A marriage from Alcorcón (Madrid) went to dinner to celebrate that they had paid the last letter of the mortgage and that he already had the house owned. At the wheel was the husband, who had drunk alcohol during the feast. What was happiness became shortly a huge fatality. In the return to his home he ran over a woman, who was tetraplectéjica. What this man did not know is that the huge misfortune of the victim would join his own ruin, almost for life. His insurance did not take care of compensation or damages caused, including those of his vehicle, and seized his house. This is a real example, which occurred a few years ago, of the right that companies have to claim the payments they have made in all accidents in which an aspect of the policies that many of the insured do not know.
Technically, the power that companies have to request payments made is called Right of repetition. It is included in article 10 of the Law on Civil Liability and Safe in the circulation of motor vehicles, of 2004. The text details that insurers may act against drivers who have caused an accident due to “to a malicious behavior” or for doing so also if the person who was at the controls of the vehicle lacks the driving license. In the event that the driver cannot cope with all the debt and is a person other than the owner of the vehicle, you can also repeat Against this until covering the entire payment.
The way of acting insurers is always the same. The person harmed by the accident – the woman hit in the case of Alcorcón’s marriage – always receives compensation directly by the insurance. Of course, after verifying that there is no fault or intention to cause the accident by the victim. When the company’s documentation arrives at the company, the attestation is analyzed to verify whether the Civil Guard or the Local Police who went to the accident did the breathalyzer or drug test to the insured driver. Or if there is a report from the National Institute of Toxicology or a similar organism. In case it has tested positive, the repetition procedure begins against him.
In 2023 – last year with the complete data of accidents -, 28% of the deceased drivers whose bodies were made the breathalyzer test (200) they gave positive. The proof of other drugs practiced to 78% of dead drivers showed that 19% of this group (115) had consumed some narcotic. The most common was cocaine (59%), followed by cannabis (35%), amphetamines (10%) and opiates (3%). 38% of the deceased drivers who underwent the analysis of alcohol and other drugs (154 cases) positively gave in both tests.
The Civil Guard Traffic Group performed during that 2023 6.7 million breathalyzer tests, which represents 15% more than in 2022. It also performed 101,927 drug test. In preventive controls, 56% of the 79,357 also ended with complaints for drivers.
“The drivers do not know everything they face. Many times they tell us: ‘My God, in which I have gotten into’, knowing that they have to pay very high compensation,” explains the president of associated European motorists, Mario Arnaldo. His association has made awareness campaigns about this problem to alert drivers. Arnaldo recalls that, in case of lending the vehicle, the owner may also be affected by repetition. “This is how it is collected in the particular clauses of the policies. The most convenient thing is to read the card to the friend and remind what or even leave the car to anyone,” he adds.
In the event that the driver who has caused the accident lacks permission, is the insurance compensation consortium that takes care of the compensation. This agency under the Ministry of Economy always exercises the right of repetition against the offender. Being an administration, it has the obligation to regain the debt he has faced.
An aspect that few people know is that the same procedure occurs when or by judicial judgment, as recalled by the deputy director of the Legal Advice Department of the European Automobile Club (CEA), Fernando González Iturbe. Something similar happens when a foreigner has not approved his permission. It would also be seen in this cause when the owner leaves the car to a child with less experience at the wheel and is not registered in the policy, which usually has an increase in the receipt. In this case, the insurer can reduce the payment to third parties in the same percentage that would have uploaded the payment to the insured. That is, if I had to pay 30% more a year, the insurer would only face 70% of the incident caused. “You have to analyze case by case and see what each policy collects and what has been signed in a general way and as particular conditions,” says González Iturbe. Some companies add other reasons for exclusion of payment, such as intentional accidents caused by the driver or the owner of the vehicle, participation in bets or careers or being convicted as the author of a crime of omission of the duty of relief.
Once the insurer has paid to the victims, he contacts the insured to indicate the amount he owes to him, explains a head of the Mapfre Automobile accident department, one of the leading companies in the sector and with about six million vehicle policies, which has preferred not to give its name. First, try to do in a consensual and friendly manner, so a payment plan is offered not to reach the courts. “The right of repetition can be exercised with claims ranging from a small blow to others of greater intensity and in criminal procedures for serious crimes, including deceased people or very serious injuries,” says this specialist. “Of course, the victim will always be covered and will be charged. Then the most beneficial option for both parties is already sought and that the process does not dilate in a judicial path to achieve that reimbursement to the company. In addition, if it is done in a timely manner, it can be an attenuating in the criminal trial,” he adds.
It assumes that the driver will not have the legal assistance of the insurance. In case of going to trial, he will have to pay the lawyer and the attorney and even the coasts of the opposite party, which can be supposed to several thousand euros, according to the procedure. “In this case, a lawyer cannot be put to that insured by the company, because there would be the suspicion that its defense is done to be condemned. There is a clear conflict of interest. It is the same [por lo] that the damage generated in their own vehicle or the injuries in their own person already from the beginning is not paid, ”adds the head of Mapfre claims.
In summary, and as Mario Arnaldo recalls, of associated European motorists, the right of repetition and the serious consequences that this can lead to is
