Vehicle Insurance vs. SOAT in Peru: What Each Covers and Who to Claim From

SOAT and vehicle insurance are not the same thing

At some point, usually in the middle of a crash, someone discovers that the insurance they had doesn’t cover what they thought. The confusion almost always comes from mixing up two different products:

• SOAT (Seguro Obligatorio de Accidentes de Tránsito) is mandatory by law for every vehicle circulating in Peru. It covers only people affected by an accident — occupants, pedestrians, third parties — regardless of who was at fault, with fixed and relatively low caps. If you need the full detail on what SOAT covers and how to collect on it, see our dedicated guide on that topic.
• Vehicle insurance (seguro vehicular) is a voluntary product you buy separately, from whichever insurer you choose. Depending on how you structure it, it can cover people as well as your own vehicle and third parties’ property.

This guide focuses on voluntary vehicle insurance: what it covers, how a claim works, the deadlines your insurer legally has, and where to go if it doesn’t rule in your favor.

What vehicle insurance covers, according to the SBS

The Superintendencia de Banca, Seguros y AFP (SBS), which supervises every insurer operating in Peru, describes the coverage vehicle insurance commonly offers this way:

“Cubre los daños producidos como consecuencia de accidentes en los que estén involucrados vehículos asegurados. Las coberturas que comúnmente otorga este tipo de seguros son: Daños personales: que comprenden indemnizaciones por muerte, invalidez, e incapacidad de las víctimas del accidente; así como también pago de gastos de atención médica y de recuperación o rehabilitación. Daños materiales: que comprende la reparación de partes del vehículo o su reemplazo; así como la indemnización a terceros por los perjuicios ocasionados a su patrimonio como consecuencia del accidente.” (Covers damage arising from accidents involving insured vehicles. The coverage these policies commonly provide includes: Personal damage — indemnification for death, disability and incapacity of the accident’s victims, plus payment of medical, recovery and rehabilitation expenses. Material damage — repair or replacement of the vehicle’s parts, and indemnification to third parties for harm to their property caused by the accident.)

In other words, a well-structured vehicle insurance policy can cover two things SOAT never covers:

1. Your own car: repair or replacement of parts damaged in a crash, theft (depending on the plan you bought) or other covered events.
2. Third parties’ property: if you hit another person’s car, property, or any other asset, your policy’s third-party liability coverage can pay that indemnification.

How broad each coverage is, the exact limits, deductibles (“franquicias”) and exclusions depend entirely on the policy you bought. The SBS doesn’t set one fixed coverage package for vehicle insurance the way it does for SOAT, which does have fixed legal amounts.

Why it’s worth having both, not choosing one

SOAT and vehicle insurance don’t compete with each other — they complement each other:

• SOAT’s personal-coverage limits are relatively low (for example, up to 4 UIT for death, up to 5 UIT for medical expenses), and it never covers material damage, no matter who was at fault for the accident.
• Voluntary vehicle insurance can offer higher personal-coverage limits than SOAT’s, and it’s the only route — aside from negotiating directly with the responsible party — to get your own car repaired or replaced.

So having only SOAT protects you for your own or third parties’ injuries up to those minimum amounts, but leaves you with no coverage at all if your car is damaged or if you need to indemnify a third party for something beyond their injuries.

How a vehicle insurance claim works: the deadlines the law sets

Unlike SOAT (which pays indemnifications within ten calendar days of submitting all the required documents), voluntary vehicle insurance is governed by Law No. 29946, the Insurance Contract Law, which sets different and somewhat more complex deadlines because a “convenio de ajuste” (the document that determines the claim’s amount and causes) is usually involved:

• From when the convenio de ajuste is signed, the insurer has up to 10 days to approve it or, if it disagrees, to request a new adjustment.
• If the insurer demands a new adjustment, it has up to 30 further days to accept or reject the claim, set a new amount, or propose arbitration or court.
• If there is no convenio de ajuste (because the case didn’t require one, or the adjuster hasn’t finished their report yet), the claim is deemed accepted if the insurer doesn’t rule on the amount claimed within 30 days of you completing all the documentation your policy requires.
• Once the claim is deemed accepted, payment must arrive within the following 30 days.

That’s what the law states:

“El pago de la indemnización o el capital asegurado que se realice directamente a los asegurados, beneficiarios y/o endosatarios, deberá efectuarse en un plazo no mayor de treinta (30) días siguientes de consentido el siniestro. Se entiende consentido el siniestro, cuando la compañía aseguradora aprueba o no ha rechazado el convenio de ajuste debidamente firmado por el asegurado en un plazo no mayor de diez (10) días contados desde su suscripción y notificación al asegurador.” (Payment of the indemnification or insured capital made directly to the insured, beneficiaries and/or endorsees must be made within a period of no more than thirty (30) days following the claim being deemed accepted. The claim is deemed accepted when the insurance company approves, or has not rejected, the adjustment agreement duly signed by the insured, within a period of no more than ten (10) days counted from its signing and notification to the insurer.)

If the insurer takes longer than the law allows, there are consequences: it owes you default interest (interés moratorio) at an annual rate equal to 1.5 times the average rate for active operations in Peru, in your contract’s currency, for the entire length of the delay.

Who to claim from: it isn’t always the same insurer

This is the most common confusion after a crash involving more than one vehicle:

• For injuries or death, the claim goes against the insurer that issued the SOAT of the vehicle that caused the accident, regardless of who was at fault.
• For damage to your own car, if you have vehicle insurance, the claim goes against your own insurer (the one that covers you, not the other driver), which can in turn go after the responsible party if applicable.
• For damage to a third party (another car, property), if the vehicle that caused the accident has vehicle insurance with third-party liability coverage, that claim goes against the insurer of the vehicle that caused the accident.

If the vehicle that hit you doesn’t have vehicle insurance, your only route to get your car repaired — aside from negotiating directly with the responsible party or going to court — is for your own vehicle insurance (if you have it) to cover you, and then go after the responsible party itself.

If you disagree with your insurer’s response

Your insurer might reject your claim, or take too long to give you a clear answer. For these cases, the SBS points explicitly to where you can go:

“Si no estás de acuerdo con la respuesta que te brinde o si esta no es emitida oportunamente, puedes utilizar los mecanismos de solución de controversias establecidos en el marco legal o en la póliza contratada. De no estar conforme con la decisión de la aseguradora puedes acudir a: Defensoría del Asegurado: www.defaseg.com.pe. INDECOPI: www.indecopi.gob.pe. […] Autoridad arbitral o Poder Judicial: www.gob.pe/pj.” (If you disagree with the response given, or if it isn’t issued in a timely manner, you can use the dispute-resolution mechanisms set out in the legal framework or in the policy you bought. If you’re not satisfied with the insurer’s decision, you can go to: the Insurance Ombudsman (Defensoría del Asegurado): www.defaseg.com.pe. INDECOPI: www.indecopi.gob.pe. […] Arbitration authority or the courts: www.gob.pe/pj.)

In practice, this gives you several routes, from fastest and free to most formal:

1. Defensoría del Asegurado (defaseg.com.pe): a free dispute-resolution mechanism between policyholders and the insurers that have joined this system.
2. INDECOPI: if the problem involves your standing as a consumer, you can file a complaint for a violation of the Consumer Protection Code.
3. Arbitration: the law lets the parties freely agree to submit the dispute to arbitration, as long as the amount in dispute exceeds the thresholds the Superintendency sets by economic bracket.
4. The courts: as a last resort, you can sue directly in court.

Always ask the insurer to give you the reasons for its rejection in writing, along with the documents it relied on — that’s the first thing any of these routes will ask you for.

Your right to claim doesn’t last forever

Actions based on the insurance contract expire after ten years from when the claim (siniestro) occurred. That’s a long period compared to other deadlines on this site, but worth keeping in mind if you’re thinking about claiming something from several years back.

Foreigners with a vehicle in Peru

The Insurance Contract Law doesn’t distinguish by nationality: if you have a vehicle circulating in Peru, you can buy voluntary vehicle insurance from any SBS-authorized insurer, on the same terms as a Peruvian. The only thing that’s mandatory for everyone, without exception, is SOAT.