UNIT.City — місце, де люди працюють... КРАЩЕ! Обирай свій простір просто зараз 👉
Ігор Вишневський That's Life
22 August 2025, 09:00
2025-08-22
Rockets and "shaheeds" are massively destroying Ukrainian cars. What insurance companies offer in this case and for what reasons they may refuse compensation: analysis dev.ua
Destroyed or damaged property is a daily headache for hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians due to Russian aggression and constant missile and drone attacks. And if in the event of destruction or damage to housing, people have the opportunity to use the «eRecovery» program, which has been in effect since 2023, then in situations when trouble befalls a car, you can only rely on yourself.
Last week, we wrote about the experience of IT professionals and other representatives of the technosphere, who, unfortunately, had to check firsthand how the «eReconstruction» program works. They told us about the numerous difficulties and «pitfalls» that awaited them. However, be that as it may, the program works and, despite all the disadvantages, helps people restore their own homes.
Destroyed or damaged property is a daily headache for hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians due to Russian aggression and constant missile and drone attacks. And if in the event of destruction or damage to housing, people have the opportunity to use the «eRecovery» program, which has been in effect since 2023, then in situations when trouble befalls a car, you can only rely on yourself.
Last week, we wrote about the experience of IT professionals and other representatives of the technosphere, who, unfortunately, had to check firsthand how the «eReconstruction» program works. They told us about the numerous difficulties and «pitfalls» that awaited them. However, be that as it may, the program works and, despite all the disadvantages, helps people restore their own homes.
There is nothing like this in the case of cars. Perhaps the only way to somehow protect yourself is through the numerous war risk insurance programs for cars that Ukrainian insurance companies began offering to their clients during the full-scale invasion. But not all insurers do this — usually as a separate product or in an «extended» version of a standard CASCO contract.
To understand the market situation and find out the conditions offered for car insurance against war risks, we contacted representatives of several insurance companies, as well as the League of Insurance Organizations of Ukraine (LIOU) and the Insurance Business Association. The experts also told us what additional documents are required from car owners and in which cases the company may refuse insurance payments. We asked them to share their companies' statistics on war risk payments. Here’s what they told us.
DeepState map as an insurance payout marker
Igor Babayev, a representative of PJSC «IC «USG», told dev.ua that the insurance market did not immediately respond to the problem of war risks for cars and other property. But over time, a significant number of companies, including theirs, began to offer separate insurance products for this purpose.
«In 2023, our company created and added a separate insurance product to its services — the so-called Military CASCO. Usually, this is an atypical situation for the insurance market in the world, because insurance companies do not work with military risks, and this category has always belonged to force majeure,» the specialist said.
According to him, the Military CASCO product at the USG insurance company applies only to passenger cars and does not apply to trucks, motorcycles, buses, and taxis.
At the same time:
— the age of the car must not exceed seven years from the date of manufacture;
— market value of the car — up to 8 million UAH;
— payment is made in case of damage or structural loss of the car (damage, the repair of which is estimated at 60% or more of its actual cost (this figure may vary between different insurance companies);
— deductible (the amount of damage that the policyholder will not receive under CASCO) — 5% of the cost of the car.
«It is important to add that this is a separate insurance product, and the client may or may not have basic CASCO,» added Igor Babayev.
The insurance broker explains that cars can be insured against direct or indirect impact from enemy missiles, drones and ammunition, as well as any air defense systems. In ordinary conversation, we often characterize this simply with the word «arrival.»
A very important point is also the territory covered by this insurance product. In «USG» it is the entire territory of Ukraine, with the exception of the territory within 100 km from the line of hostilities/occupied territories.
«What do we consider a combat contact line? This is data on the date of the insured event according to the DeepState map. Our company relies primarily on this resource as an up-to-date map of combat operations,» says Babayev.
Photos of cars after Russian shelling in June. Photos from FB Evgeniy Maloletka
He drew an analogy that the same city may or may not meet these requirements for different periods of time, depending on how the front line moves. Conventionally, Kyiv is now an area that meets these criteria, but if we take February-March 2022, when Russian troops were near the capital, the line of combat operations was actually in the suburbs. Another thing is that at that time, USG and other Ukrainian insurance companies did not yet have a similar insurance product.
If the car is under warranty, the cost of repairs is calculated based on the data of the official dealer of this brand, if not, an unauthorized service center may be used. In some cases, the calculation using Audatex software may be used.
In addition to the basic documents (passport, TIN, car registration certificate, i.e. technical passport, application for an insured event from the client), their company, according to Igor Babayev, asks to provide only one additional document to confirm the insured event — this is an extract from the Unified Register of Pre-Trial Investigations. It should contain key information that will help the insurance company confirm the circumstances of the loss.
According to Roman Lazarenko, Director of Underwriting and Product Management at ARX, their insurance company offers clients insurance against war risks for both housing and cars. As for the latter, it can be both as part of the extended coverage of the CASCO contract and under a separate program.
In general, the expert claims that the situation on the insurance market is not homogeneous, therefore different approaches are used, and each insurer has its own conditions, establishes the scope of coverage, territorial and other restrictions, as well as pricing policy.
Thus, according to Lazarenko, their insurance product CASCO «All Inclusive» provides for an option of extended coverage — during the term of the contract, the insured can declare an event three times, including damage from weapons or ammunition, without providing documents from competent authorities, and the payment is made within the limit — up to 10% of the insured amount.
Car owners can also ensure protection against war risks for the full cost of the vehicle by concluding a CASCO insurance contract under the Iron Dome program, covering the risk of damage or destruction of the car by any type of missiles/drones or their fragments, taking into account an unconditional 10% deductible. If the client has 2 CASCO contracts «All Inclusive» and «Iron Dome» in force at the same time, in the event of damage due to war risks, the 10% deductible will not apply.
Lazarenko draws attention to the fact that the coverage is valid in case of damage or loss from direct (arrival, debris) or indirect (damage by debris from the building) impact of any missiles, air defense, missile defense or UAV means, if the event occurred in the «conditionally safe» territory of Ukraine (at least 100 km from the zone of active hostilities). The list of such territories is determined by the relevant Order of the Ministry of Community and Territorial Development.
As for the company’s statistics in this regard, in the first seven months of 2025, ARX settled 66 insurance cases for a total amount of over UAH 47 million. Of these, 61 cases concerned damage or destruction of cars from missile and drone attacks or their debris, and 5 cases concerned compensation for property damage.
«After each wave of attacks, we record a significant increase in the number of requests»
Mykola Matyka, Retail Business Director at INGO Insurance Company, like other market participants, reminds that classic insurance according to international standards usually does not cover war, because it is considered force majeure.
«However, the Ukrainian market, under pressure from circumstances, has reconsidered this approach. After the full-scale invasion in 2022, a number of Ukrainian insurers began to offer such protection,» says a representative of the INGO Insurance Company.
As Mykola Matyka said, in standard CASCO policies, war risks are covered without a surcharge, but only partially — in INGO it is 10% of the insured amount, but not more than UAH 300,000. In parallel with this, INGO Insurance Company introduced the opportunity to purchase a better policy specifically against war risks separately from full CASCO or together with it, and the special insurance program was called «Alarm Response».
A company representative claims that in April 2025, INGO almost halved the tariff for this program: the tariff is 0,75% of the insured amount, while classic CASCO costs from 4% to 7,5% or more.
Cars destroyed by the war in Irpen. Photo by the author
You can insure any passenger vehicle up to 8 years old and worth up to 6 million hryvnias. The limit of coverage for war risks is 3 million hryvnias. Additionally, the company reimburses the costs associated with the preparation of documents confirming the fact of the insured event and the amount of losses.
Military risks include the fall of missiles, drones, air defense systems and their fragments, shock waves (sound waves), fire as a result of military operations, and collisions with military equipment.
INGO claims that overall indicators in this segment demonstrate positive dynamics.
«This dynamics is caused by a gradual increase in the average check and a growing interest in software products that include military risks. After each wave of attacks, we record a significant increase in the number of requests for coverage of such events,» assures Mykola Matyka.
To receive compensation for a car damaged by shelling, as the INGO representative reminds, it is important to know the algorithm: record the damage, contact the police or the State Emergency Service, notify the insurance company within two days, and wait for the inspection. «If these steps are completed, there will be no problems with compensation,» he assured.
The Retail Business Director of INGO Insurance also reminds that their company’s CASCO insurance policy has a maximum coverage of war risks of UAH 300,000, and in special programs, up to UAH 3 million.
In INGO, you can insure your car against war risks throughout Ukraine, with the exception of areas of active hostilities, temporarily occupied territories, settlements in the territory of which state authorities do not exercise, or do not exercise their powers to the full extent, or are located on the demarcation line, as well as with the exception of a 50-kilometer distance from the borders of the Russian Federation, Belarus and the contact line.
The company does not keep separate statistics on war risk payments, but they claim that the company pays out war damage payments almost after every massive shelling. Residents of Kyiv, Dnipro, and Odessa most often apply for compensation.
«Car owners are accustomed to war conditions and are in no hurry to take out insurance, hoping for their own «invisibility»."
Konstantin Vatan, Director of Retail Sales at NASK ORANTA, explains that their war risk coverage is available as part of the CASCO programs and provides compensation for losses resulting from hostilities, including damage to the car by missile fragments, drones, shelling, blast waves, as well as collisions with military equipment.
In the basic version of the standard CASCO contract, such cases are covered up to UAH 300,000, which is 15% of the insured amount, without additional contributions from the client. At the request of the insured, this limit can be extended to UAH 2 million, with an additional tariff of 1,5% of the insured amount.
«Demand for this service remains consistently moderate. Surge in calls is recorded mainly after large-scale attacks or high-profile cases of car damage in a particular city or area. In general, we see that many car owners are accustomed to war conditions and are in no hurry to take out insurance, hoping for their own „invisibility“, they say, if nothing has happened in three years, then nothing will happen again,» says a representative of the insurer.
At the same time, according to Konstantin Vatan, legal entities are more interested in such protection, given the greater risks in the area where the fleet is located and the need for financial responsibility to counterparties.
Vatan calls the main reasons for refusals in payments at his company a violation of territorial restrictions (in particular, the presence of an event in a combat zone, occupied territory, or within 50 km of the front) or the lack of confirmation that the event truly has signs of a military nature.
A rescuer stands in front of a destroyed car in Sumy. Photo from FB Evgeniy Maloletka
He reminds that for the successful settlement of an insured event that falls under the «Military Actions» condition, the client must provide not only a standard package of documents, but also:
a document from the police, SBU or SES confirming the nature of the event;
a statement about committing a crime under Article 258 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (terrorist act);
vehicle inspection report drawn up by the local administration or military administration (upon request);
photo or video footage from the scene of the incident, where you can clearly identify the insured car and the nature of the damage.
«This list is stipulated in the contract, and compliance with it is a key condition for receiving payment,» Vatan emphasizes.
The specialist claims that ORANTA does not keep separate statistics on CASCO with military coverage, since these cases are integrated into the general settlement accounting. «However, we can say that there have been several applications recently, of which 3-4 are confirmed insurance cases with payments. Several more are currently under consideration,» he shared.
According to him, the popularity of such products at the market level does not yet meet its potential — mainly due to low awareness among people or the belief that such risks cannot be insured.
«Traditional CASCO is still more popular, it is chosen many times more often»
Co-owner of Arsenal Insurance, Marina Avdeeva, told dev.ua that they offer a separate product called «Patronus» to insure cars against war risks. It covers the arrival of missiles, drones, air defense, missile defense, and debris.
«We insure vehicles up to 15 years old. Coverage is valid throughout Ukraine, except for areas of active hostilities and, of course, occupied territories,» she states.
According to Marina Avdeeva, the insurance covers the full actual cost of the car, and the principle of the policy is the same as that of a classic CASCO. «That is, if the car is partially damaged, we organize and pay for its repair. If the car is completely destroyed, the client receives monetary compensation,» says the co-owner of Arsenal Insurance.
The company’s insurance rates are as follows:
for 3 months — 0,99% of the car cost;
for 6 months — 1,49%;
for 1 year — 1,99%.
The cost of insurance does not depend on the place of registration of the car — the policy will cost the same whether in Zaporizhia or Lviv. The contract may provide for an unconditional deductible. Standard conditions — 5% for partial damage and 10% for complete destruction of the car.
There are no restrictions on the number of payments, and the insurance amount under the contract is unchanged. That is, no matter how many payments are made during the contract, the maximum compensation for each subsequent case is equal to the insurance amount. Wear and tear of parts is not taken into account when calculating payments.
«In the first 7 months of this year, we insured almost as many cars with Patronus as in the entire last year. However, traditional CASCO is still more popular, it is chosen many times more often. When there has been no shelling for a long time, it seems to most that this insurance against military risks is not needed. However, the morning after another missile and drone attack, our managers' phones do not go silent — many still want to buy Patronus,» said the co-owner of Arsenal Insurance.
According to Marina Avdeeva, cars are most often insured against war risks in Kyiv, Kharkiv, Dnipro, Zaporizhia, and Odessa.
«We have not had a single refusal for the Patronus. The nature of the damage from war damage is always obvious — there is never any doubt that the car was damaged precisely as a result of the arrival,» she says.
According to her, formally, to receive a payment, the client must provide an extract from the Unified Register of Pre-Trial Investigations under Article 438 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine, but very often this document can take several months to arrive. «However, we do not make clients wait forever and often make payments without an extract,» Avdeeva claims.
«Patronus» at Arsenal Insurance was launched at the end of 2022. Since the launch of the product, 32 insurance cases have been settled for the amount of about UAH 6.5 million. Last year, 20 insurance cases for the amount of UAH 3.9 million have been settled. This year, 9 cases for UAH 2.4 million have already been settled, and 5 more applications are in the works, the payments for which will amount to approximately UAH 1.2 million.
What professional associations say
According to the director of the Insurance Business Association, Vyacheslav Chernyakhovsky, in his practice, situations have often occurred when insurance companies add war risks to standard CASCO contracts, although cases where such risks can be insured separately are also common.
As Vyacheslav Chernyakhovsky says, under such insurance, the limits will be from 10% to 100% of the car’s value, and the client can independently assess the risks when concluding a contract, based specifically on his situation.
«If a person believes that his risk is small (the car is in a protected area, in a garage), or that such cases may occur, but not for a significant amount, then he can take a limit of 10-20%… If the car is in the open, in the courtyard of an apartment building, we understand that the situation may be different and a higher limit should be taken,» he gives an example.
The director of the Insurance Business Association claims that if we take the full limit with war risks, then considering that the car is insured under CASCO risk, the insurance will be 30% more expensive than regular CASCO. That is, we can estimate that the tariff for war risks for a car will be 1.5-2%. If it is a limit of 50% for repairs, then the price increase will be 15%.
«Although I have seen proposals where this can be done separately for certain cars. We are talking about increasing the cost of insurance by only $100-200 for a not very expensive car per year,» he claims.
The famous cemetery of burnt cars in Irpen, Kyiv region. Photo by Maksym Stelmakh
Chernyakhovsky adds that there may be a difference in the cost of insurance for a car in different regions, but it will not be too significant. «In some regions, insurance may be denied. Usually these are regions where artillery is hitting and where KABs are now starting to fly. But first of all, it is artillery. The territory 50-60 km (sometimes up to 100 km) from the contact line may not be covered by such insurance at all,» he shared.
According to the director of the Insurance Business association, despite the current situation in the country, people remain quite inert and inactively conclude insurance contracts, and this applies not only to military risks.
«Despite the attacks almost every night, our people believe that everything will be fine. They are very positive. They believe in air defense — if something happens, it will not be with them. It is very interesting to me that the demand for such products is not as active as it could be, based on the situation with attacks both day and night,» Vyacheslav Chernyakhovsky expressed his thoughts.
According to him, there are cases when the insurance company did not agree to pay out and did not recognize the loss as an insured event, but this is rather rare.
«It is necessary to understand that all insurance companies work with documents. The fact of the occurrence of the risk against which the car or other property is insured must be officially confirmed. The police must be called, they will draw up an appropriate report. Because this is a crime against the civilian population. It must be included in the Unified Register of Pre-Trial Investigations. This way it is recorded,» the expert states.
In his opinion, in such a case, it would not hurt to take photos and video recordings, as well as find neighbors who, together with the victims, can testify to how everything happened.
«There are very few refusals, but payments have now increased both in number and in the amount of compensation for damages,» Chernyakhovsky noted.
Viktor Berlin, President of the League of Insurance Organizations of Ukraine and Chairman of the Coordination Council of the Federation of Insurance Associations of Ukraine, notes that since the beginning of the full-scale invasion, international reinsurers have refused to provide insurance coverage in Ukraine due to the very high probability of losses. At the same time, Ukrainian insurers, using their own capital, have developed insurance products that include war risks within the established limits.
«Risk insurance companies that offer car insurance services, in addition to the main insurance contract, also offer insurance against war risks. Each insurance company has individual products, but they usually include the following options: partial or full coverage of the cost of the car due to possible damage from being hit by missiles, drones, debris, air defense systems, missile defense systems,» states Viktor Berlin.
Before concluding a contract for insurance of war risks for a car, the president of the League of Insurance Organizations of Ukraine advises to carefully familiarize yourself with the insurer’s proposal to conclude a contract, its terms and conditions, and the procedure for notifying the insurer of an insured event, because the nuances are very different.
According to him, most often an insurance company may refuse to reimburse war risks if:
the contract does not cover combat operations (for example, in most conventional CASCO contracts, combat operations, shelling or sabotage are excluded);
the car owner has no documents — it has not been officially confirmed that the car was damaged precisely because of the war;
the damage does not match the stated cause (for example, the client notes that the car «suffered from shelling,» but it looks like a traffic accident).
«I have to live in a bombed-out house until the funds arrive. And when they will arrive is unknown.» dev.ua collected the experience of IT workers while using «eVidnovlenie» and prescribed a step-by-step mechanism for receiving compensation for damaged housing
