How to register a used car

Rules for registering a car with the traffic police

Registration of a car with the traffic police is a procedure that every new owner of a vehicle must undergo. In order to register a car quickly and without problems after purchase, the owner of the vehicle must know the necessary procedure and the list of papers that will need to be presented to the state traffic inspectorate. "Autocode" will tell you how to properly register a used car.

Where to register a car

There are 2 ways to register a used car:

at the State Road Safety Inspectorate;
using the State Services Internet portal.

Today we will take a closer look at the first option. Read about how to register a car using the State Services portal in our special material.

What is needed to register a car

The rules for registering a used car require the car owner, before visiting the traffic police, to complete a package of necessary documents, consisting of:

Russian passport;
PTS;
a document with which you can certify ownership of the car (sale and purchase agreement (SPA), power of attorney or certificate of inheritance);
a receipt confirming payment of the state duty in the amount of 1,500 rubles. (for more information about the state duty, see the special material);
MTPL policy (you must first enter information about the owner of the car into it);
applications for vehicle registration with the personal signature of the vehicle owner (read how to fill out an application for vehicle registration with the traffic police in a separate article).

Please be extremely careful when filling out the application form - a document with corrections and additions will not be accepted. An application completed in pencil is also considered invalid.

If a used car was purchased abroad, you will additionally need to provide transit numbers.

Registering a used car: procedure

When all the necessary papers have been collected, we head to the nearest traffic police department. The exact address can be obtained on the Internet - on the official portal of the State Traffic Inspectorate.

We are not too lazy to wash the car first - otherwise there is a risk that the traffic police will not allow the car to be inspected for technical condition.

It is important to know that the buyer has the right to register the car directly at the place of purchase, regardless of his place of residence. For example, if the buyer lives in St. Petersburg, and a suitable used car was found in Samara, it can be registered there, but the vehicle will be assigned to your address in the Northern capital.

The procedure for registering a car consists of several stages.

1. Submission of documents

If all the papers are in order, no difficulties should arise here. A traffic police officer will review the documents and send you for a technical condition inspection.

2. Machine inspection

The procedure is carried out in a specially designated area. In this case, the compliance of the power unit number and chassis number with the data specified in the vehicle passport is verified. If the numbers do not correspond to the data from the PTS or for some reason the reconciliation cannot be carried out (numbers are illegible, erased, etc.), a forensic examination is assigned.

Also, the reason that a used car will not pass inspection at the traffic police may be the presence of significant changes in the design of the car (excessive tuning), tinted windows or lighting fixtures.

The rules for registering a car provide that the owner cannot make changes to the design of the car that could significantly affect its technical characteristics. Including:

change the number and location of seats, as well as fuel tanks;
re-equip the chassis;
install power units whose power and weight differ from the parameters provided by the manufacturer;
make adjustments to the dimensions and weight of the vehicle;
install larger capacity fuel tanks;
make changes to lighting equipment;
install rims of larger or smaller diameter, etc.

If the previous owner made such changes to the design of the car without the appropriate approval from the traffic police, it will not be possible to register the car. That is why it is important to check the technical condition of the car at a trusted service center before purchasing.

If the state traffic inspector has not identified any violations, we move on to the final stage of registration.

3. Obtaining a state certificate. registration

To do this, we submit a technical condition inspection report to the appropriate window of the territorial traffic police department and in 10-15 minutes we become the proud owners of:

certificates of state vehicle registration;
state numbers.

Don’t be lazy and check the papers given to you for errors or typos (this happens).

What are the dangers of driving a car that is not registered with the traffic police?

From the moment the contract is concluded, the law allows 10 days for the newly registered owner to register the vehicle. Failure to comply with this rule may result in a number of troubles. Article 12.2 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation provides for a fine in the amount of 500 to 800 rubles for operating a car that does not have state registration plates. Repeated violation of the law will result in a more severe punishment - the negligent car owner will have to pay 5 thousand rubles. or lose the right to drive a vehicle for a period of 1-3 months.

Please note that you will not be able to register a car that has been scrapped, is under arrest or is wanted. To avoid problems even at the stage of completing a transaction to purchase a used car, we recommend checking its history using the Autocode service.

How to register a car

Sometimes it is not so easy to register a car, since in Russian legislation the rules regarding this procedure have changed several times.

Registering a car with the traffic police is a mandatory process. The procedure does not specifically relate to the ownership of the vehicle, but only on the basis of legislation establishes the relationship of the car to its new owner. Today, in accordance with the law, it is allowed to register a car with the traffic police at the owner’s registration address or at the address of residence in the current locality - at the place of residence of the owner of the car.

The procedure for registering a car in 2019: documents and procedure

Below is the algorithm for the most popular mechanism among citizens for registering vehicles by owners:

Package of documents for individuals

In order to apply to a government agency, you need to prepare the following documents:

Passport of a citizen of the Russian Federation.
PTS is a form in A-4 format containing special notes. One side of the vehicle passport contains information about the car (date of manufacture, model and brand name, VIN code, etc.), and the reverse side contains information about the owner. If the vehicle was purchased at a dealership, then the “owner” field should contain information about the car dealer. When purchasing a used car, records may vary. In the title of a car that was imported from abroad, the owner field must remain empty.
Documentation to confirm ownership. This could be a power of attorney, a certificate from a car dealership or a purchase agreement (for used cars), an inheritance certificate and others.
OSAGO policy. You need to enter information about the owner of the vehicle in it. Keep in mind that if you have a used car, bought second-hand, then the policy of the previous owner will not be suitable, but you and him (to be more precise, the policyholder, and he does not have to be the same person as the owner) can change the owner of the car on the basis of an agreement purchase and sale (clause 1.1 of the Insurance Rules). Also, a policy with a limited period of car use of 20 days is not suitable - insurance must be exclusively for a year and no less.
Completed application with personal signature.

It must be remembered that to register a used car brought from another country, you must provide a transit number.

We make payment

Before contacting the state traffic police department, a state fee is paid. Most departments of government agencies have special terminals where you can make payments.

Let's figure out how much it costs to register a car. It will cost you 2,000 rubles if new plates are required (in the case of a new car). You will have to pay another 500 rubles for the registration certificate in any case, and if there is no space left in the PTS, then you will need to pay another 800 rubles for issuing a duplicate.

Contact the traffic police

Where can I register my car? This is done at the territorial office of the state traffic inspectorate. For detailed information, please refer to the official website of the State Traffic Safety Inspectorate.

It is no secret that in government organizations you can stand in lines for quite a long time and wait for the end of all bureaucratic processes. But the State Traffic Inspectorate foresaw this moment. Due to the automation of the procedure, it lasts no more than 1 hour (which is a strictly established norm). If you want to reduce the time spent solving this problem, you can register with the traffic police online. Or you can call the department's phone number and get advice.

Below we also looked at the simple registration process for registering a car through State Services, where a discount is also provided when paying the state fee.

Inspection process

After the application is accepted by the traffic police, you will be sent to the site to inspect the engine number and information on the chassis, which are listed in the vehicle passport.

Used cars are especially carefully inspected. When changes are made by the previous owner, the car must be registered according to the rules.

Often, owners are unable to pass inspection due to tinted windows and lighting fixtures. Difficulties may affect those whose vehicles are over-tuned, as well as those who own vehicles in disrepair. Remember that all 3 of these conditions are valid for refusal to register.

If the factual data does not correspond to the information in the passport, the numbers are not readable, then traffic police inspectors may resort to ordering an examination under the guidance of criminologists.

If the outcome is favorable, the inspection report is handed over, then with this paper they go to a special window, where further issues are resolved as quickly as possible, within 10-15 minutes.

Final stage

The car will be registered according to the new rules if the following documents are received:

STS,
two registration numbers (not required if the numbers remain the same),
papers that were submitted to the traffic police by the owner.

It is imperative to ensure that the driver’s personal information is entered into the vehicle title.

Remember that, despite the fact that drivers usually resolve these issues on their own, this can be done by an official representative with a general power of attorney (certified by a notary).

Penalty for failure to register

If the car was not registered in a timely manner (within ten days according to the law - clause 4 of Order No. 1001), and you are stopped by a police officer, you will need to pay a fine. Its size reaches 500-800 rubles. If you are stopped again by a car inspection officer, the sanctions will amount to five thousand rubles. You may also have your driver's license suspended for one to three months if you commit a second offense - if you are caught within a year of paying the first fine for it in full.

How to register online

To simplify the procedure, you can sign up through the government services portal. The process takes only 10-20 minutes. After the electronic application is accepted, at the specified time the driver will have to come to the government agency office with a set of documentation. The service will be provided within 1-3 hours. On the government services website you need to do the following:

Go to the portal, log into your account and select a service on the portal by following the algorithm in the images below:

Next, click on “Get a service”

Then the owner will need to pay the state fee and come at the established (and specified in the application) time to submit the documents. And there is good news here - you can pay the state fee at State Services with a 30% discount.

Next, the vehicle is inspected, followed by obtaining a certificate, as in the usual procedure.

Finally

The procedure for registering a vehicle with the automobile inspectorate is quite complex and consists of several stages. The main thing is to come to the traffic police in a timely manner and collect a complete package of documentation with reliable data.

Registration of a car under a sales contract with the State Traffic Safety Inspectorate

Well, we can congratulate you on buying a car, no matter whether it’s new or used. After all, you now have a faithful four-wheeled friend with whom you need to legalize your relationship, or in other words, register the car with the traffic police.

We will not describe how much trouble a newly acquired car used to cause to the new owner after purchase, because we have relatively recently passed this time, and since October 2013, the procedure for registering a car has been significantly simplified, and any average person can do it, and in a fairly short time period.

Registering a car under a purchase and sale agreement.

Vehicle registration must be completed within 10 days from the date of purchase of the vehicle, otherwise you may receive a fine or lose your license. During these ten days, you can absolutely safely drive your new car, without fear of attacks from traffic police inspectors. These ten days also affect the MTPL policy. After all, traffic regulations state that driving a vehicle without insurance is prohibited, but at the same time, the law “On Compulsory Motor Vehicle Liability” states that from the moment of purchasing a car, the new owner must take out an MTPL policy within ten days. Therefore, you can drive without insurance for ten days before registering the car.

How to register a car with the traffic police using the DCP.

First of all, before visiting the traffic police, you need to undergo a technical inspection, and after that, issue an MTPL policy for the purchased vehicle, where the owner must indicate the new owner. That is, even if the former owner of the car kindly provided you with insurance with an unexpired “expiration date,” you need to make changes to the insurance policy, changing the old owner to a new one. Otherwise, your trip to the REO to register your car will end just like that, starting at the document submission window.

If you buy a new car, or buy it without a policy, you need to take out new insurance before going to the traffic police department in accordance with the purchase and sale agreement, where the owner will indicate the person (individual or legal entity) indicated in the policy as the buyer.

The next step is to prepare the necessary documents for registering the car under the purchase and sale agreement.

So, the allotted 10 days for registering a vehicle are coming to an end, and there are only a few days left before going to the traffic police department, which means that it’s time for you to prepare the following documents:

The application for registration must be in a strictly prescribed form and filled out correctly; you can download it and see a sample of filling it out on our website.
Car purchase and sale agreement
Passport or other identification document of the applicant.
PTS (vehicle passport), a very important point to note is the presence of the signature of the previous owner of the vehicle; if it is absent, you will be denied registration of the vehicle
The OSAGO (insurance) policy, as we wrote above, must indicate the new owner of the car
Paid state duty receipts
Power of attorney (if the car will be registered by an authorized person)

Having written an application and prepared all the documents listed above, an individual (new owner) can safely go to the registration authorities of the State Traffic Safety Inspectorate to register the car under a sales contract. It should be noted here that from now on you can contact any REO branch located on the territory of the Russian Federation with this question (previously this could only be done at your place of registration). But no matter where you go, the car will be registered at the address that appears in your passport on the registration address page.

Submission of documents and inspection of the vehicle

After you heroically stood in line and submitted a set of documents to an employee of the registration authorities, he checks them, and after that sets a time and place for inspecting the vehicle, where you should go. It wouldn’t hurt if you wiped all the identification plates on your car so that you don’t hastily look for a cloth for this, and in the end, not finding it, spit on your palm and wipe the dirty plates.

Completion of registration actions for registering a car under a purchase and sale agreement

After inspecting the car, you need to return to where you applied to register the car (see sample form) and wait for the documents reissued in your name confirming your ownership of the car, and if you purchased a vehicle without license plates, obtain license plates.

Registering a car with the traffic police

After purchasing a new or used vehicle, you must register it with the State Traffic Safety Inspectorate.

Where and how to register a car with the traffic police

There are two ways to register a vehicle:

by ordering the service through the website gosuslugi.ru
by personal (or with the help of an authorized representative) appeal to the State Traffic Inspectorate

Documents for car registration

passport of a citizen of the Russian Federation
PTS (vehicle passport)
contract of sale
OSAGO insurance policy
power of attorney signed by a notary (for trusted representatives)
receipt of payment of state duty

Which design method to choose

Using the State Services portal

To receive services on this portal, you will need to register or log in to the site. Fill out the electronic application, providing the required information. Make an appointment by selecting a convenient date and time from the list. After submitting your application, wait for a notification that will be sent to your personal account. Upon receipt of the notification, you will have the opportunity to pay the state fee directly on the website, with this payment method you will receive a 30% discount. On the appointed day, you will need to drive the car you are going to register to the selected traffic police department. Take with you the printed, completed application form and the originals of the documents specified in the application.

Important: you can undergo a vehicle inspection at a special site of the traffic police department in advance, before submitting documents by appointment. In this case, the documents are provided with an application that already contains the notes of the employee who inspected the vehicle.

Through personal contact

Features of registering a used car

Recently, the rules for registering a vehicle have become much simpler. But despite this, it will be problematic for those who do not have up-to-date information. So before visiting the traffic police, it is recommended to find out some of the nuances. For example, those who plan to purchase a used car need to be notified that registering a used car with the traffic police in 2019, although not significantly different, is different from registering a car without mileage.

Conditions for registering a used car

In order to register a vehicle with the traffic police, you must first buy it. All the nuances of the transaction are indicated in the purchase and sale agreement, and the fact of transfer of ownership of the car is supported by an act of acceptance and transfer of the vehicle from the owner to the acquirer. This form is compiled in free form.

These documents are presented in 3 copies; they must bear the “autographs” of both parties to the transaction. According to the improved rules, in 2019, in order to register used cars, they do not require notarization.

Afterwards, information about the new owner of the car is entered into the main document of the car - the vehicle passport, which is transferred to him together with the old registration certificate.

Additional measures during the preparation phase

At the preparation stage, you need to discuss the issue of rooms with the former owner. Not all owners agree to transfer their own license plates along with the car; some want to keep them. In this case, you will need to take care of purchasing new ones. This does not mean that you are obliged to hand over the numbers to the former owner personally. You need to take them with you to register your car with the traffic police.

If the former owner agrees to keep your old license plates, then during registration with the traffic police you will need to re-register them in your name. Of course, this process is only necessary when purchasing a used vehicle.

Don’t forget – you don’t need to demand that the former owner deregister the car. From now on he should not take part in this process. Everything is done automatically, immediately after you register the car in your name.

Contacting the traffic police

After completing the preparatory stage of preparing the papers, the newly-minted owner must contact employees of the State Traffic Inspectorate within 5 days to have the vehicle registered.

The procedure involves paying a state fee. It can be deposited through the terminal or at the branch itself. The amount of state duty in 2019 is represented by the following figures:

Adjustments to PTS – 350 rubles;
The registration document will cost 500 rubles;
New numbers will cost 2000 rubles.

If there is a need to replace the PTS (for example, if there is no more space for entering data), then additional expenses will arise, since such a replacement will cost 450 rubles.

In addition to the acceptance and transfer act, as well as the purchase and sale agreement, the new owner of the iron horse needs to collect the following documents:

Russian passport along with a copy;
PTS and copy;
Duty payment receipt;
OSAGO insurance;
Certificate of former registration;
Application for registration and re-registration.

In order to register a used car, in addition to providing papers, you should also show the State Traffic Inspectorate employees that you really have it. When registering, your iron friend must be with you. The traffic police officer is obliged to inspect it.

If for certain reasons you cannot provide your car to the department, you will need to show its inspection report. But remember that this document has a limited validity period of 20 days.

Registration of a used car

Upon arrival at the traffic police department, the car owner provides the prepared documentation to the inspectors. Next, the driver is given forms to fill out. They indicate the results of the vehicle inspection.

With these documents, the car owner must come to the inspection platform, where a traffic police officer inspects the car and checks the body and engine numbers.

When it comes to a used car, a visual inspection is especially important. Car enthusiasts need to know that registration of a used car with the State Traffic Inspectorate is not available if it has unusual tuning, window tinting, or damage from an accident.

When the inspection is completed, the driver is given an inspection report, which he must give to an authorized employee of the State Traffic Inspectorate. The result will be:

All submitted documents (in addition to the application for registration);
Car registration certificate;
Number plates.

That's all - the procedure for registering the vehicle is completed.

If the motorist cannot go through the registration process himself, then he can draw up a power of attorney. A representative with a power of attorney in hand can complete this process. It is important that the document is notarized.

The process of registering a vehicle, including a used car, is no longer a time-consuming process.

After submitting the documents, the traffic police officer has 20 minutes to check them. The vehicle must be inspected within the same period of time. In another 20 minutes, new documents will be made and the car will be registered. The total is 60 minutes.