OREANDA-NEWS.  On 06 March 2008 was announced, that RBC SOFT, a subsidiary of OAO ARMADA, has won a tender held by the Russian Federal Agency for Information Technologies to create an automated car-owner liability insurance information system similar to the US CARFAX. The contract value is RUR 10m (approx. US$ 420,000).

CARFAX is a system that generates a vehicle history report for cars registered in the USA and Canada by checking the Vehicle Identification Number (VIN). The system allows its users to verify the legal status of the vehicle and find all types of information about the car: date of manufacture, number of previous owners, mileage, as well as information about accidents and repairs. Free access to the CARFAX database significantly limits possibilities of insurance fraud and decreases the risks of insurance companies.

The success of CARFAX prompted the creation of a similar database in Russia. RBC SOFT was the company, which has won the tender for the development of the automated car-owner liability insurance information system.

The automated car-owner liability insurance information system is a multilevel integrated solution. At the first stage of the system's development an open state information portal will be created that will connect the information systems of the Russian Ministry of the Interior, Federal Customs Service, and the Russian Association of Motor Insurers. The portal will provide access to the information about the car to be insured and its previous owner, regardless of which database contains this information.

Once the new system has been introduced, it will allow all interested organizations to significantly decrease the amount of time needed to find information about a car, which will help fight instances of insurance fraud, as well as will enable its users to receive statistics required to set economically sound insurance rates.

“Russia's car-owner civil liability insurance law directly affects owners of more than 36 mln automobiles, registered in Russia. In order to make the information on car-owner liability insurance more accessible, the work of government bodies more transparent and minimize insurance companies’ risks, ARMADA is starting the development of a specialized information system," General Director of the ARMADA Group Alexei Kuzovkin said.

The automated car-owner liability insurance information system is a continuation of ARMADA’s efforts to promote exchange of information between government bodies. The holding has already completed works involving integration of the Agriculture Ministry’s and the Federal State Statistics Service’s (Rosstat) information databases. The company is currently working on several other projects aimed at the creation of a single information space for the Russian Economic Development and Trade Ministry, the Justice Ministry, the Federal Service for Insurance Supervision and other government agencies.