Current traffic rules regulate the procedure for driving a car. It includes a list of documents necessary for moving on the country’s roads. These include a certificate that is issued for a vehicle upon its registration with the traffic police. The absence of this document, i.e. driving without STS , is grounds for arresting the car and sending it to a impound lot.
Driving without an STS may result in an administrative penalty
What are the consequences for traveling without a vehicle?
For driving without an SOP, as well as for the absence of any of the required documents, sanctions are provided under the Code of Administrative Offenses.
- If the driver has all other documents, the inspector can release him without a fine. As practice shows, this happens quite often. It’s another matter if a traffic police officer is faced with the task of improving statistics on preventing violations - then any little thing can become the basis for a monetary punishment.
- Thus, missing registration documents, driver's licenses and insurance policies will lead to receiving a warning from the traffic police or a fine of 500 rubles - under Part 1 of Article 12.3 of the Administrative Code.
- When the reason for the absence of an SOP lies in the fact that the registration of the car after purchase was not carried out within the period allotted by law, the motorist faces punishment under Part 1 of Article 12.1 of the Code of Administrative Offenses - a fine of 500-800 rubles, and under paragraph 1.1 of the same article - if stopped again for that same violation, the driver will be fined 5 thousand rubles, or the driving license will be confiscated for 1-3 months.
What is STS
The document is issued for each vehicle in use and registered with the state. It is issued by the regional departments of vehicle registration of the State Traffic Safety Inspectorate. The certificate takes the form of a plastic card on which basic information about the car is written, defining its individuality. In addition to the make and model of the car, as well as the year of its manufacture, the STS indicates:
- personal information about the owner of the car (full name);
- car number, consisting of numbers and 3 letters;
- unique vehicle number (VIN) assigned by the manufacturer.
Important! The information contained in the certificate must correspond to the data in the traffic police database. It is used to check the legality of vehicles traveling on the country's roads. Mandatory information contained in the document includes a record of the vehicle category. It determines the level of professional training of drivers allowed to drive vehicles.
Vehicle registration certificate
The plastic certificates of trucks and SUVs contain a record of their chassis and frame numbers. Important information for tax authorities and insurance agents is the data from the car engine displacement certificate. Based on them, the amount of transport tax and the amount of insurance payments are calculated. Among other things, the certificate contains information about: the color of the car, its carrying capacity, weight with and without cargo.
What documents should the driver have?
In the section of general responsibilities of drivers in the traffic rules (clause 2.1.1) it is stated that the list of mandatory documents includes:
- VU or its temporary analogue;
- registration documents (STS);
- MTPL policy (it is allowed to present it electronically or show a printed copy of it, from October 29, 2021).
This package of documents must be presented at the request of State Traffic Inspectorate employees and, accordingly, must always be with you. Previously, this included a maintenance ticket, but now the clause about this has been removed from the Administrative Code.
Lost vehicle document
The most unpleasant incident that can happen to a driver is the loss of STS. Without this paper, it is impossible to confirm the fact of vehicle ownership in any other way. It contains all the data about the car and its owner. Driving without it may result in a warning, a fine, or being sent to the impound lot.
To avoid consequences, report the loss of the STS and restore it as quickly as possible . You can try to find the document by filing a theft report with the police. But after 3 months of fruitless searches, the case will be closed, and you will still have to go to the state traffic inspectorate, taking with you an application to restore the document.
Reasons for driving without a registration document
There can be many reasons for missing evidence - as with any forgotten thing. Most often, traffic police officers hear the following excuses:
- left at home (for example, in other clothes or a bag);
- lost and not yet restored;
- one vehicle is used by several family members included in the MTPL, and one of them retains the certificate;
- a power of attorney was issued, but they forgot to give the STS (for example, when the car is a right-hand drive “designer” and cannot be re-registered, therefore it is sold exclusively by power of attorney).
Let's sum it up
Is driving without a vehicle registration certificate subject to a fine? The answer is clear: yes. A detailed list of administrative sanctions for this violation is indicated above in the table. You can drive a vehicle without a license only in one case - within 10 days after purchasing the car. This period is given to the driver in order to register the car and complete all necessary documents. In other cases, the vehicle registration certificate is required to be presented to a traffic police officer when stopped.
In what cases is it allowed to travel without a registration certificate?
If the car has just been purchased, the new owner has 10 days to register it. During this period, he can travel by car without an insurance policy and vehicle insurance.
However, you must understand that if an accident occurs due to the fault of the driver, the injured party will have to compensate for losses from their own funds. Therefore, the first thing after purchasing is to register the car and take out an insurance policy.
Also, instead of the specified documents, the motorist must carry with him a purchase and sale agreement and a title with the details of the new owner and the date of purchase entered into it.
According to Article 19.22 of the Code of Administrative Offenses, a driver who fails to complete registration actions within the specified period will be issued a fine, which will have to be paid upon registration:
- 1.5-2 thousand for individuals;
- 2-3 thousand for civil servants;
- 5-10 thousand for legal entities.
Until 2013, it was possible to obtain temporary transit numbers and use them before registering and receiving STS within 20 days (but some continued to travel after the period had expired).
After re-registration became possible at any traffic police department, such a privilege was retained only for 3 categories of owners:
- legal entities;
- IP;
- individuals living in another country and transporting vehicles there.
Is it possible to drive if the car is not registered with the traffic police at all?
According to the legislation of the Russian Federation, it is impossible to use a vehicle that is not registered with the traffic police . Driving without a vehicle is a violation of traffic rules. This offense is punishable by up to the deprivation of a driver's license and the towing of the vehicle.
In the Russian Federation, the rights and obligations of car drivers are regulated by the Code of Administrative Offenses (CAO RF). Car owners need to familiarize themselves with Chapter 12 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation in more detail. It is important to know that after purchasing a car, the first thing you need to do is register the vehicle.
The new owner of the car is given ten calendar days to register the vehicle (clause 3 of the Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation of August 12, 1994 No. 938). The starting point is the date of the transaction specified in the purchase and sale agreement, deed of gift or other document.
If the vehicle was not registered in a timely manner, and the owner continues to operate the vehicle, then he faces a fine of 500 to 800 rubles (according to Article 12.1 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation). It is worth noting that verbal warnings are rarely used. Usually the driver is issued a fine, since this is one of the sources of replenishment of the state budget.
This penalty also applies to cases where one of the license plates is missing. You should be vigilant on the roads so as not to get into an unpleasant situation.
When is it possible to drive a car that is not duly registered, and for how long?
If a car is bought new from the showroom, then it does not have a state registration number . Driving a car without license plates is prohibited by law. But there are two options when driving without a car registration certificate is allowed:
- The vehicle was recently purchased and has not yet been registered. In this case, the car owner has 10 days to register the vehicle and obtain a permanent license plate.
- Based on Order of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia dated June 26, 2018 N 399 (Appendix 1, paragraph 33), legal entities and individual entrepreneurs can obtain transit numbers for a period of 30 days.
During this period, the driver does not face a fine. After April 3, 2011, there is no need to deregister a car before selling it, therefore, individuals are issued transit numbers if the vehicle is taken abroad for permanent stay (Appendix 1, paragraph 43 of Order of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia dated June 26, 2018 N 399).
If the driver purchased a new car and has not yet received the STS, when stopped by a traffic police inspector, you must have the following documents with you in order to avoid a fine :
- Driver's license.
- OSAGO policy.
- Vehicle Passport (PVC).
- Contract of sale.
Can the STS be replaced by the PTS when stopped by an inspector?
Some drivers are convinced that driving without a vehicle is unlikely to have serious consequences, especially when they have the rest of the necessary documents with them - license, insurance and vehicle passport. Sometimes people are so convinced of the interchangeability of PTS and STS that they even manage to convince the inspector of this and avoid a fine.
The fact is that more than 10 years ago, technical passports, common in Soviet times, were still issued for cars. They really were the “harbingers” of the SOP. Now they can still be found, but they must be replaced whenever you contact the traffic police department. And yet, the SOP is an analogue of a technical passport, and not a modern PTS. You can learn more about “Do you need to take your PTS with you” from this article.
No STS, but there is PTS
The abbreviation PTS means a passport of a technical device, including:
- Series and passport of the document - this data is assigned by the car manufacturer upon its release, and if the title is lost, then the motorist can only be provided with a duplicate of it.
- The vehicle's VIN code is a personal identification number (it is unique and indicates the country of manufacture and other data).
- Vehicle body type and type of car.
- Date of manufacture (sometimes this is not on the paper, but according to the rules it should be).
- Chassis number - contained only in frame types.
- The body number is the same unique VIN code (it is used to search in case of theft).
From the above we can conclude that, by and large, the PTS is a document that includes data on road transport. After this comes information about the owner.
Reference! The PTS only confirms that the driver has the right to use the car, so to prove this fact you can simply present your license.
Is it possible to evacuate a car for lack of SOP?
Such a measure as evacuation (Part 1 of Article 27.13 of the Code of Administrative Offenses) is used quite rarely and, as a rule, there must be a good reason for it. The reason may be the provocative behavior of the car owner or the presence of other related violations.
In this case, the driver will have to go to get documents, pay fines and towing, and pick up the vehicle. If the STS is lost, the situation becomes somewhat more complicated. You will need to spend more time and money - go to the State Traffic Inspectorate office, write a statement about the loss, wait for a new document to be issued, and only then pick up the car from the parking lot, where the tariff, after the first free day, is 30-60 rubles per hour.
However, for the very fact of the absence of STS, they do not resort to evacuation of the car.
Punishment for forgotten evidence
Not in all situations, drivers break the law intentionally, and most often the lack of a registration certificate is caused by simple forgetfulness. But despite this seemingly valid reason, punishment for forgotten STS is still provided. Depending on the discretion of the police officer, this can be either a warning (and this is the best option for the driver) or a fine of 500 rubles.
In practice, many employees accommodate motorists halfway and allow them to bring documents forgotten at home (in person or ask friends about it) within the prescribed period. If it is not possible to deliver the registration certificate to the police during this time, they will draw up a report in accordance with all the rules and issue a fine. Another important point to remember is that for not having an STS, a motorist may be removed from driving, and his car will be sent to a impound lot. Moreover, this applies to both the complete absence of registration documents and the situation when they were simply forgotten at home (and were not delivered to traffic police officers at the appointed time).
Help Description
STS is a vehicle certificate. A document that is issued during the registration of a car with the authorized bodies. Today, a certificate can be presented on paper or a small plastic card.
Is it possible to drive without STS in the Russian Federation? And if this is allowed, then how to protect yourself from unnecessary problems with law enforcement agencies? We will try to find answers to all this further.
Lack of registration
But the sanctions cannot end there either. Russian legislation at the moment is not only flexible, but also multifaceted. The absence of a registration certificate is most often accompanied by late registration of the car with the traffic police.
This is a serious violation that entails a number of penalties. For example, if drivers are caught for the first time for untimely registration, the driver faces a fine of 1.5 to 2 thousand rubles. There are no ways to exempt yourself from liability. All that a car owner can do is prove that the time allotted for registering movable property has not expired.
Possible violations
Driving a car without a vehicle license is a fairly common violation. And the owner of a vehicle does not always have to face various sanctions. Much depends on the circumstances under which the driver was detained without a driving license.
Here are the life circumstances that most often occur in practice:
- the evidence is forgotten somewhere;
- the document was stolen or lost;
- STS has fallen into disrepair;
- There is no prescribed form at all.
Next, we will try to consider all the situations listed above and ways to relieve liability for driving a vehicle without documents. As practice shows, it is often possible to get rid of sanctions. But only responsible drivers have this right.
Mandatory documents for the driver
But first, let’s find out what certificates every modern driver should have. Their list is very limited.
To get behind the wheel without fear, the driver will have to prepare:
- car license;
- certificate of vehicle registration;
- OSAGO or CASCO policy;
- any personal identifier.
Additionally, license plates must be attached to the vehicle in specially designated areas. Only under such circumstances can you not worry about driving a vehicle without documents.
