanish drivers more than 1,000 million euros.
When The vehicle that caused the accident is unknown. because he has fled, does not have insurance or it is a stolen car, the Insurance Compensation Consortiuman entity attached to the Ministry of Economy, is responsible for compensation. But, unlike insurers, yes they try to claim in 100% of the casessaid Celedonio Villamayoe, director of operations of the Consortium.
