Liability for lack of MTPL insurance

Fine for driving without insurance in 2020

Are you looking for what fine you can get for driving without insurance (MTPL) in 2020? On the website you can find information about the lack of compulsory motor liability insurance in 2020 for individuals.

Purchasing an MTPL policy is a mandatory procedure for motorists. Unfortunately, according to RAS, more than 2.5 million drivers are in no hurry to get insurance. The conditions for obtaining compulsory motor liability insurance are prescribed by law, but 10% of car owners ignore their responsibilities for a number of reasons. Moreover, desperate daredevils are not afraid of the consequences - independent compensation for damage in the event of an accident and an impressive fine from law enforcement agencies.

Procedure for checking an MTPL policy

Despite the mandatory conditions for obtaining insurance, checking the MTPL policy is not a routine procedure. The traffic police inspector has the right to require the car owner to have documents only if:

The driver is a direct participant in the accident.
The car was stopped by an inspector due to violations of safety requirements (high percentage of glass tinting, unregulated headlights).
The vehicle has an official identification.
A planned event is being carried out on the roads by the traffic police service as part of the prevention of emergency situations.

Based on the above conditions, the driver has the right to challenge the inspector’s requirement to provide a compulsory motor liability insurance policy. However, it is better to have documents confirming compulsory insurance available.

Legal actions of a traffic police officer in the absence of insurance

The only lawful decision of the traffic inspector in this case can only be to draw up a protocol on the administrative violation. Outcomes such as:

Payment of the fine, any transfer of funds on the spot.
Confiscation of driver's license and license plates.
Sending the vehicle to the impound lot.

Every car owner must know his rights and use them correctly in the event of violations by a traffic police officer.

OSAGO: original or electronic document

Situation: there is insurance, but only in electronic form. Is it legal for the traffic inspector to draw up a protocol? To resolve this issue, let us turn to the legal framework. According to Article 32 of the Federal Law “On compulsory insurance of civil liability of car owners,” the driver has the right to provide the state traffic inspector with both the original insurance and an electronic version of the document in PDF format.

Is video recording of violations due to lack of insurance valid?

Yes, in test mode the video registration process is carried out in the city of Moscow. Recording of administrative violations by car owners is associated with cases of absence of an insurance policy or its expiration. After the end of the test mode, motorists will begin to receive official warnings and fines.

Penalties for lack of insurance

Penalties for driving without a compulsory motor liability insurance policy are established by the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation. For 2020, only monetary penalties appear among them. The amounts of fines are shown in the table.

Fine for driving without MTPL insurance

The fine for lack of compulsory motor insurance is the maximum penalty for driving without insurance. Gone are the days when, for such traffic violations, traffic police officers removed license plates and sent the car to an impound lot. On November 15, 2014, these measures were abolished, so all the inspector’s hints about evacuation are nothing more than an attempt to intimidate the driver.

However, this relaxation is not at all a reason to completely abandon the MTPL policy, because the obligation to enter into an auto liability insurance agreement still remains in force.

The fine for driving without MTPL insurance in 2019 (and also if the driver is not included in the insurance) ranges from 500 to 800 rubles. The final amount will depend on the circumstances in which the violation occurred.

Next, we will consider each case separately, but first we will deal with who is still subject to administrative liability.

Who faces a fine for driving without insurance?

To understand who faces a fine for driving without insurance, let us turn to the text of Federal Law No. 40-FZ, or more precisely to its part 3, article 4.

According to this document, all categories of vehicle owners, except those listed in the list below, are subject to administrative liability for driving without insurance:

Owners of vehicles whose maximum design speed does not exceed 20 km/h.
Owners of vehicles not allowed to participate in road traffic on the territory of the Russian Federation.
Organizations whose balance sheet includes military transport that meets the needs of the armed forces, with the exception of vehicles serving the economic units of military formations.
Owners of cars registered abroad, subject to international Green Card insurance.
Citizens who own passenger trailers.
Owners of non-wheeled vehicles and trailers for them. This category includes vehicles on tracked, half-tracked, sled and other non-wheeled vehicles.

As you can see, the vast majority of car owners are subject to administrative liability, so it’s time to move on to the fines themselves and their amounts.

Amounts of fines for driving without MTPL insurance

The Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation (abbreviated as the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation) provides for liability for driving without insurance in three cases:

If the driver driving the vehicle does not have insurance with him (for example, he forgot it at home) - a warning or an administrative fine in the amount of 500 rubles (Article 12.3 Part 2 of the Administrative Code).
Driving during a period not covered by the MTPL policy (do not confuse it with expired insurance) - an administrative fine of 500 rubles (Article 12.37 Part 1 of the Administrative Code).
There is obviously no compulsory civil liability insurance policy (insurance was not issued or its validity period has expired) - an administrative fine in the amount of 800 rubles (Article 12.37 Part 2 of the Administrative Code).

Below we will look at each of these cases in detail. And the full table of traffic police fines for traffic violations can be downloaded here - there is also a list of the most “popular” fines in Russia.

Fine for driving without insurance (forgot at home)

The minimum penalty is provided for those drivers who forget their insurance at home. Each such episode can result in a loss of 500 rubles (Article 12.3 Part 2 of the Administrative Code). True, for this you still need to convince the inspector that the policy exists at all. The following can be cited as evidence:

insurance contract number;
name of the insurer;
phone number of your insurance agent, who can confirm the information.

If the inspector remains deaf to all the arguments and explanations and issues a maximum fine of 800 rubles, the driver has the right to file a complaint addressed to the head of the traffic police, attaching a copy of the current MTPL policy. After consideration of the application, the amount of the fine will be reduced to 500 rubles.

To avoid becoming a hostage to such situations, keep your MTPL policy together with your other driving documents. In addition to this, make a copy and put it in the glove compartment.

Fine for driving during a period not covered by the MTPL policy

There is a separate category of drivers who take out an insurance policy for a short period. This service is especially popular among summer residents and allows them to pay for insurance only for the duration of the gardening season.

It is understood that the vehicle will not be used for a period not covered by the insurance contract. However, not all motorists attach due importance to this condition and get behind the wheel within the period not established by the policy. This violation is punishable by a fine of 500 rubles (Article 12.37 Part 1 of the Administrative Code).

Penalty for expired insurance or lack thereof

The holder of an expired MTPL policy is equated to violators who do not take out insurance at all, and is punished with a fine of 800 rubles (Article 12.37 Part 2 of the Administrative Code). In fact, this is driving without insurance, and having an expired policy does not help the matter.

Conscientious drivers sometimes find themselves in a similar situation, accustomed to believing that compulsory motor liability insurance is automatically valid for another month after the expiration of the insurance policy. This is a common misconception. There really was such a norm, but since 2009 it is no longer relevant.

The only relaxation applies to car buyers. They are allowed to drive a car without an MTPL policy during the first 10 days from the date of concluding a car purchase and sale agreement. This time is allotted for registering the car with the traffic police.

During the specified period, the driver, instead of insurance, can present the sales contract to the inspector. In all other cases, driving a vehicle without compulsory motor liability insurance is unacceptable.

What is the fine if the driver is not included in the insurance?

If the car owner gives control to a friend or acquaintance, he also faces a fine of 500 rubles (Article 12.3 Part 1 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation). And this is only if everything is in order with your friend’s documents.

There are often situations when a person gets behind the wheel without having a driver’s license. In such cases, in addition to the fine for insurance, the owner of the car is also issued a receipt for 3 thousand rubles for transferring control to a person without a driver’s license (Article 12.3 Part 3 of the Administrative Code).

If the driver is not included in the insurance, another unpleasant situation may arise - an accident. Practice shows that after compensation for damage to the victim, insurance companies sue the owner of the car for the amount of losses incurred.

If you often entrust the management of your transport to third parties, then it will be more profitable to issue MTPL without restrictions. A small overpayment for the policy will relieve you of the risk of paying for damages in the event of an accident.

Let's sum it up

Many motorists consider the fine for driving without insurance to be insignificant (especially considering the possibility of paying the fine with a 50% discount), but this is only a first impression, and it can usually be deceiving. If we take into account that such sanctions can be applied repeatedly, their total amount will easily exceed the cost of the insurance policy itself.

Our online OSAGO calculator will help you calculate the approximate cost of a motor vehicle liability policy.

In addition, we must not forget why insurance was invented in the first place. With a high degree of probability, it can be said that the person at fault for the accident will remember last about the fine for driving without compulsory motor insurance. After all, he will face much more serious problems.

Video: how many times can they be fined for driving without compulsory motor liability insurance?

Fine for lack of MTPL insurance

Good afternoon, dear reader.

In this article we will talk about a fine for lack of MTPL insurance , which can be imposed both on a driver who forgot to renew an expired MTPL policy, and on a driver who just left this policy at home. Naturally, the size of the fine in the first and second cases will be different.

Within the framework of this article, several situations will be considered that involve a fine for driving without insurance:

Let me remind you that a table of traffic police fines is available for download on pddmaster.ru, which also includes the amount of the fine for lack of insurance.

Fine for driving without insurance in 2019 and 2020

First of all, let's consider the fine that is imposed on a driver who forgot his MTPL policy at home . Please note that we are talking about a forgotten insurance form, which is nevertheless valid and the driver is included in this insurance.

The punishment for driving without insurance in this case is provided for in Part 2 of Article 12.3 of the Code of Administrative Offenses and is a warning or a fine of 500 rubles .

Exactly the same penalty can be imposed on a driver who purchased compulsory motor vehicle liability insurance electronically, but did not print out the insurance policy.

As you can see, forgetting your MTPL policy is not so scary financially. For example, the fine for expired insurance is almost 2 times larger, but more on that later.

Fine for driving a car during a period not covered by the MTPL policy

In 2019 and 2020, all MTPL contracts are concluded for 1 year. However, any driver has the opportunity to reduce the period of use of the vehicle.

For example, if a driver uses a vehicle only for trips to the country (in spring and summer), then he can buy a policy for 6 months.

In this case, the cost of the MTPL policy becomes less, however, you cannot drive the car all year round. Nevertheless, this service is popular among summer residents whose cars do not appear on the roads during the cold season.

So, for the departure of a “dacha resident” at the “wrong” time of year, Part 1 of Article 12.37 of the Code of Administrative Offenses provides for a penalty of 500 rubles .

Fine for a driver who is not included in the insurance

In this case, we are talking about driving a car by a driver who is not included in the MTPL policy. For example, such a situation may arise if you urgently need to get behind the wheel of an unfamiliar car and there is no time to renew your insurance.

The fine for a driver who is not included in the insurance will be 500 rubles (Part 1 of Article 12.37 of the Administrative Code).

Penalty for expired insurance

The last fine that will be discussed in this article is the penalty for the most serious violation of insurance rules. In this case we are talking about all situations that were not previously considered.

For example, we are talking about driving a driver who has expired insurance. A similar situation may arise if the driver forgot to renew the insurance policy in a timely manner.

The fine for expired insurance is 800 rubles .

The fine for the driver not having a compulsory motor liability insurance policy in principle will be exactly the same.

For example, if the driver decided after purchase not to insure the car at all.

Do automatic cameras record the absence of compulsory motor liability insurance?

Information that automatic cameras will begin to record the absence of compulsory motor liability insurance has been circulating on the Internet for several years. The last wave of such news appeared in the fall of 2018.

However, in 2019, no drivers reported receiving a ticket for not having insurance with an automatic camera. So currently the cameras do not record .

Note. If the traffic police cameras still learn to impose a fine for compulsory motor liability insurance, this article will be updated.

Discount when paying fines for lack of compulsory motor liability insurance

In 2019 and 2020, you can get a 50 percent discount when paying fines for lack of compulsory motor liability insurance. To do this, you need to pay the fine within 20 days from the date the decision on the administrative offense was issued.

In this case, instead of 500 rubles, you can pay 250 , and instead of 800 - 400 rubles .

You can find out more about discounts when paying traffic fines in this article:

Evacuation to impound lot for lack of compulsory motor insurance

Quite often, drivers have a question about whether it is possible to detain a vehicle for lack of insurance. In 2019 and 2020, evacuation of a car to an impound lot in the absence of compulsory motor liability insurance does not apply .

Until November 15, 2014, for the absence of compulsory motor insurance, traffic police officers also imposed a ban on operation, i.e. They took the license plates off the car. In 2019 and 2020, this type of punishment is also not used.

Those. For the absence of compulsory motor insurance, the driver can only receive a fine. Other types of punishment are illegal.

Let me remind you that to purchase an MTPL policy, you currently need to have a valid diagnostic technical inspection card.

By the way, the emergence of the following illegal situation cannot be ruled out. The traffic police officer may try to convince the driver that a policy left at home is the same as an expired insurance policy. Those. he may try to impose a fine of 800 rubles, instead of five hundred rubles. You must always be prepared for this and, if necessary, immediately prepare evidence for subsequent appeal of the protocol. You can learn more about collecting evidence when communicating with police officers in the audio course “Secrets of Communication with the Traffic Police.”

And finally, I suggest you watch a funny video about the traffic police negotiation table:

Fine for driving without compulsory motor liability insurance in 2019 - punishment for lack of compulsory motor liability insurance policy

OSAGO is compulsory civil liability insurance for vehicle owners. It is prohibited to drive a vehicle without the appropriate insurance policy.

However, if the driver still takes the risk of driving without such insurance, you must be prepared to receive a fine. In this regard, the question arises: what is the fine for driving without MTPL insurance in 2019?

To answer this question, it should be said that the fine can be of several types. One of these is the punishment for an offense in the event that the driver drives without insurance in a particular case, but the policy itself is there (the document is forgotten at home or in another place). In this case, you face a fine under Art. 12.3 clause 2 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation, and its amount in 2019 will be 500 rubles.

The second type of punishment for an expired MTPL policy. In this case, you face punishment under Art. 12.37 clause 2 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation, and the amount of payment will be increased to 800 rubles. Therefore, if you have expired insurance, you should not assume that you have it and will not face a fine.

It is also possible to receive a fine in the following case: if there is insurance and the owner of the vehicle is in the car, but the vehicle is being driven by a person who is not included in the insurance policy. In this case, a fine is issued in accordance with Art. 12.37 clause 1 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation, and its amount in 2019 is 500 rubles.

The fine for driving without compulsory motor third party liability insurance (MTPL) in the event that there is none at all will be equal to the amount of 800 rubles (Article 12.37 clause 2 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation). In this case, in addition to receiving the fine itself, there is also a ban on operating the vehicle until insurance and a receipt for payment of the fine itself are provided.

Thus, the Code of the Russian Federation on Administrative Offenses dated December 30, 2001 No. 195-FZ allows you to get acquainted with all the information regarding the possible punishment for driving without compulsory motor liability insurance. In particular, this issue is addressed in Article 12.37 - Failure to comply with the requirements for compulsory insurance of civil liability of vehicle owners.

This article consists of two parts. The first of them states that for driving during a period not covered by the insurance policy, as well as driving a vehicle by a person not specified in the existing insurance policy, an administrative fine will be imposed. The second part contains information that failure by the car owner to fulfill the established obligation to insure civil liability, as well as driving a vehicle without compulsory motor liability insurance, also entails the imposition of an administrative fine. In the situation described in the first part, in 2019 you will need to pay an amount equal to 500 rubles, while in the situation described in the second part - 800 rubles.

Also, the issue of driving a vehicle without compulsory motor liability insurance is discussed in Article 12.3 - Driving a vehicle by a driver who does not have the documents provided for by the Traffic Rules. The second part of this article states that for driving during which the driver does not have documents confirming the right to drive a vehicle, as well as an insurance policy for compulsory civil liability insurance of vehicle owners, a warning or an administrative fine in the amount of 500 rubles is imposed.

Undoubtedly, punishment is applied to the driver if the vehicle is stopped by a traffic police officer and checked for documents. Therefore, drivers who decide to drive without insurance count on the fact that their vehicle will not be stopped, and therefore they will be able to avoid punishment. However, you still shouldn’t count on it.

It is also important to note that in the near future, receiving a fine for driving without compulsory motor liability insurance (in its complete absence) will become possible even if you were not stopped by an employee of the State Traffic Inspectorate. The fact is that in some regions of the country in 2019 (in particular, in Moscow), pilot projects were launched to identify vehicles without insurance using traffic cameras.

At the first stage, receiving a fine for driving without MTPL insurance under cameras does not result in a fine. However, if such an experiment is considered successful, it will be extended to all regions of the Russian Federation, and in this case, receiving a fine for each trip under a traffic camera will be quite realistic.

In order to check whether there is an offense recorded by the camera, you can do one of the following methods. So, you can register on the government services portal and link your mobile phone number to your personal account. In this case, all notifications about fines will be sent to the specified phone number. The second option is to periodically (at least once every few days) check for an issued fine on special services on the global network, one of which is the service for checking traffic police fines on the official website of the State Road Safety Inspectorate.

One more point should be noted. In 2019, the fine received can be paid using a 50% discount. This is possible if payment is made within 20 days from the date of receipt of the corresponding punishment (from the date of the decision to impose an administrative fine). In this case, instead of 500 rubles, you will need to pay only 250, and instead of 800 - 400. This can save money, but should not reassure drivers who do not have insurance and refuse to take it out.

Some vehicle owners may find that paying a fine for driving without insurance will be less expensive than purchasing the policy itself. However, it is not. The fact is that such fines can be levied regularly, which will result in significant financial expenses. Costs will increase even more if a person driving a car without compulsory motor liability insurance is found guilty of a traffic accident. In such a situation, the perpetrator will need to independently compensate for the damage caused to the life, health and property of the victims, while with a compulsory motor liability insurance issued, such costs fall on the insurer, that is, the insurance company with which the corresponding contract was concluded.

In general, issues related to the MTPL policy are regulated by Federal Law No. 40-FZ dated April 25, 2002 “On compulsory civil liability insurance of vehicle owners.” In particular, Article 32 - Control over the fulfillment of insurance obligations by vehicle owners indicates that on the territory of the Russian Federation the use of vehicles whose owners do not have a compulsory motor liability insurance policy is prohibited. It is also reported here that registration of such vehicles is not carried out.

The same article of the Federal Law states that control over the fulfillment of the established insurance obligation is carried out by the police during registration, as well as during the exercise of other powers in the field of monitoring compliance with traffic rules, as well as regulatory legal acts in the field of road safety.

Every driver is required to carry a compulsory insurance policy. Also, the driver can have information printed on paper confirming the fact of concluding a compulsory insurance contract in the form of an electronic document. The relevant document must be submitted for verification to police officers who are authorized to carry out such a procedure in accordance with Russian legislation.

According to the legislation of the Russian Federation, control over the fulfillment by vehicle owners of the obligation to insure their civil liability when entering the territory of the Russian Federation is carried out by customs authorities. They also exercise control when vehicles leave Russia for other states where international insurance systems are used.

Therefore, in order to avoid getting a fine for driving without insurance, you must first remember that compulsory motor liability insurance is mandatory for obtaining permission to drive a vehicle. Without such a policy (at all or when making a specific trip), in 2019 the driver faces a fine.

No less important is familiarization with the legislation of the Russian Federation, namely the Code of the Russian Federation on Administrative Offenses, as well as the Federal Law “On Compulsory Insurance of Civil Liability of Vehicle Owners.”

By the way, the latter will answer all questions regarding compulsory motor third party liability insurance. Thus, this document includes 6 chapters and 34 articles. The first chapter presents general provisions, the second outlines the conditions and procedure for compulsory insurance. The third chapter is devoted to compensation payments, the next two - to insurers and the professional association of insurers. The final chapter contains the final provisions.

To check whether you have a fine for driving without compulsory motor insurance, you can contact one of the available services. One of the most popular among these is the traffic police inspection service. To obtain the necessary information, you will need to provide information about the vehicle. Such information includes the state registration plate, as well as the series and number of the vehicle registration certificate. This data will be sufficient to obtain the necessary information.

Another option to check for fines in 2019 is to visit the government services portal. To obtain the relevant information, you will need to indicate the vehicle registration certificate number or driver's license number and the date of issue.

Checking for fines is also available through the Traffic Police Fines application, as well as using the Yandex.Money electronic payment system. There are other resources where it is possible to check the existence of penalties for an offense. However, you should be careful about the various sources of such information and trust only reliable ones.

Undoubtedly, receiving a fine for driving a vehicle without compulsory motor liability insurance is quite unpleasant, therefore, in order to avoid such a situation, you should take care of taking out a policy in advance.

Today, the corresponding procedure is available not only when visiting the offices of insurance companies, but also through the official websites of insurers. In the latter case, it will be sufficient to enter all the necessary information regarding the vehicle and its owner, as well as drivers authorized to drive the vehicle.

After the cost of insurance has been calculated, all the necessary information has been indicated and payment has been made, the electronic MTPL policy is sent by email and also becomes available in your personal account on the insurance company’s website. All that remains for the driver is to print out the received document and present it at the request of the traffic police officer.

To avoid getting into an undesirable situation that could lead to a fine, you should keep track of the expiration dates of your current policy and take care of drawing up a new document in advance.

In general, compulsory motor liability insurance is necessary to insure liability when the object of insurance is property interests associated with the risk of civil liability of the vehicle owner for obligations arising from harm to the life, health or property of victims when using the vehicle.

If you become the culprit of an accident, then with compulsory motor liability insurance issued, the insurance company will pay for the damage caused to the injured party. If the policy turns out to be missing, then all expenses will need to be borne from your own pocket. It is important to understand that the insurer will only pay for those expenses that will result from the damage received by the injured party, while the person at fault for the accident will have to pay for the restoration of his vehicle on his own.

In order to draw up the appropriate agreement and avoid receiving a fine for driving without insurance, you must provide a number of mandatory documents. These in 2019 include the passport of the car owner and policyholder, a valid diagnostic card (if one is provided for a specific vehicle), driver’s licenses of all persons who are allowed to drive this vehicle (the MTPL details of each of these drivers are indicated), the vehicle’s passport funds, as well as a certificate of its registration.

Speaking about what the cost of compulsory motor liability insurance depends on, it is worth noting that the price is influenced by the following factors: the power of the car (the greater it is, the higher the cost), the region of registration (the larger the city, the greater the likelihood of getting into an accident and the higher policy price), age and experience of the driver (the greater they are, the lower the insurance price will be), the presence of accidents during the previous period of driving the vehicle (careful drivers are encouraged by a 5% discount for each year of accident-free driving), the number of drivers admitted to driving means (the more there are, the higher the price of MTPL).

Thus, the cost of insurance in 2019 is calculated based on a number of indicators that characterize each specific case. However, even if the cost turns out to be slightly higher, this is not a reason to refuse to take out a policy and resort to driving without insurance.

Fine for lack of compulsory motor liability insurance in 2019

Various situations may arise in a motorist’s life that will prevent him from renewing his car insurance on time or not being able to find it in his car. However, drivers often consciously take risks by leaving the document at home or even going out onto the streets without a issued insurance policy. What will be the fine for driving without compulsory motor insurance in 2019? And how can this amount be reduced? Let's find out in this article.

Why can't you forget your policy?

OSAGO – or officially “Compulsory motor third party liability insurance” has existed in Russia for 15 years and is designed to solve the problem of compensation for damage to the injured party in an accident. Essentially, having an insurance policy relieves the car owner who is at fault for the accident from having to pay compensation to the injured party. This is done for him by the insurance company with which the driver has entered into a contract.

Payments are limited to the limit of liability incurred. Thus, the damage caused to the life and health of a third party amounts to 500 thousand rubles for each person injured in the accident. If property damage is caused, the amount of payments is 400 thousand rubles. Therefore, car owners should remember that registration of compulsory motor liability insurance is not money down the drain, but prevention of possible expenses and protection in unforeseen circumstances.

Traffic police officers have every right to demand the insurance policy when checking the driver’s documents. It must be on the insurance company's letterhead and have all the signatures and seals. If you have issued electronic insurance, it must be printed so that all fields and inscriptions are clearly legible. You should always have a driver's license in your car in case of unforeseen situations - an accident or a simple traffic police check on the road. Otherwise, you will face a penalty of 500 to 800 rubles, depending on the violation.

We should not forget that driving without compulsory motor liability insurance means a refusal to pay compensation even in situations where the driver of the car is the injured party. Refusal of compulsory insurance promises not only punishment from the traffic police, but also more serious expenses. Therefore, it is not worth taking risks on the road - it is better to immediately invest in your safety.

By the way, RSA recently proposed checking your motor insurance policy automatically – through cameras installed on the roads. In theory, the camera will record the license plates of passing cars and compare them with the database of the Russian Union of Insurers. However, it is technically difficult to ensure this, and the implementation of the project is slowing down - it is not known exactly when this system will be launched. It is worth noting that the traffic police spoke from the very beginning about the complexity of implementing this initiative. For this system to work, it is necessary to establish the exchange of huge amounts of data between the Traffic Management Center, the State Traffic Safety Inspectorate and the RSA. Therefore, it is unknown whether we should expect the innovation to be introduced this year.

When is it legal to fine you for driving without a license?

We should also talk about the legality of penalties for lack of insurance. The law provides for the following cases of bringing drivers to administrative liability:

Fine for driving without a current insurance policy,
For expired insurance,
Punishment of a driver not included in the policy
Penalties for using a vehicle during a period not covered by insurance.

Let's consider each case separately.

Lack of policy

Let's say you forgot your insurance at home - for example, after putting your documents in order or cleaning the inside of your car. But at the same time, you are included in the document as the owner of the car, and the policy itself is valid. This case is described by Part 2 of Article 12.3 of the Administrative Code:

The fine for lack of insurance is 500 rubles. A warning may also be issued. The same applies to owners of electronic policies who have not printed the document.

By the way, a forged policy is equivalent to the absence of one, since a forgery is not considered a document with legal force. However, in this case you may be charged with another article - Art. 327 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation on forgery, production or sale of counterfeit documents. Therefore, you should carefully consider the choice of an insurance company and, if you apply for insurance online, the policy can be verified using the PCA database. You can apply for and buy electronic MTPL online on the portal Vyberu.ru.

Expired policy

This category takes into account both expired policies and cases where the driver deliberately did not take out insurance when purchasing a car. This is stated in Article 12.37 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation, part 2.

The driver is not included in the policy

Sometimes unforeseen situations happen that force us to drive a car whose insurance we are not included in: for example, if the driver of the car becomes ill and needs to be taken to the hospital - or in other, less dangerous cases. However, regardless of the situation, you will have to pay: this is stated in Part 1 of Article 12.37 of the Administrative Code.

The penalty amount will be 500 rubles.

Driving without compulsory motor liability insurance during a period of time not covered by the policy

Automobile insurance is issued for 1 year, but you can also choose the period during which the purchased vehicle will be used. So, for example, if you use your car only in the summer and spring, it means that buying insurance for the whole year is pointless. Insurance companies offer to insure a car for a selected period - for example, from March 1 to November 1.

This violation is regulated by Part 1 of Article 12.37 of the Administrative Code:

The penalty for driving a car at a time not provided for in the policy is 500 rubles.

Increase in fines from September 2019

Recently, information has appeared on the Internet that the fine for lack of insurance in 2019 (MTPL) will increase from January 1 - from 800 rubles to 5,000 rubles. The author of the initiative, deputy Sergei Vostretsov, pointed out that a huge number of motorists neglect to purchase insurance, believing that it is a waste of money, or that they have sufficient driving experience to avoid getting into an accident. However, according to preliminary data, the number of accidents involving drivers who did not take out insurance increased by 1.5 times compared to last year.

For now this is just an initiative. The document will be submitted to the State Duma in February 2019, so changes should not be expected in the very near future.

Illegal punishment for driving without a motor insurance policy

Unfortunately, drivers often encounter unscrupulous traffic police officers who act against regulations and exceed their authority. They often apply excessive penalties. Drivers should remember that, despite the modification of the law, in 2019, traffic police officers do not have the right to impose the following types of punishment:

Removal of registration plates,
Towing a car to a parking lot.

It is also possible that a State Traffic Inspectorate employee will try to convince the driver that a policy forgotten at home is equal to expired insurance, and issue a fine of 800 rubles. Therefore, you should not lose your vigilance or become shy when talking with a patrolman. If necessary, immediately prepare evidence to appeal the protocol in court.

How to reduce the amount of recovery?

You can receive a discount on collection payments if the following conditions are met. First of all, you need to know that the discount applies only to offenses listed in Chapter 12 of the Code of Administrative Offenses - that is, driving a car without registration or maintenance, without documents (including without a motor insurance policy), illegally installed "Disabled" sign, in violation of maneuvering rules and so on. The maximum period within which the amount of the penalty can be reduced is also established - 20 days from the date of the decision.

It is worth mentioning separately the violations to which this “promotion” does not apply:

Drunk driving, refusal of examination;
The driver caused an accident with injuries;
Exceeding the speed limit by more than 40 km/h;
Repeated passage through a prohibitory traffic light sign;
Repeated driving without registration;
Driving onto tram tracks or oncoming lanes;
Execution is delayed or spread out.

By the way, it is likely that in 2019 the period within which penalties can be paid at a discount will increase. In December 2018, the Federation Council approved a bill extending the 20-day preferential payment period. The initiative will help avoid situations in which postal messages are delayed. The bill was created because of such a case: a resident of the Moscow region appealed to the Constitutional Court after he was unable to pay the penalty at a discount due to the fact that the notice was delivered after the expiration of the 20-day period. However, it is not yet known when the changes will come into force, as well as whether banks will have time to “readjust” to the new grace period for payments.

Penalties for driving without insurance are a hot topic in 2019. And the prospect that the fine for lack of insurance in 2019 (MTPL) will increase to 5,000 rubles should only have a positive impact on car owners. According to Central Bank estimates, the average cost of a policy in 2018 was 5,800, and in 2017 - 6,000 rubles, which is only slightly more than the new penalty. What is better - to buy insurance once a year or pay penalties, of course, it’s up to you to decide. However, we recommend that you protect yourself and purchase a policy to avoid not only penalties, but also larger financial expenses.