Protests by drivers from the taxi industry will continue, although a significantly smaller increase in the mandatory insurance "Civil Liability" with some of the insurers. Will there be blockades… Krasimir Tsvetkov, chairman of the National Taxi Trade Union, spoke to FAKTI.
- Mr. Tsvetkov, is there a solution to the case with the increase in the price of "Civil Liability" insurance? for the taxis…
- A month after the first protest in Plovdiv and 2 weeks after the national protest in all cities of Bulgaria, the issue of the increased premiums for the compulsory insurance "Civil Liability" for taxi drivers remains pending. Despite the launched investigation by the Commission for the Protection of Competition (CPC) into concerted practice by insurers in relation to our industry, the call by the Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) to them to adjust their policies towards the taxi sector and the declared support of the Ministry of Transport and Communications to the demands of the National Taxi Union (NTS) and other drivers' organisations, only one insurance company has made some movement towards reducing its price, but still remains overcharged by 70% on colleagues' policies. The remaining insurers continue to hold prices from +300% to +600% compared to the premiums we paid until September 2024.
- You had protests and defined the premium increase as brutal. What do you mean?
- Here are specific figures. From the average price of the premium for the compulsory insurance "Civil Liability" between BGN 280 and BGN 380 per year, which we paid until September 2024, the premiums on the policies suddenly at the beginning of October reached levels of BGN 800 to BGN 4,000 for a taxi car. From our point of view, this was a concerted action by the insurance companies, selectively targeting a certain segment of public passenger transport without a clear and indisputable justification as to what necessitated it.
- Why is this happening now…
- Probably the answer lies in the totally non-working state. Someone "read" the combination of a permanently dysfunctional parliament unable to stop the arbitrariness of legislative changes, regulators with expired mandates, a prosecutor's office busy picking its own boss and a permanent caretaker government whose main job is to concern itself only with the next election, not the lack of adequacy in business and in society. And it was decided that now is the time to "strike" because there is no one to stop them. With a non-working state, we return to the mutren-insurance racketeer practices of squeezing people's businesses from the 90s.
- Insurers have given an explanation that taxi drivers are risky because you are constantly moving on the streets… How do you feel about this?
- We find this explanation completely untenable. In fact, taxi drivers are some of the most trained and experienced drivers on the road. The insurers quote some data entirely from the Guarantee Fund, which is composed entirely of representatives of the insurers.
It becomes something like "Taxi drivers are bad because we tell you taxi drivers are bad.
Risky drivers are clearly visible from the analysis of the data on serious traffic accidents committed in 2023. by drivers who have been licensed to drive a motor vehicle for two years, and drivers of motor vehicles for public transport or transport of passengers on their own account. The analysis is absolutely thorough, contains 146 pages and is available in the arrays of the Ministry of the Interior. Data on traffic injuries and damages due to the fault of taxi drivers can be obtained with the participation of the Executive Agency “Automotive Administration” (IAAA), which has the names of all taxi drivers with valid certificates in Bulgaria and the detection of these names in the arrays of the Ministry of the Interior - Sector "Traffic Police" as causes of road accidents and severe damage during their work. And they will show a completely different picture than what is claimed.
- According to the Chairman of the Management Board of the Association of Bulgarian Insurers (ABZ), Nikolay Stanchev, damage occurs 20 times more often in taxis, and this requires the "Civil Liability" to become more expensive…
- This statement by Stanchev is ridiculous. "20 times more likely" means that one accident caused by a private car driver is followed by 20 accidents caused by taxi drivers. A day ago, 3 more serious accidents occurred in Sofia without the participation of taxis, which were reported by the media. If Stanchev's words were true, it means that today we should have seen 60 more traffic accidents caused by taxi drivers on the streets of Sofia. We didn't see them. The bad thing is that Nikolay Stanchev told a lie to BTA, and it was widely circulated in the media space, but no one subjected this man's words to a critical analysis. We consider this statement as a malicious action on the part of the chairman of the Board of Directors of ABZ, aiming to justify the simultaneous multiple increase of the premiums under the mandatory "Civil Liability" which, in turn, looks very much like a concerted commercial practice prohibited by law, harming the interests of users of the service. We have referred the case to the competent institutions.
- You want a fair risk assessment system in place. Any suggestions on how to do this…
? - What is essential here is the assessment of the risk that each individual driver represents as a road user. This assessment should be based on the individual performance of each driver. The risk factor can be calculated on the basis of the damage that the driver has culpably caused on the road and the detected violations, with which he created the conditions for road trauma - passing a red light, taking the right of way, exceeding speed limits, driving after using alcohol, drugs and their analogues, etc. We proceed from the position that responsibility for acts and damages is always personal, not the car's. There is nothing wrong with having basic car insurance to cover damage caused without the driver's involvement - for example, when a parked car catches fire and damages nearby parked cars. But "Civil responsibility" we consider it as personal insurance, a type of professional liability of the motor vehicle driver. The only fair decision to determine the amount of the premium under it is the application of an individual assessment of the "bonus-malus" principle. for each driver. It is not normal to allow uncontrolled price arbitrariness in insurance which is mandatory by law. Our proposals to the legislator and the competent departmental institutions are in the direction of amending the Insurance Code with clear rules for applying "bonus-malus" in the pricing of the compulsory insurance "Civil Liability" and provision of powers for the regulator FSC, allowing effective intervention in such distortions of the insurance market. It is not normal for the regulator authorized to carry out insurance supervision to say "there is nothing we can do".
- The Commission for the Protection of Competition and the Prosecutor's Office have been activated. Do you have information on what and how they have done so far?
- Our information about the work of the CPC at this stage is limited to the media reports on the subject of the entry of the commissioners and the police into the offices of the CPC and seizure of documentation. The Commission has informed the National Taxi Union and the Branch Organization of Taxi Carriers and Drivers that our reports have been added to the proceedings they have initiated, but we have no details of its development. We understand that such an investigation could take years. The situation with our report to the General Prosecutor's Office is similar - they only inform us that they were not competent to investigate our reports of a possible violation of the law, which is the most ridiculous possible response from this institution. This actually illustrates a poorly functioning state.
- Are you due by December 15th. Then…
- If we do not have normality in prices by then, we will block the country again just before Christmas. Moving across the borders of Bulgaria and along the national infrastructure will become difficult. If necessary, we will move to civil disobedience. With the border crossings blocked, our country will tell its European partners how various branches of business are being extorted in our country. This time we won't just be the taxi drivers. Organizations of driving instructors are joining us, we are also talking to colleagues from other transport sectors. Insurances for dangerous goods and for car racers have also been increased, it is normal to talk about joint actions with them. If necessary, a convoy of Bulgarian taxis will also reach Brussels. There are also new requests to be submitted to the Financial Supervisory Service - this time direct requests to impose coercive administrative measures against insurance companies on the basis of Art. 587 of the Insurance Code for jeopardizing the interests of users of insurance services, in this case those that are mandatory by law. We note that there are also increases in private car premiums. Our society must understand - now the insurers and the inactive state are hitting us, but tomorrow, with actions and inactions, they will press every next business and every Bulgarian citizen in the same way. We will continue to pressure these practices as long as necessary to stop them.