Head of CSA warns about reserves of auto liability insurance sellers

The average value of claims for car accidents occurring abroad, caused by Romanian individuals or companies are at fault, is 3-4 times higher than within the country, therefore the insurance companies need to revise their rate plans for the next few years, say representatives of the Insurance Supervision Commission (CSA). “The liability limits will see a fast rise until 2009, when they will double against this year. We cannot ask for a rate increase, as this is a free market, but we are looking very carefully at the balance sheets and at the reserves of companies selling RCA (auto liability insurance),” said Angela Toncescu, president of the Insurance Supervision Commission. A month from now, insurance companies will start selling auto liability policies massively, when the one-year contracts closed in the same period of 2006 expire. When the market was not liberalised and the policies were bought just until the end of the year, almost all auto liability insurance policies were sold in December and January. Toncescu says there have been no problems so far, but that problems could arise if the premiums are not set at the necessary level.