○ In what cases is it necessary to replace the license plate?
The obligation to replace license plates arises in connection with the provisions of Order of the Ministry of Internal Affairs No. 1001 “On the procedure for registering a vehicle.” Replacing or obtaining a duplicate license plate is required in the following situations.
✔ Loss of appearance.
If you drive a vehicle with unreadable license plates, you risk getting a fine. It is probably unnecessary to explain that they can impose a monetary penalty on you not just once, but an infinite number of times - until you finally bring the numbers back to normal.
✔ The appearance of rust.
Rust prevents the normal readability of the license plate, so the car owner needs to monitor the appearance of orange spots on the license plates. This is especially true for SUV owners who attach license plates to car frames.
✔ Damage.
Any damage to at least one of the two numbers, which leads to the unreadability of the license plate, entails the replacement of state plates.
✔ Loss or theft.
Without license plates, you cannot perform many actions, for example, undergo a technical inspection or register a vehicle. In addition, criminals can use your numbers if you do not report the theft. Someone can simply put signs on their car, and the fines will come to you.
Thus, if you do not notice one morning that there are no license plates on your car, report this to government agencies as soon as possible.
Reasons for replacement
There aren't that many of them. Changing a license plate on a car is a procedure that not every driver encounters. Often it can be avoided.
Today, the mentioned operation is required under the following circumstances:
- number theft;
- damage to state signs on the car;
- loss of component;
- presence of rust on the license plates.
In addition, sometimes citizens can apply for a replacement state license. signs when changing the owner of a car. There is nothing difficult or special about the procedure. Let's consider all its features.
○ Replacement of number upon sale.
Today, the seller himself chooses whether to keep the old license plates or sell the car with the old state plates. At the same time, the owner who started selling the vehicle must understand that, according to the law, it is impossible to transfer a car without signs to the buyer.
That is, if the seller wants to keep the plates for himself, he is obliged to change the plates to others before selling the car. If the car is transferred to the acquirer with the old license plates, then the new owner handles the re-registration.
To re-register a car to a new owner, you will need the documents listed above. The vehicle is registered in the region of residence of the new owner (clause 24.1 of Order of the Ministry of Internal Affairs No. 1001).
About the rooms
The state number of the car is the main identifier of the car on the road. It is used to find out information about a particular vehicle. Using this component, modern violation detectors issue traffic fines.
It is worth paying attention to the fact that there are a number of requirements for state license plates. All of them are made in the form of plates on which the vehicle code is written. Here you can see the region where the car is registered.
The state number must:
- be visible at a distance of at least 20 meters;
- installed on both sides of the machine (front and rear);
- free from scratches, dirt and rust.
If these requirements are not met, you will have to pay a fine. Sometimes, as already mentioned, the traffic police replace the license plates. And there are reasons for this. But which ones?
○ Deadline for replacement.
After purchasing a car, it is necessary to register within 10 days (clause 3 of RF Government Decree No. 938). If the new owner ignores this requirement, the old owner of the car applies to deregister the vehicle, and the purchaser may be held accountable.
If the vehicle owner’s license plates have become unusable, he can replace them at any time. Only he needs to take into account that he cannot drive with such state signs, because for this he can be held accountable.
Service delivery period
How quickly can state plates on a car be replaced?
Today this process takes only a few hours. The exception is when a request is submitted through State Services or multifunctional centers. In this case, you will have to wait a few days, but no more.
Taking into account the fact that driving a car without a license plate. numbers are not allowed; drivers prefer to contact the traffic police directly for help. This way you can avoid unnecessary fines.
○ Penalty for driving with damaged or missing license plates.
If you have missing plates or they are damaged, then driving a vehicle with such plates is fraught with consequences.
If such a car is stopped by a traffic police officer, the driver will be held accountable under Art. 12.2 Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation. Driving with unreadable license plates is punishable in accordance with Part 1 of this article with a fine of 500 rubles.
If you do not have state signs at all, then you will be held liable under Part 2 of Art. 12.2 Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation. This violation is punishable by a monetary penalty of up to 5,000 rubles or deprivation of rights for 1-3 months.
Replacement procedure
There are several ways to change a state sign without changing the owner. The procedure looks different depending on the circumstances:
- Replacement with any other without much choice or special wishes. The car owner simply wants to change the license plate number, but does not require a choice. The process is carried out in a simplified manner online or during a personal visit to the traffic police.
- The license plate number is taken from another car. This is possible if the applicant has purchased a vehicle and wants to keep the plates. When registering a purchased car, you declare your desire to keep the plates, after which they will be re-registered to the new owner.
- You can exchange numbers only by completing a car purchase and sale transaction, and then carrying out the reverse procedure. During the first purchase and sale, the numbers are saved, and during the second, they are kept for themselves. This is a very costly process both in terms of time and finances.
The purchase and sale of a vehicle is formalized during a personal visit to the organization.
Where to contact
Changing the state license plate is carried out exclusively at the traffic police departments . It is not necessary to contact the institution where the car was registered. There are a number of nuances that affect how and where you have to apply:
- If the numbers are stolen, you cannot do without reporting to the police. A certificate from the department of internal affairs will allow you to obtain duplicates;
- when it comes to corrosion or physical damage of another kind, you don’t need anything other than the plate itself, indicating the need for replacement and a package of required documents.
You can apply for a standard replacement online or in person. Users registered on the State Services portal will save time if they submit an application through their personal account. The service offers you to fill out an electronic form and attach scans of required documents. Here you can also choose the nearest traffic police department, where it will be convenient for the owner to pick up new state signs.
When re-registering cars or changing the license plate from one personal car to a second one, you cannot do without a personal visit to the traffic police inspection.
Required documents
The process of changing the license plate entails a mandatory replacement of the technical passport, so the owner will have to prepare a rather voluminous package of documents. The list includes the following forms:
- Internal Russian passport of the applicant.
- Vehicle registration certificate (or two, if the plates are swapped from one car to another).
- Vehicle registration paper.
- License plates, depending on the chosen strategy, they will be returned to the owner or disposed of. If they are not there, you cannot do without a police certificate;
- Receipt of paid state duty.
- MTPL policy issued in the name of the applicant/car owner.
If the vehicle is registered with a legal entity, then you will additionally need to prepare a power of attorney to represent interests from the head of the company and a passport of the authorized person.
Duration of the procedure
New license plates are issued on the day of application, provided that all the requirements of the procedure are met and no additional questions arise. Equally important is whether the driver agrees to any license plate or wants a specific (currently occupied) option. In this case, the period depends on the complexity of the procedure. When exchanging license plates, you will have to conduct a double sale and purchase transaction, which will take several days, or even a couple of weeks.
Exact deadlines are established only when registering a car to a new owner. After purchasing a vehicle, the owner must contact the traffic police and register the car within 10 days. The old owner also has the right to deregister. If the buyer does not meet the deadline, he can contact the traffic police. The new owner will be held administratively liable.
Signs that have become unusable can be replaced at any time. The main thing is not to leave them unreadable, otherwise you will have to pay fines.
Reason for innovation
Many people are interested in what is the reason for changing GOST? The main goal of the innovations is to increase convenience and reduce the cost of production of rooms. In particular, the manufacturer's code, consisting of twelve digits, appears on the updated license plates. With its help, inspectors can determine the place and time of production of the number.
Problems associated with attaching the registration plate go away. The new GOST specifies the possibility of drilling new holes. The main requirement is to maintain the integrity of the flag and number symbols.
Innovations in 2021 made it possible to solve the main problem - to make life easier for car owners. After the innovation comes into force, there is no need to rack your brains over the intricacies of fasteners. In addition, overly wide registration plates for motorcycles are becoming a thing of the past. There are many known cases when they flew off vehicles while driving at high speed.
Representatives of the traffic police also received their “portion” of benefits. Level plates are better read by car radars, so the amount of fines accrued will increase.
Cost of replacing license plates
The cost of new state license plates is the same throughout the country. Regardless of the region, the owner will have to pay:
- 200 rubles for temporary license plates;
- 800 rubles for transit numbers for tractors, trailers and motor vehicles;
- 1,600 rubles for a transit state sign, if we are talking about a car;
- 1,500 rubles upon receipt of a state sign for tractors, trailers or motor vehicles;
- 2,000 rubles for a metal license plate for a car.
Prices are fixed in paragraphs 36-40 of Article 333.33 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation. When paying, it is important to correctly indicate all the details on the receipt. Erroneous deposits are returned no earlier than a month later, and the refund process itself is extremely complicated. Payment information can be obtained directly from the traffic police or on their official website.
What will be the region when registering a car not according to registration?
Changes in 2021 affected the procedure for registering cars purchased in another region. For example, a resident of Samara bought the car he needed at a car dealership in St. Petersburg. In this case, the state number will be issued with the Samara code, since a code is issued for a new vehicle in accordance with the region of registration of its owner.
The situation is different with used cars. The new edition of the legislation separates the concepts of state number and registration plate. The first term is a unique car number, which is assigned in any Russian region. The registration sign is a plate itself, which is placed in the regular places of the car. It is issued when registering a vehicle for the owner at the place of its registration.
A car that has already been used on the country's roads has a state number. The said law, resolution and order do not directly mention the mandatory replacement of the registration plate when purchasing a vehicle in another region.
When it doesn’t matter to the driver what the new numbers will be
Sometimes the owner simply doesn’t like the engine protection of his car. In this case, it is possible to replace it. If the driver does not care what new combinations of symbols will be on the car, the algorithm for changing the license plate is as follows:
- He must go to the Gosuslugi.ru portal.
- In the list of services, click on the item “Receive new numbers”.
- After that, click on the “Get a service” button and fill in the information in the online application.
- Here you can pay the state fee, which will allow you to take advantage of a 30% discount.
The next step is to select a traffic police department to which the old state sign is handed over for disposal and where a new one will be issued. If the received one again does not suit the car owner, the procedure can be repeated an unlimited number of times.
Filming is prohibited
In September, President Vladimir Putin signed a decree removing from the traffic police regulations the right of inspectors to remove license plates from cars in the event of a ban on the operation of the car.
The first deputy chairman of the State Duma Committee on State Construction and Legislation, Vyacheslav Lysakov, told Parlamentskaya Gazeta that this decree normatively consolidates the practice that has been in effect for four years.
Photo: Danila Safronov
New license plates
The expert assessed the new law on car registration without the participation of the traffic police
The law, according to which removing the license plate from a violator’s car was removed from the official duties of police officers, came into force in November 2014. After the Ministry of Internal Affairs allowed the driver to produce duplicate registration plates without any additional documents, this measure of administrative punishment lost its meaning. But since it remained in the traffic police regulation, a presidential decree was required.
The State Traffic Inspectorate retained the right to prohibit the operation of vehicles if the car is faulty, the driver does not have a license, the tinting does not meet the standards and for a number of other legal reasons.
