MOSCOW – About 12 million Russian vehicles owners have bought the obligatory, third-party auto-insurance policies, about 50 percent of all registered vehicles in the country, according to data released by Russian Union of Insurance Companies (RUIC) on Jan 15.

According to RUIC statistics, the number of vehicles owners willing to buy the policy which was made compulsory by a federal law that came into force on July 1, 2003, , have increased again after the New Year slump.

“If the present trend is maintained, about 80 percent of vehicles owners will be insured by July this year”, Deputy Director of RESO-Garantiya Igor Ivanov told Izvestia.

Ivanov, however, admitted that the controversial law on car liability insurance needs to be amended. “But to make any revisions, we must work with the present law for, at least, a year, to accumulate statistical data, to see weak points, and then amend the law”, he noted.

He noted that health damage compensations must be increased, whose maximum sum is currently fixed 240,000 rubles, or about $8000. “When people see that this law provides real protection from traffic trouble, they will change their attitude towards it”, he said.