Surprises in car insurance payouts come from an unlikely source: cyclists. Rosgosstrakh recently analyzed claims linked to road crashes and compared the compensation paid to cyclists against payments to car owners. The findings challenge common assumptions about who benefits most from accident coverage.
In the latest figures, the top individual payout went to a cyclist in the Chelyabinsk region, receiving 197,700 rubles. The rider’s high-end racing bicycle was beyond repair after a collision, and the insurer reimbursed the full amount. This case underscores how policy terms can cover specialized equipment as part of comprehensive bike insurance or a rider’s liability coverage in certain scenarios.
On average, cyclists receive about 32,500 rubles per incident in these analyses. That average reflects a mix of damage types and repair costs across many claims, not a single standout event. It also illustrates how bicycle-related losses, while sometimes substantial, typically remain lower than the cost of motor vehicles or their parts under standard auto polices.
Looking at vehicle ownership by non-registered road users, the report shows that cyclists account for 57.5 percent of incidents in which insurance payouts occur, compared with 32.5 percent for moped riders and 10 percent for electric scooter users. The distribution highlights where risk concentrations lie on public roads and how insurers allocate resources when multiple vulnerable road users are involved.
When considering mopeds, the average payout sits around 27,800 rubles, while scooter owners see average settlements near 18,300 rubles. These figures help explain how the type of vehicle and its potential repair or replacement costs influence claim outcomes under various coverage plans available in today’s market.
To clarify the process: insurers disburse funds to other road users when the insured driver is determined to be at fault for an accident. This mechanism helps ensure that victims and vulnerable participants recover some of their losses, even if the at-fault party holds a policy with a different set of terms. The Rosgosstrakh analysis uses real-world claim data to shed light on how these rules play out in practice across different regions and vehicle categories.