Registration of a frame replacement on a car with the traffic police in 2021: documents, procedure

What is the body of a car according to the law?

Let's start by understanding what a car body is. Formally, in Russia this is a numbered unit. And this means that a designation number is applied to it, identifying the entire vehicle. And according to the law, if the traffic police fails to identify the car (the actual number on the unit will not match the documents), then registration of such a car will be legally denied.

But everything is not so sad - a new body can be officially issued, and any car enthusiast has the right to replace it. True, for this you need to comply with a number of conditions and formalities, as well as collect the necessary documents, including for a new “body”.

How should the procedure take place?

Replacing the body is considered to be an intervention in the structure of the vehicle. Today, the process of making changes to the design of a vehicle is regulated by the technical regulations of the Customs Union No. 877, as well as by Letter of the Ministry of Internal Affairs No. 13 of 2015. Thus, the main provisions for registering changes in the design of a vehicle can be found in Chapter 4 of the technical regulations of the Customs Union. According to paragraphs 75-80 of this bill, the owner of a vehicle to replace the car body must:

Write an application to the technical supervision department of the traffic police to make changes to the design of the vehicle, and receive recommendations on how to implement the procedure. Thus, the traffic police may oblige the driver to undergo an examination in a testing laboratory to determine the possibility of changing the body. The traffic police also has the right to demand that the car be submitted for inspection.
Go to a testing laboratory if such a need has been established by the traffic police.
Replace the car body. There must be documents for the body. This could be a customs declaration about the import of spare parts from abroad, a bill of lading (check) or a certificate from the traffic police about the use of the released body of another car. The one who performed the work (car service center or the owner of the car) must fill out an application-declaration according to the model established by Letter of the Ministry of Internal Affairs No. 13.
Pass a technical inspection and receive a diagnostic card.
Pass a re-examination in a testing laboratory for the technical safety of the modified vehicle design.
Return to the technical supervision department of the State Traffic Safety Inspectorate, presenting the car for inspection and handing over all the documents collected previously (conclusions from the expert laboratory, declaration statement, documents for the body, diagnostic card). You must first pay a state fee of 800 rubles.

Based on the results of the inspection, traffic police officers will issue a certificate of conformity of vehicle design (SCTS) indicating the changes made to the vehicle. After this, the owner of the vehicle must register the new car body with the traffic police MREO.

How can you not arrange a replacement in 2021?

Let's start with the law that regulates the replacement procedure. Almost the only legal act that prescribes the registration procedure (others have little practical relevance to our issue) is the brand new Order No. 399, which came into force quite recently. It is he who regulates not only the procedure for registering replaced car components, but also what is prohibited from being registered.

So, for 2021 the following restrictions apply:

You cannot replace it with a new body if it is listed as wanted by the traffic police (stolen, the car with it was deregistered by the traffic police due to loss),
if you do not have documents for a new component (clause 17 of the Order),
According to the law, you can supply the body from a scrapped car, but in practice in 99% of cases it is impossible - you will receive a refusal, because even the entire car, completely complete, is quite difficult to restore after disposal,
you will not register a car with a replaced body if it was removed from a car for which a recycling fee was not made (clause 3 of the Order), but you can register it if it was released before September 2012,
if you have already changed the “body” to a new one, then with a high degree of probability you will be denied registration on the basis of paragraph 3 of Order No. 399 due to inappropriate numbers of license units, which include the one we are discussing, we will discuss this issue in more detail below,
if the body number is not readable - in this case, the chances of making changes to the registration data of the State Traffic Inspectorate are approximately 50/50 - you will be sent for examination with an unreadable unit number, and whether the examination will establish the number will be known only after it is carried out,
if there are signs of counterfeiting (overcooking, changing the numbers/letters of the VIN number) of designations.

What not to do

Not long ago, a new order was issued under number 399. It is this that is more relevant to the issue under consideration. The law regulates the procedure for registering any replaceable car components, but also provides a list of restrictions and prohibitions.

If you read the document, you can draw several conclusions:

You cannot change the body of a car when it is listed as wanted, stolen, or is listed in the traffic police database as lost;
It will also not be possible to register a unit if there are no documents for it;
In theory, it is possible to use bodies from salvaged cars, but in practice, in almost 100% of cases this will not be possible. After all, it is almost impossible to restore such a vehicle;
If you put another body on your car that was previously deregistered, but the recycling fee has not been paid for it, you will be refused;
The exception is bodies manufactured before the fall of 2012;
The chances of registering a car with a body that has already been replaced are minimal;
If it is impossible to read the license plates on the body, the chances of refusal and approval are approximately equal. You will have to undergo an examination;
If there are signs of falsification, expect a refusal.

Everything looks so gloomy and hopeless. But in reality, everything is not as bad as it might seem.

How is it possible?

In fact, there are 2 options for re-registration of such a replacement in the traffic police, depending on the condition of the component. These options lie in 2 postulates of the legality of this procedure for 2021:

It is generally possible to change the body to another - it is not prohibited by law,
but if you bought it used from another car, then there will be no documents for it, since they have not issued papers for a released license plate for a long time, and you cannot have others.

Ultimately, we get 2 scenarios and, accordingly, replacement instructions, depending on your specific situation:

if the “body” was bought new, then you can register it with the traffic police in the traditional sense - register it as a replacement body,
if you purchased this component in a used condition, then it will be much easier to arrange for a replacement body as the purchase of the entire car (that is, the body = car, and you simply transfer all the parts and components from the old car to it).

Registration of a body replacement as a replacement of the entire car as an official legitimation of this procedure is only suitable if the identification numbers (VIN) are applied only to the body surface location. That is, this cannot be done with frame SUVs and trucks, where only the cabin is changed. In addition, there must be no change in the design of the vehicle.

What is a design change? This is the installation of components that were not installed stock on this car model. For example, the most obvious one is the engine. It must match the model and characteristics of what was installed on your new body. We discussed this issue in more detail in the article about changing the engine. Let us emphasize in the context of our question that the new body must be exactly identical to the one being replaced - so that this very design does not change.

Also, in the second case, documents for the body will not be required to obtain the right to replace it.

But if you bought the “body” of the car new, then according to the documents it should be listed as a new license plate unit (that is, we are not talking about buying a new car, but rather a replacement component).

Documents for registering a new car body

Registration of replacement of this numbered vehicle unit is carried out by the traffic police of district and regional significance. This is where the car owner needs to submit all the necessary documents. What documents are needed to formalize the replacement of a car body in 2021 are determined by Order of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia dated December 21, 2019 N 950 “On approval of the Administrative Regulations of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation for the provision of state services for vehicle registration” (hereinafter Order N 950).

According to paragraph 27 of Order No. 950, the applicant must provide the following for re-registration:

Russian Federation passport.
Documents for the vehicle. This includes the vehicle title, its registration certificate, as well as a certificate certifying the safety of the vehicle’s design.
Sales and purchase agreement (or other document on the basis of which the ownership of the vehicle arose).
Documents for the numbered unit - in this case, this is the body, and you need to provide a certificate for it that it is a released vehicle. It is also necessary to attach papers that will record the marks of the customs authorities that this unit has been released into circulation in the customs territory of the Customs Union.
Vehicle registration application (not issued at all branches, but can often be obtained completed on site for an additional fee).

If you have any of the following documents, you must also provide them:

Documents for numbered units.
customs documents on the temporary import of vehicles for a period of more than six months (clause 27.4.4 of Order of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia dated December 21, 2019 N 950).
Documents on the disposal of the vehicle (when restoring the registration of vehicles that were not actually disposed of, but have already been deregistered) (clause 27.4.6 of Order of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia dated December 21, 2019 N 950).
Resolution of the investigative body and documents that are the basis for identifying the vehicle (for example, an expert opinion), in the situation of returning the vehicle after theft (clause 27.4.9 of Order of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia dated December 21, 2019 N 950).

Please note that at this time it is not mandatory to provide a compulsory motor liability insurance policy.

Documents received by registration departments from state bodies and organizations in electronic form, which can also be submitted by the applicant on his own initiative, include an insurance policy of compulsory insurance of civil liability of vehicle owners - in the case of registering the vehicle with the state and in the case of registration actions related to changing the owner of the vehicle.

This does not mean that you may not have an issued MTPL policy, you just don’t need to provide it in paper form, traffic police officers will see it in the database.

In addition to the main package of documents, you also need to pay a state fee for the provision of public services. The entire process of applying and receiving results must be completed within a short time frame. By law, a traffic police officer must serve you within an hour (Part 22 of Order No. 950).

How do I formalize a replacement?

So, here are a few instructions depending on each of the situations described above.

If the body is used

In this case, officially registering a replacement is similar to buying a used car:

you transfer everything from the car whose body is being replaced to a new one,
Next, you need to register this car in the same way as when buying a used car: replace the registration certificate, make changes to the title (of the old car).

An old body with old spare parts and components can be scrapped and written off for recycling or deregistered with the traffic police on the basis of loss.

Full instructions for registering changes in connection with a change in the owner of a car are here (namely, this is the procedure we carry out when replacing the main unit of a car). If you need to save license plates from an old car (with an old body), then the instructions are here.

If the body is new

New bodies in Russia can only be purchased for domestic cars. For foreign cars you will not find such new components on sale almost anywhere. But foreign manufacturers almost always, at the request of dealer centers in our country, provide plates with the necessary data.

In this case, the traffic police has no formal reasons for refusing to replace the body. But in practice, nuances are possible - the fact is that MREO traffic police inspectors are afraid to carry out rare and important procedures, and therefore it is easier for them to refuse to issue a replacement than to take responsibility. In this case, the requirement of a written refusal for video recording will help (it is not prohibited to film employees) - as a rule, this is where everything ends successfully for the applicant.

When purchasing a new body, in all cases there are documents for it. Under no circumstances should they be lost - registration of a replacement body with the State Traffic Inspectorate in 2021 is carried out strictly on the basis of documents for a new one (clause 17 of Order 399). You need to contact the traffic police with them, but even before replacing...

Because what awaits you next is a simplified, but rather expensive vehicle certification. The simplicity of the scheme lies in the fact that tests and examinations are not required, since the body is “native” and has already passed all the tests as part of your car model. But, nevertheless, the procedure is costly in terms of finances and time.

First, you need to obtain permission from the traffic police to replace the body - this is a formality and they do not have the right to refuse you, since the law of 2021 does not prohibit this.
Then you need to appear for a traffic police inspection with documents: STS, application for changes (written by hand addressed to the head of the MREO), PTS and the passport of the owner of the car.
Next, you need to replace the body with a new one - the car service must have a certificate of conformity for this type of work, otherwise they will refuse to officially register the changes. Also, do not forget to take documents from the service station: a certificate of completion of work and other documents that will be given to you.
The last step is to submit an application to the traffic police to make changes.

(DOCX format for filling out on a computer).
to fill out by hand.

Let's summarize the above in a small reminder on replacing the body.

The first option is that the body was purchased from a used vehicle. Then the registration procedure is identical to buying a car second-hand. You need to transfer everything from your car, in which you wanted to replace the body, to the purchased body. Then register. Obtain a new certificate of registration and make changes. Dispose of the body from your car, having previously removed it from the register. When buying a car as a donor, make sure that the VIN is clearly readable and there are no signs of tampering.
The second option is to buy a new body. This part is not so easy to purchase new. You can only purchase cars that are produced in the country. For a foreign car this will be problematic. Some dealerships come to the rescue and provide this item upon request. It would seem that in this case the traffic police cannot refuse to issue a replacement body. But in practice, car owners are faced with registration refusal even in such cases.

I have already changed the body - can I register it with the traffic police after the fact?

But it is impossible to legalize a car body that has already been replaced, as we mentioned above. Although it would seem that there are no legal grounds for refusal here, the VIN number is actually verified during the inspection. It is applied to the body and will not match the documents, and this is already a reason for legal refusal.

In addition, you did not receive prior permission to make changes to the design, and this contradicts paragraph 7.18 of the Basic Provisions of the Traffic Regulations.

However, in rare cases, it is possible to arrange such a replacement, although only through the court. But even an insignificant chance of this is possible only under 2 conditions:

you still have an old body with no signs of destruction or change in VIN number,
There are witnesses and documents for the replacement work performed.

Something else useful for you:

How to buy a used car legally?
Is it necessary to change the registration certificate when changing the registered address?
I lost the title of my car - how to restore it?

Obtaining Prior Authorization

Preliminary permission is issued by the technical supervision department of the traffic police. You must write an application to the specified structure to make changes to the vehicle. Based on the application, the traffic police will give the car owner recommendations on his further actions. Thus, traffic police officers may require that the car be submitted for preliminary inspection.

Also, based on paragraph 75 of the technical regulations of the Customs Union, the car owner may be sent to a testing laboratory for an examination to determine the possibility of making changes to the design of the vehicle. At the same time, paragraph 76 of the technical regulations determined that in the case of installation on a car of components that were produced specifically for this make and model of the car (must be confirmed by the manufacturer’s documents), a preliminary examination is not carried out.

If a car owner replaces the car body with an original one, there is no need to undergo testing in a testing laboratory; the traffic police will issue a preliminary permit immediately after a visual inspection of the car.

How to register?

Having in hand the vehicle passport, vehicle registration certificate, and compliance with the vehicle design, you can go to the MREO. This must be done within 10 days from the date of receipt of the SKTS (defined by paragraph 4 of Order of the Ministry of Internal Affairs No. 1001 of 2008 “On the procedure for registering a vehicle”). Upon arrival at the MREO, you must fill out an application for changes to the PTS and STS.

After this, the car itself is presented to the observation deck for inspection. Next, you need to pay the state fee (350 rubles for making changes to the PTS and 500 rubles for issuing a new STS) and submit all the above documents, along with your personal passport, to the vehicle registration window. It is necessary to have a valid MTPL policy (it is not necessary to submit it along with all documents, but an MREO employee will check this information through the electronic system).

How is it possible to change the body?

In principle, there are only 2 available options to re-register a vehicle with a modified body. They depend on whether the body used for replacement is completely new or used:

The option of purchasing a new body is the simplest and easiest from a legal point of view. Making changes will not be a significant problem, since the body itself is new, legally cleared and has no problems from the point of view of the traffic police inspector.
Purchase and use of a used body. This decision will be much more complicated, since before registering the changes, the car owner will need to carry out many different examinations and checks of the unit. In this case, many motorists purchase a used body as a full-fledged vehicle, carry out all the necessary registration measures and then install on it all the necessary elements for the full assembly of the car.

However, when replacing a body unit, the motorist must take into account this important fact that registration of a replacement is possible only if the VIN number of the body is located in the area of its surface. If similar actions are carried out with a frame body or a truck, then registration will not be possible.

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The car owner must remember that it is prohibited to change the design of the vehicle. This means that the car cannot be equipped with any units and components that were not intended for installation in the car by the manufacturer.