Purchasing a car is not as simple a procedure as it might seem at first glance. In addition to concluding a contract for the sale and purchase of a vehicle, it is necessary to perform a number of mandatory actions to ensure the legality of the transaction and to avoid problems with employees of the state automobile inspection. Before this, the new owner needs to understand: STS car - what it is, what data is contained in the document, what is the difference with PTS and how it is processed - all this will allow you to achieve the desired result without unnecessary costs in finances and time.
Main documents for the car
Important! Please keep in mind that:
- Each case is unique and individual.
- A thorough study of the issue does not always guarantee a positive outcome. It depends on many factors.
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The main documents that a car driver must have include the following items:
- STS – vehicle registration certificate;
- PTS – vehicle passport;
- OSAGO policy – compulsory motor third party liability insurance;
- driver's license - as confirmation of the legality of driving a vehicle.
In some situations, additional documents may be required. For example, the driver’s passport, a vehicle purchase and sale agreement, or an agreement with a bank to issue a targeted loan for the purchase of a car. However, they are not considered mandatory and are usually used in court proceedings or when resolving disputes with traffic police officers.
Features of STS
Before clarifying the features of the STS, it is necessary first of all to determine: a vehicle registration certificate - what it is and what the purpose of this document is. So, STS contains key information about the car itself and its owner. It should always be in the car so that, if requested by a traffic police officer, the citizen can provide a certificate. The purpose of this document is to verify the information reflected in the driver’s license and determine whether the specified information corresponds to the actual data.
In case of his absence, the inspector has the right to bring the driver to administrative responsibility under Article 12.3 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation with a fine of 500 rubles.
Regarding external features: the document is a laminated card in A6 size, which is made in pinkish shades with mandatory state attributes in the form of appropriate designations.
Where is STS issued for a car?
A vehicle registration certificate can be issued at any vehicle registration office of the State Automobile Inspectorate. Usually the need to obtain it arises when purchasing a car. At the same time, the relevance of the procedure remains both when purchasing a new car and a used one. To register, you will initially need to collect a package of documents required to successfully initiate the process:
- vehicle passport;
- contract of sale;
- passport of the citizen who owns the car;
- MTPL insurance;
- a receipt confirming the fact of payment of the state duty;
- old STS - in case of purchasing a used car.
It is important to remember that you do not need to delay the execution of the document for a long period of time, because it is considered mandatory to provide to the traffic police officers in case of a request. Failure to comply will result in a fine.
However, a new certificate is not issued instantly. After receiving the documents, the vehicle is checked for involvement in criminal situations and a visual inspection of the vehicle is carried out, namely: verification of license plates and declared characteristics of the vehicle.
Recovering a document in case of loss
Many drivers are faced with a situation where the STS for their car has been lost. What to do in this case? You will have to go through the procedure of replacing the document. To do this, you need to transfer the documents described above to the traffic police window and provide the car for inspection to an inspector, that is, drive it to the traffic police department, where the inspector can see for himself whether the VIN number of the car has been replaced in an hour. It’s good if the VIN number matches and is clearly visible, otherwise the car owner will have to undergo various examinations to find out whether the car is “welded” from two different cars.
However, most often the inspection ends well, and in some cases the inspectors do not require the car for inspection at all. However, a dilemma arises here: an inspector may require a car for inspection, but is it possible to drive a car without an STS? Of course not. In this case, it is appropriate to either order a tow truck or ask the traffic police department for a document that will allow you to temporarily drive a car without this document. However, some drivers don’t bother and simply go to the traffic police department without an STS in the hope that no one will stop them on the way. Most often this is exactly what happens.
What information is contained in the STS?
The main items indicated in the vehicle registration certificate have already been noted earlier, however, it is necessary to clarify which items are contained in the document:
- registration number - formed from three letters, three numbers and a regional code;
- VIN code is a vehicle identification number assigned at the factory;
- car make and model;
- vehicle category: “A” – motorcycle, “B” – passenger vehicles, “C” – cargo vehicles, “D” – buses;
- date of manufacture;
- chassis or frame number - used exclusively for trucks or frame SUVs;
- engine parameters: its volume and power;
- PTS details;
- vehicle mass excluding load;
- maximum permissible weight.
At the bottom of the STS, the number details of the form are additionally displayed.
The reverse side of the certificate contains information about the current owner of the car (full name and residential address), as well as information about the department of the state traffic inspectorate where the document was issued (number and address). The addendum specifies important items relating to the vehicle itself and its acquisition, and duplicates the number details of the form, specifying the date of issue of the document.
Why do you need a vehicle registration certificate?
STS carries information about the vehicle and the car owner. The driver must have this document with him so that, at the request of the traffic police officers monitoring the road situation, he can provide the data necessary for their work. If the registration certificate is lost or damaged, it cannot be restored using the STS. Thus, the technical passport of the car can remain in storage at home. It is used in rare cases: when concluding purchase and sale transactions or presented during the registration procedure. And the STS is an everyday duplicate; its presence in the car is necessary.
What is the difference between STS and PTS?
STS and PTS are very similar in content, but there are still significant distinctive positions:
| What does the certificate show? | What is reflected in the passport? |
| On the front side of the form, the state registration number of the vehicle is written in the first line. | It is not indicated in the passport, because in the future it must be replaced when the property is re-registered to a new owner. |
| The color of the body and its license plate details are not indicated. | In the PTS, their presence is mandatory. Moreover, previously the engine number was additionally displayed in the certificate, but in accordance with recently introduced changes to the legislation, the engine is now a consumable item - therefore it is registered in the PTS, but not in the STS. |
| The vehicle's environmental class is not displayed. | It must be clarified in the technical passport. Now all cars are assigned one of the five envisaged environmental classes, according to which the amount of tax deductions is determined. The higher the class, the more environmentally friendly the car is, the less you have to pay. |
| There is no information on customs procedures. | The PTS strictly specifies: the country of manufacture of the vehicle, the exporting country, as well as the details of the customs declaration and the restrictions provided for a specific vehicle. |
In addition, it should also be noted that strictly one owner is registered in the vehicle registration certificate, which implies the need to re-register the document every time the owner of the car changes. Whereas up to six people can be registered simultaneously in a vehicle passport, so there is no need for a new PTS in case of corresponding changes. An exception is the situation when there is simply not enough space in the document to record the new owner.
Where can I see the episode and issue?
The series and number of the STS are indicated on the front and back of the document in red font, it is easy to notice. On the front side it is located at the bottom, on the back - at the top.
How to find out if you don’t have the car document on hand?
If you don’t have the STS on hand and you need to find out its number, there are several ways to do this:
- Look into the PTS. When registering a car, registration information is entered into its passport.
- Contact the traffic police with an official request for a specific car (only the owner or an authorized representative can do this). Upon request, a certificate with information about the state will be issued. vehicle registration.
- If the owner of a car has a personal account on the State Services website, then it stores data on the state registration of the car and information about the received certificate.
You can find out the STS number on the Internet at the address of the traffic police department where it was received, but this method is unreliable, since the names of the departments often change.
Nuances of presenting information
In general terms, both the STS and the technical passport contain identical information categories: about the characteristics of the car and about individual aspects of the owner’s personality. But the nuances of presenting information lie in its volume.
Thus, the passport data of the owner of the car is entered into the vehicle passport. Whereas the vehicle registration certificate includes only his last name, first name, patronymic and residential address. Moreover, the information is written not only using the Cyrillic alphabet, but also using Latin letters.
Among other things, the STS does not have columns for special marks where the dates of registration of vehicles and the numbers of contracts in accordance with which the registration took place are entered.
Checking motor vehicles using STS number
Many Russians buy used cars. At the same time, the risk of buying a problematic vehicle is quite high. The series and number codes of the registration certificates are identical to those printed on the registration certificates. This is done for the convenience of maintaining information databases. Using them you can obtain the following information about vehicles and car owners:
- information about car owners;
- information about changes in ownership;
- license plates previously issued;
- unpaid fines.
Using the VIN number, which is in the PTS and STS, you can send a request on the official website of the traffic police and receive the following information:
- registration history with the traffic police;
- technical characteristics of the machine;
- information about participation in an accident;
- being or not being wanted;
- the presence or absence of restrictions on vehicle registration.
The possibility of such checks minimizes the risk of purchasing a problem car on the secondary market, and also helps traffic police officers quickly check vehicles.
If all vehicle registration details are the same and only the body color is different, this means that the car has been repainted. By law, such changes must be registered with the traffic police within 10 days after completion of the work. Therefore, difficulties may arise when registering.
Do I need to take my registration certificate with me?
Although a vehicle passport is one of the main documents for a car, it is still not considered mandatory in the car’s interior. It is necessary to perform certain operations related to vehicle registration, or to restore a lost certificate. What is noteworthy is that if the vehicle was purchased with a targeted loan, then the title will remain in the credit institution for the entire loan repayment period. This need is due to collateral issues - if the borrower ignores the need to pay the debt, he will simply lose his car.
