What to do if your car is impounded (2021): step-by-step guide

Checking a car for theft

The first action you need to take is to contact the traffic police department directly.

Your main task at this stage is to find out whether your car has been towed or stolen.

Information about all evacuated cars is centralized to the “duty room”, so if a car is detained and delivered to a special parking lot, you will be informed about this.

If the car has been towed, then check which traffic police department inspector drew up the administrative violation report and which parking lot the car was sent to. Have a pen and a piece of paper to write down all the data. The code states that the decision to return the car to you or not should only be made by the traffic police inspector. Therefore, the next stage is communication with officials of the traffic inspection department, whose inspector drew up a report and called a tow truck.

To communicate with the inspector you will need:

• driver's license;
• vehicle registration certificate;
• OSAGO policy.

Impound lots

What to pay attention to

Let's now look at a few important points that any vehicle owner should remember in case of car evacuation in St. Petersburg:

• All information about evacuated vehicles is entered into a special database, to which only traffic police officers and dispatchers of the 004 help desk have access. However, please note that information about a new car is entered not at the time of evacuation, but at the time the car arrives at the penalty area. In other words, if you find that a car is missing in St. Petersburg, then you need to wait 1-2 hours - after all, if the car was evacuated, then it is quite possible that it is still on the way, so a call to the dispatch service may be premature.
• If there are any important documents left in the car (for example, a driver’s license), then you first need to make an agreement by phone with the traffic police to seize the documents. After this, you need to visit the penalty area and pick up the documents (in this case, the penalty area employee must draw up a special protocol that will record the fact of the transfer of a particular document).
• In some cases, you can pay for downtime and evacuation after the evacuation (the traffic police officer should disclose all the details to you).
• When receiving the car back, a special report is drawn up stating that there are no claims regarding the impound parking. Therefore, before receiving the car, it is necessary to thoroughly inspect the vehicle. If during the inspection it turns out that the driver has lost things from the car, then in this case it is necessary to call the police to draw up a report and initiate a criminal case. If scratches or damage are found on the car that were not there before the evacuation, then in this case you need to call the traffic police so that the employees of this service record the damage and determine the time of damage (before evacuation or after).

What to do if documents are left in the car

Very often, the registration certificate, along with the license, is in the purse, and the MTPL policy is in the glove compartment of the car. If this is your case, then we go to the impound lot, politely but persistently ask the employee to unseal the car in order to pick up the documents, and then seal it again.

We go with the documents to the traffic police department and receive a copy of the protocol on the administrative violation or a copy of the protocol on the detention of the vehicle. Make sure that the inspector puts a mark on the document indicating that the violation has been eliminated. This will be the basis for returning the car.

Payment of fines

Tyumen residents have 10 days to appeal the inspector’s decision, and if you find it legal, the deadline for paying the fine is no later than 60 days after drawing up the protocol (source). Storage and delivery of the car to the special parking lot are paid for in the same terms.

Amount for evacuation and finding the car in the impound lot

The amount for evacuation can be found out at the traffic police department. Until August 2021, the cost of evacuation directly depended on the car’s engine power. But the Federal Antimonopoly Service considered that this state of affairs was incorrect and in August 2021 a document was registered with the Ministry of Justice entitled “Methodological instructions for calculating tariffs for the movement and storage of detained vehicles and establishing payment terms.

In these rules, the department invited the regions to set evacuation rates themselves, using three calculation methods to choose from. Therefore, the final figure can only be clarified at the traffic police and at the impound lot.

Practice shows that in most cases a car is towed precisely because of violations of parking rules, although there are many more reasons for this. A complete list of reasons for detaining a car is given in Art. 27.13 Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation.

Having your car towed to an impound lot is a rather unpleasant incident, but there is no need to panic. Using our instructions, you will rescue your “iron horse” from captivity with minimal moral and material costs.

What is the fine for towing a car?

Each region of the Russian Federation sets its own prices, determined by a special regional law on the procedure for moving detained vehicles to specialized parking lots. Further, tariffs are adjusted by special orders.

• if the driver is drunk;
• does not have a driver's license (or has been deprived of it);
• transports dangerous cargo without special signs and permits;
• violated parking rules by ignoring road signs and markings. In this case, the car interferes with traffic, and the driver is not there.

Who to call and what to do if your car is towed?

Car evacuation is a process associated not only with further documentary problems, but also with monetary losses. Especially if you are in a metropolis. Collecting all the necessary documents to return a convoyed car may take more than one day, for each of which you will have to pay a large sum at the impound lot. How to resolve this situation relatively easily - read on.

If your car was towed to St. Petersburg: telephone numbers, traffic police addresses, procedures and prices

When a car owner’s car has been towed in his absence, you can call the single number of the unified information and dispatch service - 004. Using this phone number, you can find out the reason for the evacuation of the vehicle (for what specific violation the car was taken), and clarify the traffic police department that carried out the evacuation. Dispatchers will also provide the address and telephone number of the relevant department, and contacts and the name of the impound lot where the car is located.

The cost per hour of storage for various types of vehicles in special parking lots is as follows: 1. motorcycle or moped (A) – 16 rubles/hour; 2. passenger car (B) – 32 rubles; 3. truck (D) weighing no more than 3500 kg – 32 rubles; 4. truck weighing more than 3500 kg – 64 rubles; 5. oversized cars – 96 rubles.

Reasons for car evacuation

Tow trucks operate in accordance with the law of the Russian Federation - they have the right to pick up any car only if one of the violations occurs under Article 27.13 of the Code of Administrative Offenses:

1. You parked incorrectly or left your car for a period longer than permitted in that parking area.
2. You do not have a vehicle registration certificate.
3. You are deprived of the right to drive a car.
4. You are drunk.
5. You are drunk and refuse to be examined.
6. You were driving a car that had broken brakes or steering.

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They do not have the right to evacuate if:

• You do not have MTPL (since 2015).
• You do not have a driver's license (since 2015).
• There is another driver next to the car who has the right to drive this vehicle (there is STS, license and OSAGO), and he expressed his readiness to drive the car before the tow truck moved from the evacuation site .
• There is no traffic police officer nearby to draw up a report.

How to find out where a car has been towed

• send an SMS to number 7377 with the text “EV, space, P, space, car number”;
• install the “Moscow Parking” application on your cell phone and make settings in the “Transport” section;
• register on the website pgu.mos.ru or parking.mos.ru and subscribe.

The car is subject to forced evacuation if the vehicle is drunk, does not have a driver's license or documents certifying ownership, the vehicle is in a faulty condition, or an accident has occurred and makes it difficult for other vehicles to move. The car may be confiscated if the driver, at the request of a traffic police officer, refuses to undergo a medical examination.

Where to call

First of all, you should know that a report must be drawn up upon the evacuation and handed to you if you were at the scene of the incident. Accordingly, regarding the return of the car, you need to call the traffic police or go there in person.

However, it is first recommended to call the impound lot directly using the tow truck’s phone number, since each of them has its own requirements and additional nuances for “releasing” the cars that have reached them.

Here are some contacts for big cities that will help in the first minutes after evacuation:

• Moscow - +74955395454 (unified help desk for tow trucks);
• Saint Petersburg — +78126803333;
• Ekaterinburg — +73433545553;
• Kazan - +78432776677 (control room) or +78435333812 (traffic police duty room);
• Ufa — +73472793335;
• Nizhny Novgorod — +73124171707.

To check whether the vehicle was actually evacuated or whether it was stolen by attackers, you need to dial “02” or “112” (from a mobile phone). If the car is actually driven to the impound lot, the police will tell you where to go to resolve the situation.

How to find out where the car is

You can request information through a number of services. Their databases contain records of procedures, storage location and dates. The applicant will be able to quickly obtain data on the issue of interest:

• Traffic police duty station for any region ( 02 or 112 from a cell phone).

• Constant support service for the capital's parking zoning: 495 539-22-99, 539-54-54;
• Unified information service in Moscow: 495 539-22-99, 539-54-54;
• Unified information service in St. Petersburg: 004 ( +7 812 004 - from mobile) or 812 680-33-33 ;
• Traffic police department in Yekaterinburg: 8(343)263–19–89, 8(343)263–18–35;
• There is also a public service for displaced vehicles, which operates in all major cities: 495-504-17-24.
• On the Autocode website, on the MosTransport portal or on the mos.ru resource;
• You can also activate an SMS notification about car evacuation in advance: you will need to send the text “EV P state car number” to 7377, or dial a USSD request to *377 #. Through the “Moscow Parking” smartphone utility: open “ Settings ” and select the function of informing about arrest, fines, etc. The service is valid for Moscow residents.

Notification helps you stay informed and respond quickly. The less time the vehicle remains in custody, the less the downtime costs.

What to do

After you clarify where and why your car is located, you need to do the following:

1. If you have the documents in your hands (OSAGO, V/u, SoRTS, etc.), go to the traffic police.
2. Receive a decree/protocol on the detention of the car from the traffic police.
3. Pay the fines or immediately receive permission to pick up the car and pay the fine within the time established by law.
4. Go to pick up your car at the designated impound lot.

If you don’t have the documents on hand, before going to the traffic police, you need to:

1. Go to the impound lot and fill out a protocol for opening the car.
2. Sign the protocol.
3. Let the impound lot employee seal the car after seizing the documents.
4. Go to the traffic police to obtain a resolution or protocol, as well as permission to pick up the car.
5. Return to the impound lot and pick up the car.

How to get a car from an impound lot

When permission is received, you should do the following: 1. come to the impound lot and present the following documents to the employees: • Certificate of permission to issue the car; • Passport; • Driver's license; • Vehicle registration certificate; • If necessary, a power of attorney for the car and for its receipt. 2. pay a fine - the cost of storing and transporting the car, attach receipts to the package of documents; 3. get a car.

You must attach 2 paid receipts, since transportation (i.e. evacuation) and storage of the car are paid separately. The fine for illegal parking can be paid within 60 days. But it’s better within twenty days, then you can pay only half the fine, that is, 1,500 rubles.

Addresses of impound lots in St. Petersburg (by city districts with telephone numbers)

1. Kalininsky, Vyborgsky (346-55-98): • 3rd Verkhny lane. 17; • Vyborg highway, 380; • st. Academician Baykova, 10; • Rustaveli Ave., 35 (zone 7). 2. Krasnogvardeisky (224-30-94): • Irinovsky Prospekt, 26A3 (and 9A); • Shahumyan Avenue, plot No. 20 (9-A). 3. Moskovsky and Admiralteysky (346-55-94): • Moskovskoe highway, 13D; • Zastavskaya st., 4; • Egorova Street, 25A; • Pulkovskoe highway, 13th km. 4. Pushkinsky, Kolpinsky (321-00-00): • Moskovskoe highway, section 2; • Kolpino, Zavodskoy Ave., site 2; • village Shushary, 689 km. (for KPM-9). 5. South-West: • Defense street, 37, room 22. • Leninsky Prospekt, sections 213 and 24. 6. Petrodvortsovy (918-30-00): • st. Ozerkovaya, opposite house 47; • Strelna, st. Griboyedov, plot 1 (building 7). 7. Kronstadt (987-00-00): • 6th highway of the Kronstadt highway. 8. Central (303-31-59): • Degtyarny Lane, 3A. 9. Vasileostrovsky (321-00-00): • Shkipersky channel, 16-A. 10. Primorsky, Petrogradsky, Kurortny (430-48-90): • st. Furniture, area 40; • st. Shkolnaya, 39.

Returning the car

The return of the car itself is carried out after completing the procedure described above. To do this, you must present the following documents at the impound lot:

• ID card of the driver or owner of the vehicle (yours);
• vehicle registration certificate;
• STS auto;
• OSAGO;
• driver's license;
• car registration certificate;
• permission to issue a car from the traffic police;
• a copy of the evacuation protocol;
• a power of attorney certified by a notary, if you are not the owner of the car.

Additionally, at the impound lot they may require a receipt for payment of the fine, however, such actions are unlawful, since by law the driver is given 60 days to do this. You also don’t have to pay for the impound lot right away, but many points give a 25 percent discount on the cost if you pay on the spot (for Moscow).

If the parking lot employees insist on paying immediately, warn them about the recording and start filming your conversation - this will allow you to appeal their unlawful actions. However, then you won’t be able to get the car right away; you will still have to either pay immediately for this or wait for the consideration of the appeal against unlawful actions. During this time, a decent amount of money may accrue for the car being in the impound lot, so it is recommended that all issues be resolved on the same day.

How to find out which impound lot a car is in Moscow

In this case, the first thing you need to do is go to the impound lot. In the presence of the car owner, the employee will have to fill out an autopsy report, after which it will be possible to obtain the necessary documents. Unfortunately, drivers do not always comply with traffic rules: they drive while drunk or without a license.

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Nobody wants to quarrel with the law, be nervous while looking for a car, and even part with a lot of money in order to get the car back safe and sound. A traffic police inspector can fine a car when there is a driver in it, but also when there is not. Let's figure out in what cases a car ends up in a parking lot.

How to check car evacuation online

A special map of impound lots has been created for drivers in Moscow and the Moscow region. Below it there is a field where you can check where exactly the car was taken. For this:

1. Go to https://parking.mos.ru/.
2. Scroll down to the green “Search for a Vehicle” form.
3. Fill out the form - all you need is the license plate number of the car and the captcha code from the picture.
4. Click Search.

Also, on the mos.ru in the “Services” section there is a page that contains additional resources for finding a car at impound lots in Moscow. Among them:

1. The above https://parking.mos.ru/ is “Moscow Parking”.
2. Moscow Transport website.
3. Mayor's Portal (registration may be required).

Find out which impound lot the car is in

• Phone number of the single contact center, information desk: +7 (495) 539-54-54
• Official website: parking.mos.ru (there is a car search by state number)
• And from June 1, 2021, you can subscribe to an SMS evacuation notification. The message will indicate the address of the specialized parking lot to which the car, the department and the traffic police telephone number were sent.

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It helps you find and pay for parking spaces, and in case of evacuation, it will tell you which impound lot in Moscow your car was moved to. According to available statistics, the application is used by up to 75% of motorists in the capital.

Fine and tariffs

The fine will depend on what exactly you violated. For example, for illegal parking in Moscow in 2021 it is 3,000 rubles. To these costs are added the tariffs for the work of the tow truck and the hourly presence of the car in a special parking lot.

Below are some approximate figures by city:

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Thus, for example, evacuation in Moscow can cost the driver about 9-10 thousand rubles (5000 for the tow truck itself, 3000 for incorrect parking, 1000 for a day of parking). This is quite a large amount, so there are “incentive” discounts, for example:

1. For paying a fine on the spot or within 1-2 days – 25 percent.
2. For paying a fine in the first 20 days - 50 percent of the fine.

Discounts, like the cost itself, depend on the city, the impound lot and the nature of the offense.

Overview of impound lots in St. Petersburg

But if, in spite of everything, the vehicle was taken away by a tow truck, then you should know the addresses of the most used impound lots in St. Petersburg. These are the Weber-Auto impound lot, Neva-Sport, Techno Trade and others. The first day at these impound lots in St. Petersburg is free, the second and subsequent days are paid from the driver’s pocket at quite reasonable rates. You can also find your car at the AKS impound lot, the parking lot on Vyborg Highway, the parking lot on the street. Academician Baikov and the parking lot on the Moskovskoe highway. All necessary information about the location of the car can be found in the State Traffic Safety Inspectorate database and by calling the helpline 001.

Quite often, in large cities with busy traffic and a huge number of cars, it is simply impossible to find a place in special parking lots. Sometimes you have to park your car in any available free space and rush to work without looking. Only when you exit, you often may not find your vehicle in its original place. What to do in this situation, where to run and where to look for a car? It is unlikely that in just a few hours in broad daylight and in the middle of a busy street, someone will steal a car, which means, most likely, it fell into the hands of traffic police officers and was taken to one of the special parking lots in St. Petersburg, using a tow truck. Everyone knows that ignorance of the law does not exempt you from responsibility. Every car enthusiast should know in which case his car can be sent to a fine in St. Petersburg and when this can be resisted. Forced evacuation may be carried out if:

Did you tow the car? Don't rush to pay for a tow truck!

Hello, dear readers! If you park incorrectly, your car may be towed. You can pick up your car with a tow truck even if you parked correctly . Personally, I believe that in some situations evacuation is a necessary measure. But it also happens that the evacuation sign is completely unjustified. So, for example, I was once “evacuated” actually from the yard of my house in a situation where the effect of the sign prohibiting parking was not obvious.

Or another case. For many years there was a no stopping . But paid municipal parking has appeared in the city, and municipal paid parking has been organized in the place where parking was previously prohibited. This suggests that there was no reason to previously prohibit parking in this area.

Or here's another one. There is paid municipal parking on one side of the road. And around a radius of a kilometer, on every corner there is a sign prohibiting stopping. Those. the driver seems to be driven into a municipal paid parking lot.

Let's figure out what to do if a tow truck picks us up?

Regarding why there should be no fines for municipal parking, read the article here!

Have you been evacuated?

Let’s imagine a situation where your car was “stolen” . You categorically disagree with this and you don’t want to pay for the “service” imposed on you. What to do in this case? First, find out where the car was towed. The telephone number to call in such cases can be easily found on the Internet.

The evacuation process itself consists of two elements:

• administrative offense for violating traffic rules
• payment for the services of a commercial company that transported your car

Those. Not only the budget is filled, but also the “pocket” of the company that carries out the evacuation of the vehicle. Moreover, the evacuation itself is greater in monetary terms than the fine.

The fine goes to the budget, but payment for evacuation goes to specific people on the ground. Therefore, the entire evacuation process is interesting only from the point of view of payments for the “commercial part”.

Request a vehicle seizure report

When you arrive at a specialized parking lot (impounded parking lot) for detained vehicles and find your car, immediately request a vehicle detention report .

1. According to clause 8. Art. 27.13 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation, a protocol on the detention of a vehicle in the absence of the driver is drawn up in the presence of two witnesses or using video recording . A copy of the protocol on the detention of a vehicle drawn up in the absence of the driver, with the official’s decision to return the detained vehicle, is handed over to its owner, the owner’s representative or a person who has the documents necessary to drive this vehicle, immediately after the reason for the detention of the vehicle has been eliminated.
2. In accordance with Art. clause 10 art. 27.13 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation, the return of detained vehicles to their owners, representatives of the owners or persons who have with them the documents necessary to drive these vehicles is carried out immediately after the reason for their detention has been eliminated .

Thus, you do not have the right to detain you after the police have drawn up documents regarding the offense . If the employees of this parking lot do not let you out of a special parking lot, this is not legal! In fact, they themselves are breaking the law, call the police !

Kotionok › Blog › Addresses of impound lots in St. Petersburg

7.1. Payment for moving a detained vehicle using another vehicle (transportation) and for the first day of its storage in a specialized parking lot is not charged to the owner of the vehicle. 7.2. A fee for storing a detained vehicle is charged to the owner for every full hour the vehicle is in a specialized parking lot, starting from the second day. 7.3. Payment is made in a specialized parking lot in a specially designated room around the clock using cash register equipment. 7.4. The time spent by a detained vehicle in a specialized parking lot is determined in accordance with the logbook data.

In conclusion, I quote several points of the “Rules for the operation of specialized parking lots for storing detained vehicles on the territory of St. Petersburg.” Anyone whose car has been towed needs to know this.

Don't pay for tow truck services

The whole idea of ​​evacuating for wrong parking comes down to commerce . They simply collect money from ordinary citizens for the imposed tow truck services. Do not pay for this service on site. Let them write out the invoice .

Towing service workers do not have the right to seize your vehicle. In fact, they do. If they get really impudent, call the police . Let them check.

Sometimes, tow truck operators are simply outrageous:

As a rule, “tow truck operators” are a kind of commercial structure that imposes and provides a service at an arbitrarily set rate.

In order to issue you an invoice for tow truck services, tow truck operators must know personal information about the driver of the vehicle. You don’t have to provide any information to tow truck operators or sign any statements. But in this case, they will not let your car out of the parking lot. If you have a principled position, then call the police. The fact is that tow trucks do not have the right to detain your car. Only police officers can do this.

Don't pay tow trucks on the spot. Let them write out an invoice for the services (give them a receipt).

Further, there are two ways to pay for tow truck services:

• after the decision on an administrative offense comes into force and the fine is paid, you can voluntarily pay for the services of a tow truck.
• do not pay for the services of a tow truck at all, let them go to court and collect in court , prove in court that they provided a service for transporting the vehicle.

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You took the car. What's next?

• decision to bring you to administrative responsibility
• arrest report
• protocol on administrative offense (optional)
• invoice (receipt) for payment for tow truck services

Appealing a decision on an administrative offense

You can appeal a decision in a case of an administrative offense according to the rules of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation. You can appeal to a superior manager or to court. I suggest appealing to the court.

In order to effectively appeal a decision to hold you administratively liable, you can:

• contact a lawyer to write a complaint against the decision;
• write a complaint yourself; For your own writing, I suggest you use my sample. It needs to be slightly modified to suit you.

The decision came into force