How to purchase a used car: general transaction procedure

Owning a vehicle requires the owner to have documents in accordance with a certain list. When purchasing a car, it is necessary to re-issue a PTS (technical equipment passport) and a registration certificate (in common parlance it sounds like a “technical passport”) to the new owner. It is also necessary to conclude a car purchase and sale agreement and present a passport to the traffic police department.

In some cases, the car remains without documents, and then selling it seems to be a difficult process. It is possible to solve this problem, which arises for a variety of reasons, but not always. For officials the situation is very simple - no document - no car. All transactions performed with such a vehicle are illegal. The car must be registered, and this can only be done if you have a title.

Reasons for the lack of documents for a car

The lack of documents for a car can be due to a number of reasons, including:

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• unregistered inheritance;
• car theft;
• outstanding loan;
• car as collateral;
• the criminal nature of the appearance of the car from the seller - theft or assembly from stolen parts;
• loss of PTS.

The purchase of such a car is fraught with consequences, as a result of which bonuses in the form of a reduced cost of the vehicle received by the buyer at the time of purchase will be offset by the problems that arose at the time of the collision with the traffic police. The decision to purchase a car without documents is made by each purchaser independently, but in some situations it is necessary to insure yourself.

How to restore documents on a car?

A person who bought a car without documents must understand what a vehicle is – a piece of real estate. You cannot travel by car without documents. Using a car without the appropriate papers is a direct route to the impound lot.

If documents for a car are stolen or lost, the first thing the car owner has to do is contact the traffic police in order to restore the official papers. To prevent the police from having to open a criminal case, which will complicate the process of restoring the title, it is advisable to indicate in the application that the documents for the car were lost.

Restoring documents is a mandatory step for the car owner, because the finder can use the registration certificate and (or) title as a document confirming the presence of the car when obtaining a loan or while driving a stolen vehicle. After writing the application, the old documents for the car will be considered invalid.

Obtaining a duplicate is a procedure that repeats the registration of a new car with the traffic police. After paying the state fee and the cost of obtaining a new version of the certificate, you will have to wait a little. On the day of application, the owner will be re-issued documents for the car. On the new version of the PTS there will be an o, and on the reverse side it will be indicated that there was a loss under unclear circumstances. From July 1, 2021, an electronic PTS can be issued upon request.

State fees

Certain processing fees apply. They are recorded by the relevant authorities.

In order to obtain the necessary documentation and correctly complete the registration procedure, you must first pay the state fee. After this, a corresponding receipt is issued, which is attached to the documents.

When registering without the participation of the owner, all these actions will be performed by our employee. He takes full responsibility for depositing funds intended to pay the state fee.

Is it possible to sell a car without documents?

Every car owner who pays attention to advertisements has come across offers to sell a car without documents. A potential buyer most often assumes that the car is stolen. In most cases, such reasoning has nothing to do with reality.

Thus, documents may be missing as a result of incorrect “customs clearance” of a car that was imported from abroad. Replacing some vehicle components without appropriate registration may also become a reason for selling a vehicle without documents.

It is important that the official sale of a car that does not have documents is impossible. If there is someone willing to do so, he will still have to solve the problem with documents before starting operation. Only the previous owner has the right to restore the papers, and if he did not do this earlier, then the vehicle will most likely remain “illegal.”

It is possible to sell a car without documents within the framework offered by some car dealerships and private buyers. On the one hand, this will help save time and money, on the other hand, it is worth understanding that the cost of such a car will be significantly reduced.

How to sell a car without documents?

The need to sell a vehicle without the appropriate documents may arise for every car owner. Most of the attempts made may be unsuccessful, since there are few people willing to purchase a car that cannot be used legally. The issue is resolved by restoring the papers to the traffic police.

In some cases, it is not possible to obtain duplicate documents for a car, for example, if the owner is not in the country where the car is located. It is possible to sell off a vehicle that does not have a title and/or registration certificate, but at a price that will be much lower than what is offered for a normal car of this type.

You can contact people who dismantle vehicles. This option is suitable for those who are trying to sell an old car, the cost of which will already be low. In this case, the addition of the car will also take place taking into account the greatly reduced cost.

Our main advantages

The company is ready to fulfill all its obligations to customers at the highest quality level. You can get a consultation at a convenient time and find out the basic details.

Among the main advantages it is worth noting:

• High quality and individual approach to all clients.
• Adequate cost of services.
• An opportunity to save time and nerves thanks to such a unique service.

Specialists are ready to assist with registration in Moscow on favorable terms for the client. Thanks to this, registering a vehicle becomes an incredibly simple task that does not cause any difficulties. Everything is done competently, quickly and with very high quality.

You can find out more by calling: +7 (926) 815 36 93

What to do if there are no documents for the car when buying a car?

So, if the buyer nevertheless decides to purchase a car without documents, it is still possible to buy a vehicle. It is recommended to follow the following recommendations:

1. Sign an agreement (formally, a purchase and sale agreement), the text of which will contain information about the vehicle sold/purchased, indicating the year of manufacture, model, color and technical characteristics. It would be a good idea to indicate the purchase price, chassis number and the place where the transaction was made. It is also advisable to secure the agreement with the signature of the witness in whose presence the financial transaction was carried out.
2. Obtain a receipt from the seller confirming receipt of funds for the car without documents.
3. Ask the person from whom the car was purchased to write in free form how he became the owner of the car being sold. This could be, for example, a gift. The reason for the illegal status of the object of the transaction may be the loss of papers or some accidents that lead to damage to documents.
4. You can, on the basis of an agreement drawn up in accordance with the data specified in paragraph 1, contact the State Traffic Safety Inspectorate with a request to provide a PTS and a registration certificate.

If there is an unmotivated refusal, which is illegal, you can appeal to the courts. If having documents for a car is not important, you can use it at your own discretion.

Reason #7. Changes in the design of the car were not registered with the traffic police

Traffic police officers will refuse to register a car if they notice inconsistencies between the data in the documents and the real state of affairs. If the car has been repainted, this must be reflected in the title. If changes have been made to the design of the car, they must be registered with the traffic police.

The law does not prohibit making changes to the design of the car. But the registration process itself is quite painful and long. Therefore, if you buy a tuned car, make sure that the previous owner has already legalized all the changes.

Also read: Buy without money: where to find a cheap car

Possible consequences of buying a car without documents

Purchasing a car that cannot be registered anywhere carries certain risks. Before making a transaction, you need to study them well and analyze everything. There is a possibility that the car being sold is classified as illegal. It could have been in a major accident, stolen, or assembled from several other vehicles. The chance of getting a criminal car, although low, is still there.

Getting an illegal car is only one side of the coin. The second thing a potential buyer should remember is that such a machine can very quickly fail and literally fall apart. The possibility of such an outcome greatly increases at the time of an accident.

Reducing the selling price of such a car is a completely justified step by the seller, since there are no guarantees of the quality of the vehicle being sold. Other disadvantages of such a deal include:

• time spent on finding a buyer if you want to sell the vehicle in the future;
• the need to disassemble the car in parts if it is not possible to subsequently sell the car;
• violation of the legislation of the Russian Federation regarding the sale of a pledged, assembled in parts or stolen vehicle;
• possible criminal prosecution if the car appears in a case with criminal overtones.

The facts stated above can make the transaction unprofitable financially or even dangerous for the potential buyer, so if you want to become the owner of a car without documents, you need to carefully analyze the situation and assess all possible risks. In some cases, you should immediately refuse to buy a car.

Reason #5. Disposal

Suddenly? It would seem that this has nothing to do with scrapped cars, they are already scrapped. Not so! Even after formalized disposal, some cars continue not only to be driven, but also to be sold.

Until 2021, when deregistering a car for recycling, the owner could make a note in the application that he would independently hand over the car for recycling. Then he might change his mind about scrapping the car. And here’s the result: according to the documents, the car was scrapped, but in fact it continues to drive on the roads.

From 2021, you can deregister a car only after presenting a certificate of disposal. But the risk of buying a scrapped car still remains. Perhaps the seller disposed of the car before the innovations came into force.

Also read: What are the dangers of buying a car from a legal entity?

What to do if nothing is known about the owner of the car?

The absence of a passport for a vehicle is not a problem if the papers can be restored and the owner of such movable property agrees to take the trouble. It’s another matter when the real owner of the vehicle is very far away or nothing is known about him.

The first option to solve the problem is to contact the traffic police. There they can go to the archive and restore data about the previous owner of the car. It is worth keeping in mind that this information will not necessarily be current because the car may have been sold more than once.

It is possible that the owner of the vehicle simply does not want to take part in the restoration of papers. In this case, everything is much simpler. The title can be restored on the basis of a real purchase and sale agreement if the seller agrees to such actions by the new owner of the car.

Registration and procedure for obtaining a new PTS

In what cases will it be possible to register a car if the original title is missing? Consider the following situations:

• documents are stolen or lost by the owner - there will be no problems with restoration;
• the car was purchased without handing over the papers, the owner has disappeared and is not in touch - this will be more complicated, but quite possible;
• the vehicle has no documents at all and its owner is unknown - the situation is complicated, there is little chance;
• collected or stolen cars - there is minimal chance of a good outcome.

Let's look at these situations in more detail.

If a car is sold by heirs without documents

Inheriting a car is a fairly common situation. You can become the owner of an inherited car only 6 months after the death of the testator. You can sell a car and register it to the new owner without some documents.

The fact is that the intermediate registration of the heir with the traffic police as the owner may not be carried out, but only if the car is sold within 10 days from the date of inheritance. This is exactly the time interval that legislation provides for owners to re-register a vehicle.

If the sale does not take place within the specified period of time, the heir will first have to register the car in his name. The procedure is the same as for regular registration of ownership of a car. The lack of documents for the vehicle means that it will not be possible to register not only the right of ownership, but also the right of inheritance in accordance with the requirements of the law.

The car is registered to another person - what are the consequences for me?

Now let’s move on directly to the possible risks of such a scheme for registering a car in the name of another person. As we mentioned above, there are a lot of them. But often car enthusiasts think about the wrong consequences, overestimate some and underestimate others. Let's look at the most common risks and misconceptions of car owners.

Can a person's car be confiscated?

No. Confiscation of property is provided for in Article 104.1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. So, this penalty is prescribed if the property was acquired by a person illegally. For example, you stole a car - it will naturally be confiscated.

There is a certain list of articles of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, listed in part 1 of this article. And here there is not a single rule about the possibility of confiscating a car if it legally belongs to its owner.

How can a car be taken away?

However, seizure of property is possible in 2021. And this is perhaps the most important risk we list.

Let's say you found your most conscientious best friend or relative and asked him to register your car in his name. He is not against it and has no malicious intent. However, on a certain day it turned out that he lost his own income and was unable to repay any of his own loans.

In this case, this person’s creditors file a lawsuit, win it, and if the person to whom you registered your car does not have the money, then the debt is repaid for the sale of his property. What property does he have? That's right, a car that, in order to re-register it with the traffic police, was sold or donated to him. And here everything will be legal.

Of course, there is a subtlety in the legislation on bailiffs that the property seized for sale must be proportionate to the debt. If a car costs 2 million rubles, and the debt is 50 thousand, then the car will not be taken away from him. But you cannot be sure that a person will not have large debts.

What if he gets jailed?

In this case, neither confiscation nor seizure of the car is provided for by itself, of course. You will be able to use the car with confidence.

What if he demands a car for himself?

There is also such a risk, and it initially depends on the degree of trust in the person with whom you register the car. However, formally, according to the documents, you have nothing to do with this car, and it is not always possible to prove the fictitiousness of the transaction.

Therefore, at the will of the real owner of the car, he can sell it, donate it, exchange it, dispose of it, simply throw it away and deregister it from the traffic police register.

How to register a car without documents if its owner died and left no heirs?

It will not be possible to register ownership of a car whose owner has died if there are no heirs. The property becomes escheatable. This also applies to cars. Such vehicles become the property of the state or municipality in which the deceased citizen lived.

Municipalities do not have the right to refuse to accept such property. Strictly following the “letter of the law”, such structures cannot own something that does not exist. We are talking about cars without documents. The situation excludes such a scenario. A car without documents will remain in the yard until its ownerlessness is proven. It will subsequently be disposed of.

Selling a vintage car without documents

Owning a vintage car is a special situation. Some of the charm inherent in a retro car is explained by the age of the parts from which the vehicle is made. Selling the machine in parts on the market can bring a certain profit. In other cases, especially if the car does not have a legal certificate and passport, the owner can greatly reduce the price.

A way out of the situation can be found. It is worth making an attempt to recover lost papers for a rare car. With them, its value will increase sharply, and the legality of the transaction will not raise questions among representatives of the law.

Where can I get numbers?

According to the current rules for vehicle registration, the issuance of STS and license plates is carried out at the place of application, regardless of the place of registration. The legal representative of the owner can submit an application to any branch of the city MREO by making an appointment in advance. Pre-registration methods:

• get a ticket at the police station
• submit an electronic application on the State Services portal

What to do if there are no documents for the car and the traffic police stopped you?

Each driver, when driving a car, is required to carry a certain set of documents with him. This is a vehicle registration certificate, license, and MTPL policy. The main document, PTS (vehicle passport), is not required to be carried with you. It is better to store it at home to avoid damage, because without a title it is impossible to register or deregister the car.

In the process of driving a vehicle, the vehicle registration certificate becomes a document that confirms the legality of ownership of the vehicle. If it is missing at the time of inspection, the inspector must take action. As a rule, the driver is first given the opportunity to provide evidence: he can call friends or relatives who agree to bring the papers. This option is only possible if the documents were simply forgotten.

If it was not possible to provide the certificate or it simply does not exist, the vehicle will be detained until the circumstances are clarified. The car will remain in the impound lot all this time. It is logical that this option is quite expensive, so it is better to monitor the safety of documents and not forget them at home.

Buying and registering a used car: preparing for the deal

Buying and selling used cars is a very common transaction today. However, many people have questions about how to properly fill out the necessary papers. If this is your first time deciding to buy a car second-hand, you need to approach the issue with all seriousness. Once you have found the right vehicle, you need to clearly agree on the main points of the transaction. This will save you from surprises and conflicts at the next stages of registration. Discuss:

• price;
• form, procedure and terms of payment;
• replacing or maintaining license plates and insurance;
• deadlines for handing over keys.

The seller may raise the question of making an advance payment, but only you can decide whether you agree to this or not. This situation is regulated by Article 487 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation.

Additionally, before you move on to signing the papers, it is important to check the vehicle's history. Almost all the necessary information is contained in the vehicle passport (PTS). It records:

• information about former owners;
• year of manufacture, license plate number, VIN code, body number;
• technical characteristics of the vehicle.

Please pay special attention to the fact that the seller is required to provide you with the original PTS upon registration. If he only has a copy in his hands, this is a reason to think about it. Of course, you shouldn’t immediately panic and refuse to purchase, but in this case you need to approach checking the car with special care. It's very easy to do this today. For example, you can use the Autocode service. Based on the license plate number or VIN code, the system will provide a detailed history of the car and will allow you to verify the “cleanliness” of the vehicle purchased second-hand without wasting extra time.

If you are a professional car seller, use the “Autocode Pro” unlimited car check service. “Autocode Pro” allows you to quickly check a large number of cars, add comments to reports, create your own lists of liquid vehicles, quickly compare options and store data about cars in an orderly form. A subscription to unlimited car checks costs 2,500 rubles per month.

Don’t forget to check the license plate data from the PTS with the real data of the car before completing the paperwork, and also look at the service and warranty books.

By the way, you can now buy a car second-hand both with license plates (you can change them later if you wish) and without. There is no longer any need to deregister it (with the exception of sales abroad). And transit numbers are no longer required either, which simplifies the procedure.

Also read: What the PTS will tell you: how buyers of used cars are deceived

Fine for driving without car documents

The driver must have a registration certificate when driving a vehicle. In its absence, you can receive both a warning (which is unlikely) and a fine of 500 rubles.

If the inspector who stopped the car insists on evacuation, it is necessary to ask him not to do this and convince him that the documents will be provided within a short period of time. If the process takes a long time, the car will be sent to the impound lot, and the driver will be fined.

Failure to have an insurance policy is also punishable. The amount that will have to be paid to the state treasury is 800 rubles. An even more serious punishment for the driver can be an accident for which he is found guilty. In this case, you will have to pay for the restoration of both your own and the damaged car.

They offer to register someone else's car in my name - what are the consequences?

There are risks for you if you are the person to whom the car will be registered. Although, in this case the consequences are commensurately less.

Traffic police fines from cameras

The most important expense and often the stumbling block is when the real owner does not pay the fines that come to the formal owner.

That is, you are simply the owner on paper, and the real owner drives the car (although formally you are the real owner). The latter has caught fines and does not have time or does not want to pay them. In this case, they will be debited from your funds.

But in this case, you also have leverage - after all, you are actually the owner of the car.

Transport tax

In addition, transport tax is paid by the owner of the car. To be more precise, strictly the one to whom the car is registered at the traffic police. Because, for example, in leasing the owner is the lessor, but the tax is paid by the lessee.

Responsibility of the owner of a source of increased danger in an accident

But here is the most important consequence, which not all car enthusiasts know. The fact is that a car is a source of increased danger (IPO). This means that during its operation, liability in some cases can be assigned to a person who is not the culprit causing damage to this car.

For example, they re-registered a car in your name after asking for it, but in fact the car belongs to your friend and he drives it. One day this friend gets into an accident and flees the scene. In this case, if the license plate number and details of the car are known, victims and/or those injured in the accident may submit claims for compensation for damage to the owner. Even if it is proven that you were not driving the car.

The law is harsh, but it is the law! Article 1079 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation. Although, in such cases, you will be able to make a recourse claim against the real tortfeasor... But for this you will need to prove that it was he who was driving. And in any case, such damage is covered by compulsory motor liability insurance.

What if a person was caught drunk, without a license, or fled?

The issue of transfer of control deserves separate discussion. However, this action as an offense requires proof. It follows that you will not always be held accountable. Let's consider all possible penalties for transfer.

1. If you registered the car in the name of another person and were caught drunk, then this person should not be charged with handing over the steering wheel, because you need to prove that the action took place specifically as handing over the keys to a person in a state of intoxication. If control was transferred to you when you were sober, then this is not punishable for the person who transferred it.
2. But if you do not have the right to control or are deprived of it, then the transfer is already obvious. And the argument that the person did not know about it is unlikely to work.

Nuances

When purchasing a car that does not have “legal rights”, you need to take into account some nuances:

• a transaction of this kind is quite risky, since the vehicle may be stolen or pawned;
• the low cost of the car is offset by possible problems that may appear soon enough;
• before making a transaction, you should try to obtain information from the traffic police database;
• all key points of the transaction must be spelled out in the car purchase and sale agreement (it must be drawn up, despite the lack of documents);
• It’s worth trying to restore the title and calculate how great the benefit will be from purchasing such a car.

It often happens that the owner, who actually cannot operate the car without documents, is faced with a choice: leave everything as is or try to get rid of the vehicle. Organizations that buy similar machines or accept them for disassembly can help him. The latter is especially true if the car is old, damaged or poorly functioning.

How to find the real owner?

There are several ways to find the official owner of a car:

• by looking at the information in the PTS and searching on social networks;
• by punching the state number and VIN code into a database on the Internet, for example, Avinfo or Avtocod.

Government bodies do not have the right to disclose personal information on the basis of Article 7 of Federal Law No. 152. Through the official website of the State Traffic Safety Inspectorate, citizens only have the opportunity to check a vehicle by VIN code for accidents and offenses without specific information about the owner.