Duplicate PTS: what could this suspicious document hide?

What does duplicate PTS mean?

A duplicate vehicle passport (PTS) is an official document that is issued by the State Traffic Safety Inspectorate indicating the reason for issuance and the details of the original.

A duplicate PTS is issued to the car owner in two cases. The first is when there is no free space to enter new information (the columns have run out).

The original document has 6 fields for filling in information about the owner of the car. At first glance, it seems that there are a lot of fields, and there are more than enough of them even to resell the car several times. However, this opinion is wrong.

Let's explain with an example. The first owner of the vehicle is the manufacturer, then the car is sent to the dealership for sale. And 2 fields have already been filled, although the iron horse did not even have time to reach the hands of the car enthusiast. There are also frequent cases when a car wanders from one salon to another, waiting for the time of operation. These are a couple more filled-in boxes.

Also, when changing the owner’s last name, first name or patronymic, this information is indicated in the PTS. Thus, the car can only be used by one person, and there will no longer be any free space in the vehicle passport.

The second case is the loss or theft of a document. This is another reason why vehicle owners contact the traffic police. In this situation, future buyers of used cars should be careful. In this article, Autocode will tell you how to prevent problems that can result from buying a car with a duplicate title.

What are the disadvantages of a duplicate?

Many scammers who want to sell a vehicle purchased with borrowed money from a financial institution restore the vehicle's passport.

The original document remains with the financial institution until the loan is fully repaid. Due to insufficient information in the database of the state automobile inspection, employees accept an application from the fraudulent owner to issue a duplicate document.

It turns out that an unsuspecting buyer purchases a vehicle that is pledged to a credit institution.

However, the above disadvantages are relevant to vehicle buyers. If we talk about car owners, they may experience difficulties when selling their car.

Many buyers refuse to buy a vehicle with a duplicate passport in order to protect themselves and their finances.

With the right approach to selling a car, the seller will not observe any shortcomings in such a document.

What a duplicate PTS looks like: how to distinguish a duplicate PTS from the original

A duplicate of a car passport is made on the same paper as the original. To the touch it resembles the material of banknotes.

If you move your eyes from top to bottom along the front side of the document, first you will come across a large inscription “DUPLICATE”, and then - the stamp of the traffic police (instead of the stamp of the manufacturer or customs authority, which is present on the original). On the other side there must be a special mark indicating the reason for issuing the duplicate. For example, “... due to the disposal of the original.”

How to protect yourself from buying a stolen car?

To exclude the purchase of stolen vehicles or cars that are pledged, it is recommended to exercise maximum care.

In addition to the precautions described above, you should also look at the following points:

1. if the list of car owners is huge, this should alert the buyer. This is usually how scammers confuse their tracks. It is important for the driver to know how many owners can be included in the title. The maximum digit is 6;
2. Customs marks must be made in the PTS of foreign cars. Otherwise, restrictions may be imposed on the use of the vehicle;
3. if you notice a distant registration region in the document, this should alert you;
4. if a dubious dealership sells a copy car, it is better not to make a purchase from it;
5. It is dangerous to purchase a car with a copy if it is completely new;
6. if a car is sold at a very low price, and the seller is trying to sell the vehicle as quickly as possible, this should be a concern.

What to be afraid of when buying a car with a duplicate title

If the buyer is going to buy a car with a non-original title, he should make sure that the seller is not a fraudster.

There are several fraudulent schemes in the modern market for buying and selling used cars. One of the most popular is the sale of credit cars. Criminals buy a vehicle on credit secured by a title. Next, they contact the traffic police department with a request to restore the lost vehicle passport. And based on the legal owner, a duplicate is made in the name of the fraudster. He sells the loan car, thereby transferring all loan obligations to the new owner.

The second way to deceive buyers is to sell a car that is the subject of property disputes. In this case, the original PTS is in the possession of one person, and the car is in the possession of another. The fraudster contacts the traffic police, receives a non-original document and sells the car on the secondary market. Even after the sale of the vehicle, it does not cease to be the object of a property dispute, therefore, after the trial, the new owner will have to give the car back, even if he is a bona fide purchaser. In 98% of cases, the court sides with the real owner of the car.

Step-by-step instructions for registering a duplicate PTS at the State Traffic Safety Inspectorate

Next you need to pay taxes. At the same time, carefully fill out all the fields and details of the payer, otherwise you may face a refusal to issue the document. Payment details can be obtained from the MREO or the traffic police department.

To make a duplicate PTS, you must do the following:

1. Visit any MREO branch. Find out where applications are accepted and get in line at that window.
2. Next, the car must undergo inspection at the MREO site. Drive it here and wait for the check to finish. A traffic police officer conducts a superficial check of the basic data of the car specified in the title.
3. After inspecting the car and checking all the documentation, all you have to do is wait for the duplicate title to be issued and pick it up at the MREO.

Important!
If, during the process of obtaining a duplicate PTS, for some reason you do not have time to personally pick up a copy, you can issue a power of attorney for another person to do it for you. Please note that the authorized representative must provide not only the original power of attorney, but also a copy of it, which remains in the branch.

In some cases, traffic police officers may refuse to issue a copy of the PTS for various reasons. However, there is no need to panic. Contact the person in charge and ask for the refusal in writing with a detailed explanation of the reasons. Repeat the document collection procedure again and send a complaint to the head of the MREO with a demand to understand the situation and influence the solution of the problem.

If you again receive a negative decision, although there are no apparent reasons for this, you can go to court and appeal against the unlawful actions of officials. To be guaranteed to win the process, be sure to enlist the support of a qualified lawyer.

You can also apply for a duplicate PTS via the Internet, on the website of the government services portal. To do this, follow these steps:

1. Go to the State Services website, register an account or log into your personal account if one already exists.
2. On the main page, find the appropriate section and go to it.
3. On the next page, find the “Vehicle Registration” menu and go to this section.
4. On the next page you can obtain detailed information regarding the issuance of a duplicate PTS. Click "Next".
5. Then you need to fill out all existing fields and enter reliable data about the car.

Check the entered information again - if you make the slightest mistake, you may be denied a duplicate PTS.

1. Now choose the time and date that suits you for your appointment at MREO.
2. After submitting your application at the appointed time, you can pick up the document.

How to check a duplicate PTS

Today, a person who wants to buy a used car can easily find a photo of a duplicate title on the Internet. From the photograph and description provided earlier, you can easily find the most obvious signs of differences.

However, immediately obvious differences do not guarantee the authenticity of a document. Autocode will tell readers how to distinguish the original from the fake.

• Checking the authenticity of the paper. A duplicate of the PTS is made using watermarks and holograms. The document also contains three-dimensional images.

• Check to retrieve information about the old owner of the car. If fraudsters tried to write any inscriptions on a duplicate, the letters will still remain on the paper. In this case, hold the document up to the light and look at it; the old information will be visible through the sheet of paper.

• Compliance of the information indicated on the document with the vehicle being sold. The information includes the make, model and color of the iron horse, engine size, weight, production date, chassis number. You can see some parameters yourself under the hood, while others will only be determined in a car service center, for example, the weight of the car.

What is a copy of PTS?

Gosznak prepares a form that the owner of the vehicle receives. Specialists report for each document issued on blue paper. Although a duplicate is an official document, it is different from a lost one.

It contains a column “Special notes” with the entry: “Duplicate. Issued to replace the old PTS.” It contains the details of the original.

Are there any other differences between the duplicate and the original PTS?

No. It contains the same twenty-four columns. They also reflect particularly important information, in particular the car make, VIN number, body type, engine information, year of manufacture, weight, full name and other information about the driver.

Fraudsters hand over fake PTS to their victims. It is difficult to distinguish them from the real ones. A professional will find the differences, but a layman will not. The duplicate always indicates that it was issued as a replacement for the lost one.

It also has a watermark. Fake documents are made at home, and therefore there is little accuracy in them.

A duplicate PTS is issued when the owner of the vehicle has changed, the original document is lost/lost, the place of registration of the owner of the vehicle has changed and there are no free lines in the old one.

How to get

This certificate is not required to be presented to road patrol officers. Basically, a document is required during the registration of a car that the latter belongs to a specific person. Long-term use of the unit, frequent changes of owners, loss or damage will render the form unreadable, which will require its replacement.

Obtaining an official copy is necessary for the further sale of the machine. When the owner of the unit applies for a duplicate PTS, it is issued on the same day, with the exception of additional checks. However, how to obtain a duplicate PTS, what documents need to be provided.

They are presented in the following package:

• certificate of ownership of the car;
• civil passport;
• certificate of compulsory motor third party liability insurance;
• bill of sale, purchase and sale agreement or other documents confirming the purchase of transport;
• an explanatory note indicating the reason for the replacement;
• a statement of the established form;
• receipt of payment of the state fee.

The text of the explanatory note is added with a written promise that if the former PTS is found, it will be returned to the traffic police. If the vehicle was stolen, a certificate from the police about the termination of the criminal case will be added. Not only the owner of the car, but also his representative with a notarized power of attorney has the right to receive an official copy.

The algorithm for obtaining a certificate doublet is as follows:

1. Arrive at the registration and examination department on a unit that is about to be issued a new passport.
2. Pay a state fee for issuing a document in the amount of 500 rubles, for issuing a repeated document - 300.
3. Provide the car for inspection by an inspector, who will mark the loss or damage of the passport in the application.

You also need to hand over a set of documents to the traffic police officer and find out about the date of issue of the new passport.

If there is a robbery or theft of documents, including the one mentioned, you should not list it in the statement of theft to law enforcement agencies. Failure to comply with the recommendation will lead to the opening of a criminal case for theft, which is unknown when and how it will end.

A protracted investigation will not allow obtaining a new certificate, which will make the owner horseless for a long time. A statement of loss will allow you to receive a duplicate in the shortest possible time without any investigation. The new form will have a record of re-issuance, information from the old document.

Difference from the original

The registration of a duplicate PTS is carried out according to the same rules as the registration of the original.

However, the recovered document is different:

• the presence in the upper part of a special stamp indicating the restoration of the document;
• indications in the “Special Notes” column of the reasons and date for replacing the original PTS.

Why you should be wary of a duplicate when buying a car

A duplicate PTS indicates that for some reason the owner of the car lost the original. This could be by accident - lost or damaged, or it could be part of a scammer's action.

There can be two criminal schemes for selling a car with a duplicate title:

• the car is stolen;
• The original passport is a guarantee of collateral obligations, where the main collateral is a car. And if the creditor is not repaid, the court may seize your car.

Often, such lending firms interact with dummies to sell cars, ultimately receiving both money and the car. Therefore, you should very carefully study all the documentation and evaluate the people selling the car.

If the car is almost new, it can be bought on credit, then it will also be taken away from you when the debt is not repaid.

In order not to purchase such a car, you can ask the owner about the dealership where the transaction was made, and then find out about the details of the purchase - on credit, for cash, etc.

Even traffic police officers cannot check from the credit database whether your car is collateral. Some Internet resources offer to do this for a fee.

But their base is still small and consists of clients from the last 3-5 years. So the absence of data there is not a 100% guarantee that the car is clean; a loan could have been taken out for it before.

The seller’s nervousness, owning the car for several months, a desire to sell the car quickly and cheaply, and reluctance to give details about the purchase are clear signs of deception.

It’s better not to waste your time checking an already obvious scam, but simply look for another option.

Another unpleasant moment is the discrepancy between the documents for the car and the reality. For example, a foreign car might not have passed correct customs clearance and after purchase you will not be able to register it (you should carefully study column 20, it indicates the permission or refusal of customs).

Transit numbers will confirm this - the owner has not yet been to the traffic police to register and is selling the car rather hastily.

If a car with a duplicate title is sold by a person acting under a power of attorney, you should think about whether everything is in order? 60% of such cases are fraud.

You should find out why the owner cannot register the sale himself, and if the car is registered very far from you, then be even more careful.

Also, the engine or part of the body can be changed in the car without entering this information into the title. This will be a doubly unexpected surprise - you receive a refurbished car, and when registering it, problems may arise at the traffic police.

And even if you decide to purchase a car with a duplicate title, be prepared that when you want to sell it, you will not be able to find a buyer for a long time - people will simply have doubts and be afraid of falling into the hands of scammers, so the sales process may be delayed.

It is quite easy to distinguish an original PTS from a duplicate; the duplicate has a corresponding seal. It is much more difficult for an inexperienced person to determine the authenticity of a passport.

When buying cars with a duplicate title, you may have problems with scammers - even if you determine their scheme, the consequences of dealing with criminals can be unpredictable.

Knowing all the tricks, you still won’t be able to predict 100% whether there is fraud surrounding the deal or not. Therefore, take maximum precautions when completing a transaction.

This includes checking the compliance of the numbers and parts of the car declared in the PTS with the real ones, and the date of issue of the duplicate passport, the number of previous owners, etc.

The main thing is not to be tempted by low prices for a good car, in which case a trick cannot be avoided.

What actions to take if the engine number does not match the PTS is described in the article: what to do if the engine number does not match the PTS. Where you can make changes to the PTS when changing your address, see the page.

Find out about making changes to the PTS for installing a power bumper from this information.

What are the disadvantages

A duplicate vehicle passport is issued in the following situations:

• in case of loss by the car owner or theft by third parties;
• the document is worn out and the information contained in it cannot be read;
• The document has run out of empty columns to indicate the details of the new car owner.

A duplicate is issued to the traffic police after the owner submits a written application accompanied by a certain package of documents, which includes:

• civil passport of the car owner;
• vehicle registration certificate;
• document confirming payment of state duty;
• an agreement that is the basis for the acquisition of property rights (donation agreement, sale and purchase agreement, leasing agreement, etc.);
• auto insurance policy;
• copy of PTS (if available).

What are the disadvantages of a duplicate PTS? From a legal point of view, a duplicate is no different from the original and allows the owner to perform all possible actions with the vehicle (sale, registration of compulsory motor liability insurance, receipt of insurance payment, and so on).

However, you should be wary when purchasing a vehicle if you have a duplicate document.

The seller of the vehicle in this situation may turn out to be a fraudster and restore the document to:

• stolen car. If you purchase a car that is listed as stolen, then in addition to the need to return the car to the rightful owner, the buyer may be subject to criminal liability;
• credit car. When applying for a car loan, one of the essential conditions is the pledge of movable property and the title, as the main document, is stored in the bank.

However, the owner can obtain a duplicate and sell the collateral. In this situation, the debt to the credit institution is transferred to the new owner.

It should be noted that not all car sellers using a duplicate title are scammers, but the likelihood of a dishonest transaction is quite high.

Therefore, before purchasing such a car, it is necessary to conduct a comprehensive check of both the documents themselves and the vehicle.

How to check for authenticity

Often, fraudulent actions involve not only falsifying PTS data when receiving duplicates, but also falsifying the document itself.

Therefore, before checking on Internet resources, it is recommended to check the document for authenticity visually.

A standard PTS form produced in a printing house has several degrees of protection located in different places in the document.

The degrees of protection include:

• the name of the document, which is made by corrugating the inscription. You can feel the corrugation with your fingers as you slowly trace it across the title of the document. The absence of corrugation is evidence of a counterfeit form;
• a special hologram with an image of a car in a semicircle in several rows (the drawing and inscription can only be viewed with significant magnification). The pattern is made in gray colors with a hint of metallic shine;

If the car is not visible or the hologram is worn out (unreadable, etc.), then in a high probability the PTS is fake.

• the inscription RUS throughout the document, which becomes visible when exposed to bright light;
• security thread at the bottom on all sheets of the document;
• protective design in the “Special Marks” column on the front part, reserved for indicating the owners.

You can obtain additional information indicating the originality of the presented PTS after checking the data specified in the document:

• the first digits of the PTS form number must fully correspond to the numbering of the region in which the document was issued;
• the identification number (VIN) indicated in the first line must correspond to the body number (line 8). If the indicated numbers do not match, then the unit was replaced, about which there should be a link in the “Special notes” column.

The absence of an additional entry is evidence of consideration of a false document.

Thus, before purchasing a vehicle using a duplicate title, you need to obtain complete information about both the car and its owner, as well as check the document for authenticity.

If the PTS form is original (all security drawings are present), the data in the document completely matches and as a result of the check no facts of fraud were revealed, then the duplicate does not pose a danger, that is, you can safely buy the car.

How many seats are in the original PTS is explained in the article: how many seats are in the PTS.

How much it costs to restore a title for a trailer, see the page.

What does the special mark in the PTS mean - a welding seam? Find out from this information.