Taxi Drivers Operate
Without Insurance
Some 2.000 "official"
taxis are operating
without the required
insurance to protect
passengers and third
parties in the event of
an accident. Article 52
of the Ley de Taxis
(#7969) makes it
compulsory for taxis to
be insured.
The insurance policy is
issued by the state
insurer - Instituto
Nacional de Seguros
(INS) - and is required
for the issuance of a
taxi license plate by
the Ministerio de Obras
Públicas y Transportes (MOPT).
The INS confirms that it
has 10.100 policies
active, while there are
12.000 taxi license
plates in circulation.
Javier Vargas Tencio,
director of the Consejo
de Transporte Público (CPT),
says that his offices
constantly receives
complaints of taxis
without the required
insurance and
investigates the cases.
The case of insurance
has been a constant
point of difference
between the official
taxis and the "piratas"
- informal taxis - as
the official taxi
operators insist that
they have the obligation
to carry insurance and
to protect their
customers, while piratas
offers users no such
insurance coverage.
According to the INS,
taxi drivers normally
purchase a policy with
third party liability
coverage of up to ¢40
million colones per
person and ¢100 millino
colones per accident,
with an average monthly
cost of ¢10.000 colones,
depending on the record
of accidents.
According to the
statistics, of the 132
traffic accident deaths
for the first four
months of this year, a
taxi was involved in
five separate incidents,
and although the number
is low, it represents an
increase of over the
past years.
The INS policy is in
addition to the
obligatory insurance
that makes up part of
the annual "marchamo" or
circulation permit that
covers only third party
liability to a maximum
of ¢2 million colones.
According to Mailkol
Sossa, manager of the
Federación Nacional de
Cooperativas de Taxi (Fenacotaxi),
each taxi driver and
owner is an independent
small businessman and is
responsible to maintain
his insurance policy in
force.
For the user it is
impossible to know if
the taxi they are riding
in is insured and such
policy is in force,
including the Tránsito
(traffic) officials. |
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