In its opinion, the Institute for Road Safety (IPB) states that the "bonus-malus" system is cheap PR on the back of road safety. The organization claims that this is not the system that Bulgarian society needs.
According to the IPB, the "bonus-malus" system is presented loudly, but without the necessary preventive effect on the behavior of drivers.
The institute raises the question for whom is this system being created - for road safety or for insurers? The IPB notes that the real bonus-malus system was not invented to increase the income of insurance companies, but was created to make insurers sympathetic to road safety.
The organization emphasizes that the logic is simple - more violations and risky behavior → higher price; safer behavior → lower price. In this way, the insurer gains an interest in identifying the risk, and the driver receives a financial incentive not to violate the rules even before a crash occurs.
According to the IB, however, the Financial Supervision Commission is proposing something else, news.bg notes.
Instead of insurers being an active participant in the prevention of road traffic injuries, they receive a mechanism for more precise management and pricing of their own insurance risk.
The institute points out that a true bonus-malus system must have an impact before the crash - on behavior, violations and risk.
The IB considers it absurd to announce that the "bonus-malus" system has been introduced, given that the key Unified Information System for Risk Assessment, Management and Control has yet to be built within 18 months. The organization considers this to be cheap PR that creates the impression that something significant has been done for road safety.
The institute asks the FSC what is the real financial benefit for the safe driver? And what is the real financial consequence for the systematic offender?
Bonus-malus should turn the insurer into an ally of the state against risky behavior on the road, and not simply give it another tool to manage the price of insurance, the Institute adds.