Who pays fines after selling a car?
What to do if the car is sold and fines arrive?
A signed contract for the sale of a vehicle does not relieve the owner of the car from liability to the traffic police and the tax office. The owner of the car is the person whose data is entered into the database of the state road safety inspection. Not all Russian citizens act within the framework of current legislation and register their car in a timely manner. By law, 10 days are allotted for this from the date of conclusion of the transaction. If the new owner violates the deadlines and does not register the car, information about any offenses, including fines, is sent to the previous owner. What to do if you receive a fine for a sold car, where to go, as well as other legal subtleties, you will learn from the article.
Why are fines for a sold car sent to the previous owner?
The requirement to re-register a car is set forth in paragraph 6 of Order No. 399 of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation. In accordance with this norm, any vehicle must be registered within 10 days after the transaction is concluded. Otherwise, the car seller will continue to receive notices of violations and fines. As for the new owner, he may be punished:
- a fine in the amount of 3.5 thousand rubles;
- deprivation of the right to drive a car for a period of up to 3 years.
In accordance with the Order, the seller has the right to independently contact the traffic police and deregister the car due to the sale. This can be done on the 11th day from the date of conclusion of the transaction.
What to do if the car has already been deregistered and fines are coming?
1 Settlement agreement with the buyer of the vehicle.
If, after completing and registering the contract, fines continue to be received in the name of the previous owner, most likely the buyer did not re-register the car in his name. Lawyers recommend doing the following - contact the buyer and ask:
- re-register the car;
- pay a fine.
If the telephone number of the second party to the transaction has not been saved, his contacts must be indicated in the agreement.
The peaceful way to solve the problem does not always work, so the next logical step for the seller is to contact the traffic police (the department where the vehicle was registered) and submit an application with a request to deregister the car. The required package of documents is an application, the original and a copy of the contract. Based on the information received, the applicant receives a certificate confirming the deregistration of the vehicle.
A Russian citizen has the right to appeal a decision on a violation within 10 days from the date of receipt of the decision. The document must indicate the reason for the complaint - the sale of the car. Additionally, an agreement on the purchase and sale of the car is attached.
TsAFAP has the right to withdraw or annul the decision.
The applicant is obliged to confirm the fact that the car is in the use of another person (buyer). Explanations are presented in the Resolution of the Plenum of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation dated October 24, 2006. The confirmation will be the purchase and sale agreement.
The complaint is written to the head of the traffic police, the document can be taken in person, sent by mail (necessarily with notification), or use the official website of the state inspection www.gibdd.ru.
If you were unable to contact CAFAP within ten days, you will have to prepare a petition to restore the appeal period.
4 How to cancel a traffic police fine if the car is sold? - We act through the court.
If a notice of prosecution has already been received, you can appeal it through the courts. Indisputable evidence of the illegality of the decision will be:
- contract;
- a certificate confirming the deregistration of the vehicle.
5 Cancellation of the contract.
The agreement can be declared invalid if more than 10 days have passed since the date of its signing and the new owner has not re-registered the vehicle.
The fine should be dealt with in the following way: file a complaint with CAFAP and provide the terminated contract as confirmation that at the time of the offense the car belonged to another person. In this case, the applicant will be exempt from financial penalties.
Legal nuance
The owner of the car, being a taxpayer, pays transport tax. When the new owner fails to register the vehicle on time, the tax liability remains with the previous owner. To avoid difficulties with the tax office, after concluding the transaction, you need to contact the tax office and submit an application indicating that the car has been sold and also deregistered. The application must be accompanied by supporting documents - an agreement, a certificate.
The tax office independently makes a request to the traffic police to confirm information on a specific vehicle.
Question answer
Order of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation dated June 26, 2018 No. 399 “On approval of the procedure for registering vehicles.”
If a notice of a fine is received after the transaction, you cannot ignore the document without paying it. Even if the new owner re-registers the vehicle, the recovery will remain with the previous owner.
In case of non-payment of a monetary penalty, bailiffs have the right to write off the amount from a bank card without the knowledge and consent of the owner (Article 20.25 of the Administrative Code). Thus, the issue of a fine must be resolved legislatively and within the time limits established by legal documents.
Application form approved, passport, contract (original and copy provided).
Not necessary. The document is submitted at the place of registration, and the court will redirect
Is it possible to sell a car with fines?
Selling a “clean” vehicle will not be difficult, but what if the seller has unpaid fines. Will this be a barrier to sale? Autocode will explain whether it is possible to sell a car with traffic police fines and how to do it.
Documents required for selling a car
The owner of the car decided to sell it to another person. What documents will be needed to complete the transaction:
- Passports on both sides;
- Documents for the car;
- Contract of sale.
Accordingly, this list does not include receipts for repayment of fines or confirmation of the absence of debt from the traffic police. Since 2014, it has become possible to sell a car with fines, that is, if the current owner of the car has outstanding fines, this will in no way prevent the sale of the car to another person.
Nuances to consider when selling a car with fines
Even before signing the purchase and sale agreement, you need to become familiar with the following situations that will help protect the seller from unpleasant consequences:
Traffic police officers' refusal to re-register a vehicle
When the buyer, together with or without the seller, contacts the traffic police department, employees may demand payment of outstanding fines, otherwise re-registration will not be carried out. Such measures by law enforcement officers are illegal, so in this situation you should ask for written confirmation of the refusal to re-register the vehicle, indicating the reason. After this, you need to contact the judicial authorities with the paper, which, in turn, will impose an administrative penalty on the person who violated the law.
The former owner of the car received a fine for a car that had already been sold
The first step is to check the date the offense was issued. Based on this, the violator of traffic rules will be identified. If it is the seller, he pays the fine, and if the car is a new owner, then in such a situation you should contact the traffic police to confirm the change of owner and appeal the penalties. Only 10 days will be given for this, and after 70 days the offender expects to be held accountable.
You also need to know that the car buyer will only have 10 days to re-register the purchased “iron horse”, otherwise the seller will receive penalties.
Kirill Brevdo, auto expert:
“When re-registering a car, be present with the buyer. Registering a vehicle in front of the buyer will provide reliable protection against unpleasant consequences: debt on fines and non-payment of taxes on the car.”
Unpaid fines will not be transferred to the new owner
If a car owner wants to sell a car with fines, then in this way he will not be able to evade responsibility for offenses. Fines will continue to be sent to his name. To repay the debt, 2 months are allotted; after their expiration, penalties will be charged.
Receipts that are three years old will no longer require payment.
The offender is also given the opportunity to pay fines with a fifty percent discount; this “relief” is possible only within twenty days from the date of violation of traffic rules.
Before selling a car, it is recommended to check it using the Autocode service. The full report will show all the details of the car - whether it is listed as stolen, pledged, credited, data on fines, number of owners, etc. This information will allow the seller to find out the real facts about his car, and the buyer will be convinced of the seller’s honesty and purchase the car with peace of mind.
What to do if you receive a fine for a sold car?
The current procedure for registering the purchase and sale of a car does not oblige its seller to be present at the traffic police when the new owner re-registers it in his name. But, as often happens, simplicity also has a downside: you entered into an agreement, the buyer drove away in the car, and after a while you received a fine for a traffic violation committed after the sale. What to do in this situation?
According to the current regulations, the car buyer is given 10 days to change the owner’s registration data. Well, some unscrupulous buyers do not re-register even after this period, continuing to drive a car that, according to government organizations, belongs to the previous owner. In this case, both the transport tax and fines continue to arrive “at the old address.”
Theoretically, it is possible - to do this, you need to contact the new owner of the car and solve the problem directly with him, agreeing on his payment of the received fine. At the same time, it is worth clarifying whether he carried out the procedure for changing ownership at the traffic police. Sometimes this method of solving the problem works, and a conscientious buyer saves the seller from having to appeal the fine. However, if there is no connection with the new owner, you can only use formal methods.
Having received a fine for a sold car, you can and should appeal it. To do this, it is necessary to draw up an application to cancel the decision on an administrative offense and send it by registered mail with return receipt requested to the address of TsAFAP (Center for Automatic Recording of Administrative Offenses) indicated in the received decision. A copy of the purchase and sale agreement must be attached to the application: it indicates the date of execution of the transaction, and it is proof that at the time of the violation you were no longer the owner of the car.
An alternative option for filing an application to appeal a fine is to send it electronically. To do this, you need to submit an application on the traffic police website and also attach a copy of the purchase and sale agreement to it. However, in this case two facts should be taken into account. Firstly, the procedure for appealing a decision electronically may require an electronic digital signature - an electronic digital signature confirming the identity of the applicant. You can find out what it is and how to get it on the State Services website . Secondly, the traffic police still indicate that “appeals that are subject to consideration in the manner established by the Code of the Russian Federation on Administrative Offenses must be sent in writing.” Thus, the first option, sending the application by registered mail with acknowledgment of receipt, is more reliable.
“A complaint against a resolution in a case of an administrative offense can be filed within ten days from the date of delivery or receipt of a copy of the resolution (Article 30.3 of the Code of the Russian Federation on Administrative Offenses),” is the clear answer given by the official website of the traffic police. However, if you were unable to appeal the decision within 10 days for a good reason, you can do this: to do this, the complaint must also be accompanied by a petition to restore the deadline for appealing the decision on an administrative offense and documents proving the impossibility of appealing the decision within the period established by law.
There is only one way to completely eliminate the possibility of receiving a fine for a sold car: personally visit the traffic police department with the buyer and make sure that he has re-registered the car in his name immediately after you sign the sales contract. If you are not present with the new owner during the re-registration procedure, it is worth remembering that the law allows 10 days for this. Accordingly, 10 days after the sale, you should definitely check the registration history of the sold car using a special service on the traffic police website and make sure that it was registered to the new owner.
If the car was not re-registered within the period established by law, and there is no connection with the buyer, you can protect yourself by contacting the traffic police department with a passport and a sales contract and writing an application to terminate the registration of the car .
It is worth understanding that receiving a fine for a sold car is a problem that will not solve itself if you ignore it. Until it is proven that you are not involved in the offense committed and that you sold the car, you are the violator. This means that the fine must either be appealed or paid. According to the Code of Administrative Offenses, the fine must be paid “no later than sixty days from the date the decision to impose an administrative fine comes into force” - that is, from the moment it was received. At the same time, as we remember, you are given another 10 days to appeal the fine received. Thus, if you do not appeal the fine within 10 days, and then do not pay it within 60 days, the case will be transferred to the bailiffs.
This will not end either: according to the Code of Administrative Offenses, “failure to pay an administrative fine within the period provided for by this Code entails the imposition of an administrative fine in the amount of twice the amount of the unpaid administrative fine, but not less than one thousand rubles, or administrative arrest for a term of up to fifteen days, or compulsory labor.” for up to fifty hours." And although administrative arrest does not apply to violations recorded using automatic cameras, the pleasure of collecting a double fine in court (in addition to paying the fine itself) is not enough. Therefore, if you receive an “unfair” fine, do not ignore it, hoping that “the injustice will be sorted out without you,” but be sure to start resolving this issue.
Do I need to pay fines when selling a car?
It is not necessary to pay fines when selling a car, because sanctions for violating traffic rules are imposed not on the car, but on its owner or the person driving it. This means that you can perform any operations with the vehicle, even if there is a fine. To understand this issue, consider the position of the legislation.
Example from life
There are often questions from car sellers on forums. They are wondering whether it is possible to stop registering a car with the traffic police at the time of its transfer to the new owner or whether they need to wait ten days. Another question is whether you need to pay fines when selling a car.
Experts answer that according to current legislation, the seller must draw up a purchase and sale agreement. There are no additional requirements for it, because the car can be deregistered without the help of the old owner. The maximum period for completing the necessary procedures is ten days.
During this period, a person must register the car. But sometimes it is better for the former owner to personally visit the traffic police and make sure that the vehicle has been re-registered.
What the law says
As noted, the law does not require the seller to come to the traffic police to re-register the car. The parties draw up a written agreement in three versions and sign the papers. The documents go to the seller, the buyer and the traffic police (when re-registering the car).
After signing the contract, the owner of the car also changes. He can come to the traffic police at any time convenient for him, but the Federal Tax Service receives information from the DCP. Transport tax is charged from the date specified in the transport purchase and sale agreement. If the new owner does not invest in the 10-day registration period, he will have to pay a small fine of 1.5-2 thousand rubles.
The former owner loses ownership rights from the moment the contract is issued. From this day on, he does not have to pay fines or pay taxes on the vehicle. If the car is sold and payment receipts continue to arrive, you need to go to the traffic police and show the contract. This is enough for the burden of paying fines to fall on the new owner.
Existing risks
It is important for car sellers to be aware of the risks when conducting a transaction. Some buyers, when making a transaction, are delayed in registering the vehicle or do not register the car at all. This situation occurs in the case of resellers for whom there is no point in registering the vehicle in their name.
Sometimes buyers do not specifically register their car. They amend the agreement, forge signatures, and in this way avoid having to pay taxes. Traffic police officers see the signature and may not always suspect that it is forged. If such a violation is detected, the attacker is held accountable under the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation and Article 327. It provides for punishment of up to two years in prison.
If the traffic police do not know about the fact of the sale of the vehicle, the information is also not transmitted to the tax service . The previous owner continues to receive notifications about the need to remit taxes and pay fines, which are recorded by video cameras.
The situation is more complicated when the new owner of an unregistered car gets into an accident with injuries or significant damage. In this case, the new owner may hide, and law enforcement agencies will come to the old owner (according to the law).
How to act
Clear recommendations are spelled out in paragraph 7 of the relevant rules for state registration of cars and trailers (the document was approved by order of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation under number 399). If a person sold a car, he must write a statement and indicate the fact that registration was stopped. The paper is handed over to any traffic police department in person, if you have a passport and a written document. There is no need to pay state duty.
The time frame for completing these activities is not specified. You can come immediately, in a year, or ignore this opportunity altogether. If at the time of submitting the application the new owner has not yet registered the car, traffic police officers will recognize the license plates, STS and PTS as invalid. Information is added to wanted lists.
This manipulation is not done immediately, but ten days after the contract is signed (this is the period allocated for registration). The received data on the sale is immediately sent to the Federal Tax Service, and the date of the transaction is indicated in the contract. Consequently, fines will go to the new owner.
If the buyer does not come to the traffic police and does not register the vehicle within the 10 allotted days, if stopped by an inspector, he receives a fine of 500-800 rubles . If a violation is detected again, a large amount is collected - 5,000 rubles. and the rights are taken away for a period of 1 to 3 months.
Even if you trust the buyer, it is better to come to the traffic police and fill out an application for sale. As for fines, they do not interfere with the purchase and sale of a car, because they apply not to the car, but to the driver. If police officers require such a certificate, you can safely go to the prosecutor’s office or contact your superiors, because according to the law, confirmation of this fact is not required.
Who pays fines after selling a car?
The buyer is required to register the vehicle in his name within 10 days after the purchase and sale agreement is executed, but fines received before registration will go to the previous owner. The same will happen if the buyer decides not to re-register the car in his name at all.
From the point of view of the law, the transfer of ownership from the seller to the buyer occurs at the moment of concluding the purchase and sale agreement. In this case, the agreement can be drawn up in any written form, and to recognize it as legally valid, the signatures of the parties to the transaction are sufficient. But the traffic police cannot find out about the change of owner on their own.
However, information about the owner in the traffic police databases will be updated only at the time of re-registration of the car, for which a period of 10 days is allotted. After this time, the new owner can be fined for driving a vehicle that is not registered in the prescribed manner in the amount of 500 to 5000 rubles. with possible deprivation of rights for three months.
When registering a violation manually, the traffic police officer will issue a fine to the driver, but automatic video recording systems read the car number and compare it with the traffic police database. In this case, the fine is received by the one who, at the time of the violation, is entered in the vehicle’s title as the owner, and letters with fine decisions will be sent to the old owner. The new owner can find out about these receipts only if he wants to independently check the fines on specialized portals.
Someone else's fine will not disappear from the database even after the new owner re-registers the car in his name: from the point of view of the system, the penalty has already been imposed on the old owner and requires payment. You can file a complaint and demand the cancellation of the decision within 10 days after receiving the receipt, and if this is not done, then you will still have to pay the fine.
If you do not do this, then after the end of the payment period the fine will be transferred to the bailiffs, who can collect it in a special manner, for example, write it off from the bank card of the former owner. In addition, non-payment may be punished with a double fine, administrative arrest or compulsory labor, as well as restrictions on traveling abroad.
In order to find out whether the car has been re-registered to the new owner, you need to make a request on the traffic police website in the “Vehicle check” section. You can find out about the dates of registration actions by the VIN number of the car, but the traffic police website often does not function. Another option is the Moscow government website Autocode, but it only works with data from Moscow and the Moscow region. There are also a number of paid resources that operate throughout Russia. Finally, you can personally submit a corresponding request to any traffic police department.
To cancel fines, you will have to submit an application to the traffic police department that issued the receipt, or to the centers for automatic recording of offenses, and this must be done within 10 days from the date of receipt of a copy of the decision. For example, in Moscow such an application can be submitted in electronic format on the Autocode website. If the decision has not been appealed within 10 days, then you can file a petition to restore the appeal period, but there must be compelling reasons for this, for example, being on a business trip or in a medical facility.
The application must describe that the car was sold and attach a copy of the purchase and sale agreement. Such a statement will have to be written in relation to each fine. As a rule, if the necessary documents are provided, these complaints are quickly satisfied, and fines are issued to the new owner.
If the new owner ignores the requirements for mandatory re-registration, the former owner has the right to independently stop registering the car after 10 days from the date specified in the purchase and sale agreement. To do this, you will have to visit the traffic police department and submit an application with your passport and the original purchase and sale agreement. The police will issue a certificate of deregistration of the car. The buyer will remain the owner of the car, but will no longer be able to legally operate it, and the car itself will be put on the wanted list. Subsequently, the buyer will be forced to pay a fine and carry out registration actions.
If the buyer is ready to make contact, you can draw up a new sales agreement with him and at the same time carry out the necessary registration steps. Otherwise, the only option left is to deregister the car due to loss. Loss is the loss of a vehicle, in which, unlike theft or theft, a criminal case is not initiated. The traffic police regulations allow you to terminate registration at the request of the owner, and the car is also put on the wanted list. Only the previous owner can restore the accounting, and the parties in such cases have to come to an agreement.
