The process of selling a car brings with it a lot of difficulties. One of the important factors is the re-registration of the car to the new owner. An unscrupulous buyer may not do this within a certain period of time and then you will have to pay transport tax for the already sold car. In addition, you will bear full responsibility for it, so, for example, if you get into an accident and flee the scene of the accident, the new owner, without having registration, will be able to avoid responsibility and shift it to you. In order to avoid such situations and protect yourself from other troubles, you should find out whether the car is deregistered with the traffic police.
Is it possible to check whether a car is deregistered?
The new owner is given 10 days to complete the necessary documents, after which all formalities must be completed. Checking the deregistration of a vehicle from the traffic police can be carried out in several ways:
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- At the traffic police department.
No later than 10 days after the sale, in order to verify the deregistration of the car, you need to write an application addressed to the head of the department to provide information about the status of the car you sold, attaching copies of all documents to the paper. The application is reviewed within 30 days, the procedure is completely free. If, after this period, the application to verify the deregistration of the sold vehicle has not been considered, you can file a lawsuit.
A situation may arise when the car is no longer registered, but the old owner continues to receive receipts asking him to pay transport tax. In this case, you need to contact the tax office, requesting information about the calculation of payments, thereby preventing the possible occurrence of similar situations in the future.
- Through Internet services.
The Internet has become an integral part of our lives, and now young people and active Internet users are starting to get behind the wheel. Using Internet services, you can also check whether the car has been deregistered. The advantages of this method are convenience and simplicity. Using online services greatly simplifies the task: the driver does not need to go to the traffic police department and waste his time filling out paperwork. Verification of deregistration can be carried out through various sites, such as:
- Official website of the traffic police
- State Services Portal
- Service "Autocode"
What data should you pay attention to?
Traffic police restrictions. The most dangerous thing. If they are, the car may not be registered. Until you re-register it in your name, it is considered registered to the previous owner. That is, the car will be registered to him, just you will be driving, and not the previous owner.
Mileage. If it is twisted, then the owner is trying to hide the shortcomings of the car and sell it to you at an inflated price.
Number of owners, use as a taxi, accidents. The more of them, the worse the condition of the car.
Check through the traffic police website
In order to check the fact that a vehicle has been deregistered, you can go to the official website of the State Traffic Safety Inspectorate - https://gibdd.rf. To check you need to do the following:
- In the top panel, find the “Services” tab and click on it.
- In the menu that slides out at the top, select “Vehicle check”.
- Enter the engine VIN number in the field provided. You can find it in the vehicle passport or registration certificate. If you are unable to find this number, enter the chassis or body information instead.
- Confirm your request with the verification code shown in the picture.
- In a minute, the test results will appear on the screen.
The site allows you to view data about the vehicle type, make and model, its year of manufacture, body and chassis numbers, engine size, power and even its color. Using the service, you can find out other registration actions related to the car: checking for participation in an accident, whether the car is wanted and whether there are restrictions.
Having mastered a simple algorithm of actions, you will save yourself time and save yourself from the need to go to the traffic police.
Also pay attention to the item “Periods of vehicle ownership”. This subsection displays all the periods during which the car was registered. Using this, you can see how many people owned a car over a certain period, and whether it currently has an owner. If you see the entry “... to date” in the last line, this means that someone is officially the owner of the car right now. In this case, the buyer should be careful and once again remind the seller of the need to deregister the vehicle being sold.
Checking for deregistration of a car through the State Services portal
If you use a power of attorney and are not able to control all the actions of the new owner, it will be convenient to turn to the State Services portal - a service designed to track and control the receipt and status of various documents, certificates and other papers related to the field of public services. To start checking, go to the official website of the portal: https://www.gosuslugi.ru. At the moment, the portal has disabled the possibility of verification; the function of directly carrying out the operation of re-registering a vehicle is available on the website. How to do it?
- The first and mandatory step is registration and creation of a personal account. To do this, in the “login to State Services” section located on the right side of the page, click on the “register” button. In the open page, fill in the required information: last name, first name, mobile phone and email.
- To start re-registering a car, go to the “Services” section located in the top menu, then select the “Authorities” subsection. In the menu that opens, select “Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation.” Scroll down the new page and find the “Vehicle Registration” tab.
- Next, in the pages that open one after another, select the category “Preparing documents for purchasing, leasing and changing data about the owner”, and then the item “Changing data about the owner of the vehicle”.
- An application form will then open where you will need to enter the required data. Follow the instructions, if you fill it out correctly, a confirmation will open and, after some time, you will receive an answer. You can also print out this form and bring it to the traffic police department, where the re-registration procedure will continue.
The State Services portal is a useful tool not only for car owners. Many other tasks and questions can now be solved via the Internet without leaving home. In addition, this will significantly save your time and money: the portal constantly hosts various promotions, using which you can, for example, pay an order of magnitude less for car registration.
Useful tips for finding the owner of a car
The main advice is that you should not break the law in an attempt to obtain classified information. The abundance of scammers forces people to hide their names, phone numbers and other data.
It is not possible to find out the owner by car number plate online for free. If any disputes arise on the road, contact the traffic police to resolve the issue. The quality of paid services that provide the full name of the car owner often fails. Changing the search base does not happen often; the car could change its owner.
Checking via Autocode
Another option for checking the deregistration of a car after sale is to use the Autocode portal - https://avtocod.ru/. Having appeared quite recently, this convenient service has gained well-deserved popularity among car enthusiasts. The procedure here is practically no different from checking through the traffic police website:
- To begin, on the main page, in the only field, enter the VIN number of the car or its registration number. For Japanese cars that do not have a VIN, you can enter the chassis or body number. All data can be found on the vehicle registration certificate.
- In a few seconds, a page will load that will display in detail all the data about the car, including not only data on the title, but also data on possible accidents, the cost of repair work, mileage, deposit, cost of compulsory motor insurance, fines and much more.
Unlike other sites, Autocode is paid. For a full report you need to pay 583 rubles. You can often carry out a check cheaper - the service constantly offers various discounts and promotions. However, it cannot be said that the price is compensated by the huge amount of information about the machine, including all kinds of tips and recommendations for operation.
Why check a car by license plate before purchasing?
To make sure the seller is honest when buying a used car.
The car needs to be checked for fines, number of resales, accidents and thefts before purchasing.
Some data reflects a complete picture of the condition of the car. For example, a large number of accidents indicate that it will not last long.
Others will save you from additional expenses. If the fines on the car have not been paid off by the previous owner, then you will have to pay them.
Sellers themselves may not know about the debts to the traffic police, for example, due to a letter not being received. But sometimes they deliberately hide information so that they fall on the new owner.
Or they keep silent about the car’s shortcomings in order to sell it at a higher price: they lower the mileage, do not talk about accidents or thefts.
Such data affects the service life. The more accidents, the worse the condition of the spare parts. This means a shorter lifespan, more money for repairs and a disadvantageous resale price. For example, you may end up with expensive engine repairs.
In addition, when buying a car with an “unclean” history, you risk your life. In the event of a repeated accident, the airbags may not deploy.
What to do if the car has not been re-registered?
The new owner is given 10 days to re-register the car. If this has not been done within the required period, you need to visit the traffic police department and write an application to terminate the registration in your name. The new owner will be put on the wanted list, the inspection will look for the car by license plates in order to complete the procedure and bring the unscrupulous buyer to justice.
It is prohibited to drive a deregistered vehicle. The new owner should remember that after the purchase, he should immediately take care of all the formalities: take out a compulsory motor liability insurance policy, correct all possible technical faults, carry out maintenance and, finally, register the car in his name. If you are caught breaking the law, the traffic police will immediately remove the registration number from your vehicle and confiscate the registration certificate. The procedure is carried out in accordance with paragraph 51 of Order No. 1001:
“Upon termination (cancellation) of registration, a specific registration action (several registration actions) and all subsequent registration actions are invalidated.”
In addition to the fine for late registration, the registration number of your car and STS will be disposed of. Thus, you will not be able to travel by car, and the license plates will be lost forever. To restore registration, you must submit a corresponding application to any traffic police authority, regardless of the place of registration, or online through the State Services portal. Upon expiration of the application period, you will be given the opportunity to obtain new plates and a new vehicle registration certificate.
Other ways to find the owner
Some services, for free or for some investment in information or money, can determine the owner of a car through data leaks in government systems. Gray analyzers include:
- AVinfo (reveals registration documents);
- “Antiparkon” (looks for the license plate number and full name of the owner in the merged database of the traffic police in Moscow and Moscow Region).
Finding a car owner through the AVinfo service
There is a loophole in the law that allows you to request the personal data of the owner of the car. In 2021, the method is not legal, but is not punishable. If you write a statement that a car with the required license plate damaged your vehicle and fled the scene of an accident or committed another illegal act, then legal proceedings will be initiated. Since both car owners will be involved in the case, you can read all the materials, including personal data protected by law. This method is not recommended, as the long process of obtaining information will result in unpleasant proceedings.
Possible nuances
In order to avoid various problems when buying and selling a car, both the seller and the buyer need to be careful. Transactions often take place over a long period of time and are complicated by all sorts of prohibitions and restrictions on the part of the judiciary, the investigative department, customs authorities, social security authorities and the search department of the traffic police. These government departments may slow down the process, thus delaying the sale period and, accordingly, deregistration of the vehicle. To implement them, you will need to eliminate all problems. Seller and buyer should check vehicle registration restrictions.
It is also important to understand the entire verification mechanism. This will allow you to obtain the most detailed information about the car, evaluate its merits and find possible problems hidden by the seller. After all, when a car changes several owners in a year, this clearly says something. Understand the legal and technical issues before purchasing, do not make hasty decisions, think about everything and only then act.
