After last year’s increase in the price of vehicle registration, due to the abolition of discounts on insurance policies, drivers in the Republika Srpska could face a new price increase. According to the Draft Regulation on the Annual Fee for Public Roads, the fee is expected to increase by six to 40 percent, depending on the vehicle category.
Drivers in the Republika Srpska have been paying a higher registration fee of 50 to 200 marks since last year. A new price increase is announced six months later.
The Draft Regulation on the Annual Fee for Public Roads foresees an increase of 11 to 33 percent for passenger vehicles. One to five percent of the collected funds will be allocated for the repair of so-called black spots and the improvement of traffic safety.
“This proposal is under discussion, it is being prepared. These fees have not been increased for ten years or more. For this reason, their rationalization will be approached, and we will see which version will finally be adopted,” said the Minister of Transport and Communications of the Republika Srpska, Zoran Stevanović.
Citizens are in disbelief that they are facing a new blow to their household budgets. The “Don” Association is categorically against the second increase in the price of vehicle registration in just a few months.
“What are we paying for in registration fees, and we are aware of the roads we drive on throughout Bosnia and Herzegovina, while insurance companies, when unwanted situations occur when vehicles are damaged, do not pay the damages we would expect and how much we pay,” warns the president of the “Don” Consumer Association Murisa Marić.
A few months ago, transporters in the Republika Srpska asked the Government to find a way to reduce the price of registration. If there is a new increase in the price of registration, transporters do not rule out the possibility of increasing transport prices.
“If we take into account that in Slovenia the registration of trailer and cargo motor vehicles is half as low, then I do not see any reason why we are going to increase it in the Republika Srpska,” asks the president of the Association of Transporters for International Transport of the RS Nikola Grbić.
Last year, discounts on insurance policies were abolished. A central electronic record was introduced, so all insurance companies had to equalize the price, or insurance premiums.
“Insurance premiums will remain at the same level as last year. What characterized last year was the growth of motor liability insurance by around six percent and the growth of other types of insurance by 15 percent,” says Bojan Popović, president of the Association of Insurance Companies in the Republika Srpska.
“A terrible trend is that we had over 10,000 traffic accidents, 129 fatalities and 600 seriously injured. When the collection of damages ends up in court, the insured, or the injured party, usually waits two to three years to collect the damages,” says traffic expert Nikola Ćopić.
Lawyer Milko Grmuša believes that the existing model of mandatory legal car insurance tariffs is monopolistic and directly rips off citizens. Therefore, in September last year, he submitted an initiative to the National Assembly of the Republika Srpska to amend the law to make vehicle registration cheaper, but he has not yet received feedback.
