Insurance Complaint: OC, AC, NNW — Your Rights and Letter Template (2026)

Your insurer refused to pay out, paid less than you expected, or has been silent for weeks? Polish law gives you concrete rights — and concrete deadlines the insurer must meet.

The key provision insurers won't mention

Art. 817(1) of the Civil Code: the insurer must pay the claim within 30 days of being notified of the loss. If circumstances cannot be clarified within that period — a maximum of 14 days from clarification, but no more than 90 days from notification (Art. 817(2) CC).

The Act on Handling Complaints by Financial Market Entities (5 August 2015) also applies: the insurer has 30 days to respond to a complaint (exceptionally 60 days for complex cases — Art. 5(4)). No response = complaint accepted by force of law (Art. 6).

Common grounds for refusal and how to challenge them

Motor third-party liability (OC) — disputed fault or undervalued damage

The insurer may dispute the amount, but only with an expert assessment — not a one-sided valuation from their own appraiser. You have the right to commission your own expert. If the valuations differ, a court will consider both opinions.

Comprehensive cover (AC) — "the damage falls under an exclusion"

Policy exclusions are only valid if the policy terms (OWU) were provided to you before signing. Art. 807 CC: OWU provisions contrary to mandatory law are void. Art. 385¹ CC: provisions not individually negotiated that grossly violate consumer interests are non-binding even if you signed.

Personal accident / life insurance — "the event doesn't meet the OWU definition"

Insurers often use narrow definitions of accident, permanent disability, or incapacity for work. Challenge them by citing Art. 12(3) of the Insurance and Reinsurance Activity Act: ambiguous OWU provisions must be interpreted in favour of the insured.

Payment delay — "the investigation is ongoing"

An investigation may continue, but it does not suspend the payment deadline. Art. 817 CC sets hard limits: 30 days from notification, maximum 90 days. For every day beyond the deadline you are entitled to statutory interest for delay (Art. 481(2) CC: current NBP reference rate + 5.5 percentage points).

How to file an effective complaint

Your complaint should include: policy number, claim reference (if assigned), date of the event and date of notification, specific demand with amount, and citations of Art. 817 CC (deadline) and Art. 6 of the Financial Complaints Act (effect of silence).

If the complaint does not help

• Financial Ombudsman (rf.gov.pl) — free intervention and mediation proceedings. Insurers take RF complaints very seriously. File online.
• KNF (knf.gov.pl) — complaint about regulatory violations
• Civil court — for higher-value insurance claims

Filing a request with the Financial Ombudsman interrupts the limitation period (Art. 35(1) of the Financial Ombudsman Act) — the clock restarts from zero.

Limitation period for insurance claims

Claims under an insurance contract expire after 3 years (Art. 819(1) CC). The period restarts from the date you learned of the insurer's decision (Art. 819(4) CC).