PTS and STS: what is it, how is it different, how to find out the number, can it be restored?

Each driver, going even on a short trip, is required to have a certain set of documents with him:

• driving license;
• car insurance;
• diagnostic card;
• STS.

In the event that one of the documents listed above is missing for any reason, the driver will certainly be punished when meeting with the traffic police inspector. This may be a temporary restriction on driving a car or various penalties defined by law.

In our article we will deal with one of the most important driver’s licenses - STS.

Purpose of STS

STS is an abbreviation for the name of the certificate of registration of a vehicle with the State Traffic Safety Inspectorate; it is a mandatory document confirming registration. Considering this fact, it is clear that this certificate must be presented upon the first request of the traffic police, which means that it must always be with the driver.

This certificate has strictly established parameters by law:

• dimensions – 80 by 115 mm;
• The registration form must be filled out on both sides – front and back.

Let's take a closer look at what a vehicle registration certificate looks like.

Front side

This side contains all the information available about the car, duplicating in the main points the information located on the front side of the PTS (vehicle passport), and which displays:

• state car number;
• car release date;
• category;
• VIN code;
• car make and model;
• body, engine and chassis number;
• engine volume and power;
• body color.

The most important and, perhaps, the only difference between these certificates is that the registration number of the car is entered in the first line of the certificate.

Reverse side

This side contains all the necessary information about the owner of the car - his full name, place of residence, as well as the place of registration of the vehicle. In addition, here you can find all the basic information about the organization that issued this certificate.

An important line to check will be special marks. This field must be filled out if significant changes have been made to the design of the vehicle, for example, gas equipment has been installed.

STS number

Like any other document, the STS has its own number and series. They are expressed by three letters, three numbers and a region code. The number and series of the STS car are indicated on both sides of the document and are highlighted in bright red.

What are STS and PTS - are they the same thing or not?

A PTS certifies your prerogative to own a vehicle.

If you have a passport with a car, you can carry out operations such as purchase, sale, re-registration to another owner, mortgaging, etc.

You do not have to carry this vehicle document with you every time you use the car.

STS can be deciphered as “Vehicle Registration Certificate”. It is considered one of the main documents for a car, which citizens often cannot distinguish from a title.

You should always take this document with you while driving. If you do not have this paper with you, you may be fined 500 rubles, and if the situation repeats, you may be deprived of your driver's license.

The PTS indicates the technical characteristics, color of the car, model, dates of registration and deregistration at the MREO department, information about the owners of the car in a situation where the car was purchased on the market without intermediaries.

The passport is issued by the vehicle manufacturer in a situation where the car was manufactured in the state in which you live. When the car is released abroad, the PTS is issued by customs.

The STS indicates the technical characteristics of the car and information about the owner, which is entered into the certificate on the basis of the owner’s passport.

For this purpose, the passport has 6 sections, i.e. You can enter information about six owners into the document. If the number of owners exceeds this value, then you need to purchase a new form at any traffic police department.

Unlike the PTS, the STS indicates the specific owner of the car who is the current owner. When the owner changes, the STS must also be changed.

Information included in the certificate and passport:

Relationship in car documents

• 
  Both the vehicle passport and the STS always have the Goznak seal, have security holograms, as well as watermarks. Issued on government letterhead.

• During the issuance of PTS and STS, these documents are assigned the same number and series. They are issued simultaneously for the convenience of filling out databases. Thanks to this, if a traffic police officer has questions during the detention of a car, you can check the presence of unpaid fines and the history of the car purchased second-hand. This is done by entering the number or series of PTS, or STS, into the search bar of the database, if the owner has any of these documents with him.
• PTS and STS can be obtained at every traffic police department, but PTS are received here only in case of loss or damage to the document.
• In case of loss or loss of proper appearance as a result of long-term use of PTS and STS, the owners need to replace the documents. You also need to replace your papers if you have changed your last name or place of residence.

Forgery of these documents may result in criminal liability.

In our country, there are often cases of forgery of certificates and passports. Before purchasing a car, you must carefully study the vehicle's passport. It is necessary to carefully check the authenticity of the vehicle passport. If you have even the slightest doubt, it is advisable to refuse this purchase.

If you decide to buy a used car through an advertisement or from friends, you need to make sure that all the necessary documents are available. If any of the documents presented are missing, refrain from purchasing.

This is what a vehicle passport (PTS) looks like:

Below is a sample vehicle registration certificate (VRC):

As in the transport passport, so in the certificate, the number is indicated, the state seal is affixed, and measures are taken to protect the document.

The following data is entered into each document:

1. The VIN is a one-of-a-kind identification code that is issued for each vehicle. This code must consist of 17 characters and includes both numbers and Latin letters.

Contains brief information about the technical characteristics, car manufacturer and year of manufacture.

2. Maximum permissible weight.
3. Trademark, model and type of vehicle. This information affects the category of rights.
4. Engine operating volume.
5. Minimum weight without additional load, i.e. the so-called “pure” mass.
6. Power in horsepower and kW.
7. Engine license plate.
8. Year of issue.
9. Chassis number (if there is a chassis).
10. Full name and other data from the car owner’s passport, entered into the police database.

Conclusion

So, the article analyzed all the characteristics and information contained in such important documents for drivers as PTS and STS. The differences between the above documents, as well as their common features, were examined.

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Where do you get the certificate?

When purchasing a car, no matter whether it is new or used, every car owner is required to register it. This procedure takes place in the vehicle registration department of the State Traffic Inspectorate of the Russian Federation. When contacting this government agency, you must provide the following list of documents:

• technical certificate;
• car purchase agreement;
• certificates confirming the cost of the car;
• vehicle owner's passport. This is one of the most important documents, without which obtaining or restoring a certificate is almost impossible;
• OSAGO – insurance policy;
• receipt of payment of the state duty, which is 500 rubles. From August 3, 2021, STS is issued in a plastic version and this option costs 1,500 rubles. Today there is an option to save a little - you can apply for registration through the State Services portal and reduce the amount required for payment by 30%, which is 350 and 245 rubles when registering for the plastic option.

If you purchased a used car with existing license plates to this list, you will also need to add the old registration document.

After the owner of the car submits all the required papers, a full check of the presented car is carried out. Provided that everything is in order with the vehicle documentation, the vehicle registration certificate will be issued within the prescribed period, which is no more than ten days.

What are the differences between the documents?

The information presented above demonstrates that each of the mentioned forms contains a lot of duplicate information about the car and its owners. Therefore, it makes sense to consider in detail the most fundamental differences between the copies, which are of an informational, legal and functional nature:

1. A distinctive feature of the papers is their visual difference: PTS is a blue sheet of A4 format, while STS is executed in the format of a pink laminated card.
2. The PTS is issued directly for a specific car and includes comprehensive information about movable property, and the STS is issued exclusively to the current owner of the car, where important information about the car is displayed in an abbreviated format.
3. The place of issuance of the PTS is usually the manufacturer or seller selling the car, as well as customs in the case of importing a car across the border; much less often, the document is issued at the State Traffic Safety Inspectorate, but the STS is issued exclusively at the MREO, upon registration.
4. The registration certificate becomes a lifelong written accompaniment of transport, does not change when the owner of the car changes, when, as a registration certificate, it is considered another form certifying not only data about the vehicle, but also about its current owner, and therefore is subject to scheduled replacement.
5. Registration of a property purchase and sale transaction is always accompanied by a title, and can also act as collateral when taking out a loan, but the certificate must be presented much more often: when drawing up insurance documents and policies for a car, as well as during scheduled checks by traffic police officers on the roads.

It is noticeable that both documents indicate the date of their issue. But the places of receipt vary. In the case of STS, more options are added in the form of tax authorities, MREO, OVD, Ministry of Internal Affairs, bailiffs and even insurers - in practice, this is much more convenient during a planned inspection.

It is also important to note that only one owner of the car can be reflected in the certificate, when, as a PTS, up to 6 people inclusive, depending on the total number of owners. Moreover, a full replacement is not required if there is enough space for a new recording.

Mandatory change of document

An important point is the fact that no changes can be made to an existing vehicle registration document, and if any information about the owner of the car or the vehicle itself suddenly changes, the previously issued document will need to be changed. This procedure can be easily completed using the State Services portal, as well as at the local traffic police office.

1. If the owner of the car has changed his last name or place of residence, or if the certificate is damaged, it is not necessary to present the car for re-inspection.
2. If the vehicle has undergone design changes of any kind, the car will need to be brought to the traffic police department to assess the admissibility of such changes.

To obtain a new registration certificate, the car owner will need to fill out a special form, which can be printed from the State Services website or obtained from the State Traffic Safety Inspectorate. It is important to highlight the line here due to the changes that have appeared.

What does STS look like?

In appearance, the STS is a compact form with a size of 80×115 millimeters. If you look at the registration, you can find out about the vehicle:

• Code assigned to a specific form;
• A number that is similar to the symbols on a car sign;
• Machine code in digital form, which helps to identify the manufacturer and parameters;
• Criteria that were included at the time of manufacture, such as power, weight and other criteria;
• Personal data of the owner, including the registration address to which fines will be sent;
• The number assigned to the document, which provides the property right to the car;
• Additional data.

Restoring a certificate in case of loss

Sometimes an unforeseen situation may occur and the owner of the vehicle may lose this license or it may be stolen. The registration certificate must be presented to the traffic police inspector and contains information important for identifying the car and its owner. As experts note, the driver should always have this registration certificate, but it is better to leave the PTS at home. This is important because if you lose the STS and have a PTS in hand, the restoration of the lost document occurs quickly, but if you lose the PTS, the presence of the STS makes little difference and the restoration of the vehicle passport will be very long and troublesome. In any case, the owner of the car will have to write a statement about theft or loss - it will still be impossible to avoid a fine. An important nuance in this matter is the fact that driving a car without a license is prohibited by law and before going to the traffic police department, the owner of the car will need to take a certificate of loss of the certificate, but it will only be valid for “driving” the car to the desired traffic police department.

In such a situation, the owner will need to be patient, since driving a car without this document is strictly prohibited, and obtaining a new registration certificate will take time. How long it takes to restore depends on what exactly was missing. After the theft, it usually takes a much longer period of time to restore all the necessary documents. This is due to the fact that it will be necessary to collect a number of additional certificates, and in some cases even wait until the theft case is completely closed. The situation will be especially difficult if the PTS was lost along with the STS certificate.

When submitting all the documents required by law, the owner of the car does not have to submit receipts confirming payment of the state duty and compulsory motor liability insurance; the inspector will receive information about this independently in electronic form.

Refusal to restore a document

In special cases, the owner of a vehicle may be denied restoration of the STS. This can happen for several reasons:

• incomplete set of required documents;
• there is no tax payment stamp;
• during the inspection, deficiencies were discovered in the car that do not meet safety requirements;
• Inconsistencies were found in the documentation submitted to the State Traffic Safety Inspectorate.

If such a situation arises, the car owner must submit a written application to explain the existing problems.

What is a vehicle passport

PTS (vehicle passport) is the main document for a car that is not strictly tied to the current owner of the car. The most important technical characteristics are listed here, and all previous owners are also reflected.
It is thanks to the PTS that you can find out how often and in what ways the vehicle was sold, how many owners it changed, and also how long a certain person owned it. In fact, the PTS is a standard blue A4 sheet with a state registration mark. According to Order of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation No. 938, an electronic analogue of the form is also allowed.

Penalties in the absence of STS

As noted earlier, driving a vehicle without this certificate is strictly prohibited.

The legislation of our country provides for penalties for this violation, namely a fine of 500 rubles and delivery of the car to the impound lot until a new STS is issued (in case of loss or theft) or until the driver brings the STS (if it was left at home). Some drivers who are negligent in their duties try to drive without this certificate, hoping to convince the inspector who stopped him that the document was lost recently and they are going to restore it. Unfortunately for such “would-be drivers”, they rarely manage to convince the inspectors, and punishment will be inevitable.

Another variant of the violation would be a situation where the driver drives the car without replacing the certificate in a timely manner, for example, when changing his last name. In this case, at the first stop, the driver will have to pay 500-800 rubles, but a second stop will cost 5,000 or a deprivation of license will follow from one to three months.

Vehicle engine number where to look

Afterwards the car owner will receive a notification coupon. Now he is protected from various suspicions, even if illegal actions using a stolen car or PTS are revealed. For restoration, you must personally provide an STS, a civil passport, and an MTPL insurance policy. The new passport will have a new series and number. After changing the PTS, you will have to change the STS to ensure that the numbers in both documents are identical.

This way all the hidden places and cavities will be visible. Often, some car manufacturers emboss the engine number so that it can be seen with a small mirror. For example, the Ford engine number is located on the bottom panel below the oil filter. Also, using the PTS, you can quickly restore a lost STS. You just need to contact the traffic police, present the car and its passport. A car may be needed, since sometimes it is necessary to verify the VIN and other individual vehicle numbers.

PTS fraud when selling a car

In Russia, there are often cases of fraud with the title of a car when selling it.

Some of the most common cases, as a rule, are associated with receiving an official duplicate at the traffic police department due to “loss,” while the original title is pledged to the bank that issued the loan for the car or to another organization.

In such cases, what most often suffers is the new buyer who honestly bought the car, and after some time his car is seized due to the debts of the previous owners.

In order not to become an “injured party” when buying a car, you must very carefully check the authenticity of the Passport of the car you plan to buy. If there is any doubt about the authenticity of the title, it is better to refuse to purchase this car.

It is also better not to consider options for cars with a duplicate title. Even if the car does not turn out to be a credit car, there is a high probability that the previous owner of the car had some problems with the original Passport, which could be “inherited”.

If ALL documents are lost

Of course, it is reckless to carry all your documents with you at all times, but some frivolous citizens do just that. This recovery option is the most troublesome and time-consuming. First of all, you will have to start restoring your general passport in accordance with the established procedure. After your passport is restored, you need to pay a visit to the police department, the passport office, the traffic police, or the insurance company.

See the order in which all lost documents are restored (some of the activities can be performed simultaneously):

• Vehicle passport
• Vehicle certificate
• Medical commission to obtain a certificate for the restoration of rights to drive a vehicle
• Driver license
• OSAGO policy
• Maintenance ticket

The procedure is a little simplified if the car was purchased on credit or pledged to a bank. After receiving your passport, you can simply contact the bank and temporarily receive a PTS until the rest of the documents are restored. The most difficult case is if the car itself was stolen along with the loss of documents. With this option, you can expect the most unpleasant consequences.

Everything you need to know about PTS

The vehicle passport is the main document that must be carefully checked before purchasing (especially “hand-held”). It reflects all the information about the car from the moment of its release.

Like a citizen’s passport, this document provides several degrees of protection in order to minimize the likelihood of forgery.

Who issues it:

• If the car was manufactured in Russia - the manufacturer. At the same time, the vehicle can also be of a foreign brand, because in our country there are branches of several automakers.
• Traffic police. The traffic police can issue a PTS only if it is lost (stolen), or in cases where all free information points are filled out.
• Customs authority if the imported vehicle is imported from another country.
• If the car has undergone a conversion procedure, the title can be issued by the company where it was produced. In this case, the passport indicates all changes made to the characteristics of the car.

What information does it contain?

The vehicle passport contains more than 20 items (the specific number depends on the type of car), which contain complete information:

• Personal data of the car owner.
• Name of the institution that issued the PTS.
• TS model.
• Type (car, truck, etc.).
• Vin code. This is a special identification number assigned by the manufacturer.
• Year of issue.
• Vehicle category.
• Engine personal data (number and model).
• Information about the chassis and frame (relevant for trucks and SUVs).
• Information about the body (cabin or trailer). Often the serial number of the body coincides with the VIN code (if the vehicle is only from the assembly line).
• Vehicle color.
• Characteristics of the power unit: displacement, power level and type (diesel, hybrid or gasoline).
• Total NET weight.
• The maximum permissible load on the vehicle, taking into account the weight of the vehicle.
• If the car was imported from another country, the state from which it was brought is indicated.
• Information about customs restrictions (if any).
• Information about the car manufacturer.
• Ecological class of the car (according to European standards).

We can say that the PTS is a kind of biography of the car. Based on this document, you can obtain complete information about the vehicle. This document is not available in all countries. So, in Belarus they get by with a car’s registration certificate.

How to get STS for a used car when purchasing?

If you are buying a used car, you will also need to register it properly. To do this, you need to contact the traffic police and provide the documents received from the seller. The last year has shown that it is better to come to the police with the seller. The new procedure for registering vehicles has seriously increased the chances of selling you a vehicle that is not very clean in legal terms. Therefore, it is better to protect yourself and not let the seller go until the car is completely re-registered. The process of obtaining a new STS for a car is as follows:

• You submit documents for the car at the registration window of any traffic police department;
• the papers should include PTS, STS, the new owner’s passport, as well as an application and receipts for payment of fees;
• traffic police officers check the car for crime;
• documents are checked, as well as a physical inspection of the vehicle, body and engine numbers are verified;
• within an hour, a new STS is produced and changes are made to the vehicle passport;
• also, after completing the act of purchasing the car, it is necessary to obtain new insurance for the new owner;
• you can keep your old license plates and save about 2,000 rubles on issuing new license plates.

A new STS is being produced, and only changes are being made to the PTS. However, these subtleties should not worry you, because all procedures are carried out independently by representatives of law enforcement agencies. Your job is to submit all documents, pay registration fees and charges, and present your vehicle for inspection. It is better to come to the traffic police with the old owner, so as not to receive a stolen car or a designer car that no one will issue for you. You should also be careful with copies of PTS and STS. This is a common method of deception and fraud when selling a car.