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 does it look like
When replacing a vehicle passport, the car owner is issued a document called a “duplicate”. The produced duplicate has paper of identical quality and color to the original document.
The duplicate contains the same security features: holography, watermark, threads in the texture of the paper fiber. Like the original, the duplicate has its original number and series.
Like the original, the duplicate car passport has 24 fields with information about transport.
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.”
Difference from the original
The only difference between a duplicate vehicle passport is considered to be the presence of the inscription “Duplicate”.
This word has a blue tint and can be placed in any direction on top of the front sheet. Special notes (in the margins) indicate the reason for changing the document.
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.
Grounds for issuing a duplicate PTS
If the car does not have legal or criminal restrictions, a copy is issued to it in the following cases:
- when all the empty columns have already been filled in, it is not possible to record other owners;
- when the owner has a new surname, a change in PTS is required, or when he changes his place of registration;
- if the PTS document is lost or severely damaged.
Unscrupulous sellers often offer a duplicate title instead of the original. What should you be afraid of when buying a car in this case?
If, when purchasing a car, you are given a copy of your passport instead of the original, first of all you should think about whether the vehicle is pledged? If it is pledged to a bank or a car pawn shop, you can make a copy. To do this, you will need to report the loss of the document.
If the buyer bought a mortgaged car, he will have to part with it by court decision.
So is it worth buying a car with a duplicate title? In some cases, legally clean cars can also be sold with copies. Buyers should take some precautions:
- the transaction must be concluded only with the owner of the vehicle, who is indicated in the passport. If a person not included in your passport tries to sell you a car, it is better to refuse the purchase;
- You need to call the car dealership where you originally purchased the car. Information about the owner is indicated in the service book.
You can use special services for checking passports by VIN number. Such checks will allow you to obtain information about all vehicle owners, participation in road accidents, and the presence of unpaid fines.
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.
How to sell a car with a duplicate title?
Many car owners are interested in the question: sell a car without the original title? Even if the technical condition of the car is of high quality, it will be difficult to sell it. After all, many buyers are afraid of buying a vehicle with a duplicate passport. In this case, you can try to sell the car to friends or turn to a car purchase service.
So, the lack of an original PTS will become a serious problem for both the buyer and its owner. In this case, the buyer risks purchasing a car that does not have legal purity. And the seller will have difficulty selling.
Video: is a duplicate PTS dangerous?
Expert opinion
Ilyin Georgy Severinovich
Practicing lawyer with 6 years of experience. Specialization: criminal law. Law teacher.
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What does a duplicate PTS mean, what does it look like, what should you be afraid of, and is it even worth buying a car if the PTS is a duplicate? We will talk about all this today.
Duplicate PTS
If the title is a duplicate, is it worth buying a car?
Everything gets spoiled or lost, this often happens. They literally lose everything: passport, technical documentation and much more. If, suppose, the driver has lost his title, then he is absolutely prohibited from driving the vehicle. In this case, he must write a statement to the traffic police and ask to be given a duplicate of this document. The buyer of a used vehicle will be wary at the sight of a duplicate vehicle passport, because it is much safer to deal with the original than with a “copy”. It is difficult to recognize the case if a car that is pledged or taken on a car loan is sold with a “clone” of the title. By the way, these are the most common fraudulent schemes in our country. Below you can find out what is the danger of a “copy” of PTS and how to avoid risks.
What is this - a copy of the PTS?
The copy will contain the column “Special notes”, in which the details of the original must be indicated.
Is there any other difference between the copy of the PTS and the original?
It, just like the original, contains 24 columns, which indicate: vehicle make, VIN number, body type, information about the power unit, year of manufacture of the car, weight, initials of the owner and other data about it. When selling a car, fraudsters hand over fake PTS to deceived buyers, which are not so easy to distinguish from the original ones. A professional may be able to find differences, but this most likely does not “threaten” the average person. Any copy always indicates that the document is a replacement for a lost one. The PTS also has watermarks. Since the “clones” are made at home, it follows that they are made carelessly. A copy of the PTS is issued when the owner of the car changes, in case of loss/theft of the original, the place of residence of the owner of the vehicle changes, and if there is no free space in the old one to enter data.
Should I be afraid of a duplicate PTS, and if so, what should I be afraid of?
In our country, scammers successfully carry out various dubious schemes. More often, of course, they carry out scams with real estate than with cars. But still, what are the risks of purchasing a car with a “clone” of documents? Before proceeding with the implementation of his sinister plan, the owner-swindler writes a statement to the traffic police about the loss of the PTS and receives a copy of the document on the basis of the owner. He then puts the car up for sale. The buyer is not even aware that soon the bank will start to “get” him and he will have to repay the old owner’s loan. In this case, no documents on purchase and sale here will convince bank employees. Even in court you will not be able to prove your innocence. So, in order not to find yourself in such a sensitive situation, you need to collect all the necessary information about the status of the documents from the bank. The owner of a car who has a duplicate title in his hands has virtually no chance of selling the car. Therefore, they reduce the cost of the car to a minimum, even if the car’s passport has a copy of the original, and the title was replaced only because there were no free lines left in it. Of course, copies of PTS also have legal force, but they still make the history of the car muddy. If you really like such a car, then all available documents for it should be studied very carefully.
Is it necessary to purchase such a vehicle?
There are cases when a transaction to purchase a car will be completely legal if: - The vehicle has had many owners. It’s just that once during registration the PTS was missing the “ill-fated” line. The seller himself has a copy of the old title, which indicates the entire history of the car; — due to carelessness, the original is lost or damaged. The most widely used transaction in our country is purchasing a car on credit. When buying a car through a bank, the owner transfers the title to the credit institution. It often happens that a bank client subsequently has nothing to pay for a car loan. The car owner writes a statement to the traffic police, receives a copy of the title and puts the recent purchase up for sale. This can be avoided by visiting the dealership where the old owner bought the car. You can also find out whether a car loan was issued for the car or not. In order not to pay someone else's loan, the purchase/sale transaction is carried out through an official car dealer in the trade-in department. In no case should you contact resellers, as they inflate the price, but if there is no way out, they look for someone more reliable. When purchasing a vehicle from a person who has shown a general receipt from the owner, it is not uncommon for a credit institution to take the car to pay off the debt. Sometimes car dealerships have to suffer due to their oversight, because they do not carefully work with the documents for the car, and then they simply have no one to file a claim with. In the trade-in department, they are also not particularly alarmed when they see a copy of the old PTS. You can stay safe by making a transaction through an authorized dealer.
Advantages and disadvantages
If you buy a vehicle with a copy of the title plus only one - the affordable cost of the car, but as for the disadvantages, there are plenty of them. Not everyone can afford to buy a new car. The average Russian buys a used car wanting to save money. He cannot even imagine that he will subsequently be forced to either invest heavily in repairs or run into scammers.
How to minimize risks?
In order not to fall into the “net” of scammers, you should not buy a car with a duplicate title. Not always, of course, a duplicate car passport can indicate fraud. Often such a document is issued completely legally. It’s a pity, of course, that this doesn’t reach everyone. The hardest thing is for people selling a car with a duplicate document. Here, even the low cost of a car will not always save you. In this case, there are only two ways out: hope that there will be someone who is not afraid to buy such a car or drive it until the end of their days.
03.07.2017
When is a duplicate PTS issued?
In what cases will a traffic police officer legally issue a duplicate PTS? A car owner has several reasons to contact the State Road Safety Inspectorate:
- If the original PTS is lost. Despite repeated warnings from the traffic police, most drivers do not always keep vehicle documents in a safe place. Therefore, the cause of loss may be simple negligence. The owner may simply forget his purse or wallet with documents outside the house. In this case, there is a loss under unclear circumstances.
- Loss of original appearance. This occurs as a result of washing the original along with the wearer's shirt or trousers, storing without additional means of protection (for example, a file), etc. As a result, the information placed on the form loses clarity and its recognition becomes difficult or impossible.
- Loss as a result of theft of the original vehicle title. This option requires the most time to obtain a duplicate, since it is necessary to file a police report and wait for the results of the investigation.
- Lack of free fields for entering information about the new owner. The standard form provides the ability to enter only 6 owners. Therefore, in order to re-issue the title for the next owner, you will need to order a duplicate.
IMPORTANT
In the “Special notes” column, the traffic police inspector must enter the reason for issuing a new form. This indicates that the number of owners has exceeded 6 people. If there is a note about issuance “in replacement of the lost one,” then there are even more reasons for doubt. Perhaps the original title of the purchased car is simply pledged to the bank. The traffic police officer does not check the vehicle for encumbrances. Therefore, in this case, the risk of purchasing a credit car increases several times.
