Vehicle liability check - when and how to do it?
In 2021, the fine for the lack of an OS is as much as 560 euro for a car, the owner of which delayed payment for at least 14 days, 280 euro for delay from 4 to 14 days, and up to 1100 PLN for a delay of up to 3 days. This means that even if our car does not have a valid OC for at least 1 day, we risk financial liability.
In what situations are we required to check the vehicle's OC? And how to do it right?
Civil liability check - when to do it?
Various life and travel situations may prompt us to check the validity of our liability insurance. One of the most common situations of this type is the purchase of a used car.
Before we make a decision buying a car from someone else, we need to find out what the current status of the OC premiums of the machine we are interested in looks like. It may turn out that the current owner of the car was in arrears in fees, and they, if we make a purchase, will be transferred to us. Not wanting to be held responsible for the mistakes of our predecessor, we must try to find out how things really are. It happens that car dealers, providing information about the state of OK, convey the truth, wanting to get rid of the car as soon as possible. Then it is better to look for another offer and save yourself the trouble.
Another situation requiring a vehicle OC check is got into a traffic accident - especially one that is not our fault. It happens that the driver at fault in a collision does not want to disclose the status of his OC or provides false information so as not to expose himself to an increase in premiums for an imperfect damage history with his insurance. If we cannot come to an agreement with the participant in the incident, we must report this to the police. The police will check the validity of the offender's insurance.
also a good habit self check current OC of your carbecause not everyone has a memory for dates. Regular monitoring of this issue will allow us to protect ourselves from possible penalties for late payment of contributions.
Checking the OC of the car - how to do it?
Data on the validity of third party liability insurance is stored in various institutions that are directly related to business matters relating to the operation of vehicles. We are talking about the traffic police, regional transport departments, as well as the police.
The OC information of each vehicle is entered into the OC/AC database, which is constantly updated and prepared by the UFG (Insurance Guarantee Fund). Checking this database online seems like the easiest and fastest way to check. The tool - after we enter, for example, the registration number of the machine being checked - will generate a report for us in which we will find the information we are interested in.
It may happen that the system does not find the data we need. In most cases, this is not the result of any error. Insurers have 14 days from the date of signing the documents to report vehicle insurance to the relevant authorities. So if the collision occurs before this date, it is possible that we will not immediately find information about the liability insurance of the guilty person, and we will have to wait a few days.
