Since early April, the calculation coefficient for the bonus-malus reduction in OSAGO has risen notably. For drivers with frequent incidents, the MBM will climb from 2.45 to 3.92. This change comes from the Central Bank’s directive on new OSAGO tariffs, as reported to socialbites.ca by the press service of the Russian Association of Insurers, citing the directive.
According to the RSA, the maximum MBM for vehicle owners who are often at fault will be 3.92, up from 2.45. The updated tariff coefficient applies to policies issued before March 31, 2023. The OSAGO Public Appraisal project, which involves the insurance community, notes that drivers who caused three or more accidents in a year will receive the maximum urgent KBM. A document on this was obtained by Gazeta.Ru. Insurers already label such drivers as reckless.
The mechanism aims to deter reckless driving and regular traffic violations, as stated by representatives of the OSAGO Public Expertise project.
Insurers have also proposed incentives for careful drivers. A decade of accident-free driving can yield a 54% discount, up from 50% previously. KBM is updated automatically every April 1 for all drivers, based on their accident history.
For more than three years, the average price of a mandatory policy had hovered around 5.5 thousand rubles, according to the Russian Association of Insurers. These figures were not verified during independent audits. The association argues that insurers compete for accident-free drivers, making OSAGO cheaper for them than for frequent crashers. Discounts are presented as an economic incentive to curb road accidents.
In the first half of the previous year, after the shift in how KBM is calculated, about 3.3 million drivers received a discount, representing 94 percent of the eligible population. This year, roughly 820 thousand people could qualify for bonuses if they remain without fault in the current year, as reported by insurers.
Rejection of OSAGO
Anton Shaparin, vice president of the National Automobile Association, warned that a sharp OSAGO tariff increase could push people away from purchasing policies. He notes that insurers have tools to reduce payments to drivers, such as the average cost indexes for spare parts used in compensation calculations. He believes these indices underestimate real market prices by a sizable margin.
Shaparin called the tariff rise potentially explosive and much higher than spare parts price increases. He argues that the spare parts directory must be adjusted first, as the current numbers are outdated, a point he emphasized in discussions with socialbites.ca. He estimates that in some regions one in five drivers operates without OSAGO, and higher tariffs could drive owners to buy policies only for a day to complete vehicle registration.
There are similar services near traffic police departments where an 800 ruble fine no longer motivates behavior change, according to Shaparin.
Experts say the risk should be tied to the damage amount rather than labeling all crashes as reckless. Viktor Travin, head of the vehicle owners’ legal protection board, argues that insurance costs should reflect the actual damage. If a claim reaches one million rubles, the OSAGO cost next year should reflect that. Conversely, minor bumper scrapes should not dramatically raise premiums. Travin also notes that most people question the value of self-regulation and small compensation limits, which dampen the perceived benefit of ongoing autocitizenship. The focus, he adds, should be on ensuring insurers actually pay valid claims rather than punitive price shifts based on a single incident.