Sooner or later, most motorists are faced with the problem of forced confiscation of their vehicle. Such measures are provided as punishment for various types of offenses.
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At the same time, vehicle evacuation in our country, as well as abroad, has been practiced for decades.
For car owners, such measures are unprofitable from a financial point of view, because in addition to paying penalties for a legal violation, they need to pay the cost of transportation services by a tow truck, as well as downtime at the impound site.
In order not to incur a huge sum, you should first know the rules for returning a car, the payment algorithm, whether in all cases it is necessary to pay for the towing of a vehicle, what the prices are in different regions of the country.
All of the above aspects are covered in this article so that experienced and new motorists can effectively protect their rights and interests.
In which cases is it necessary to pay, in which cases is it not?
The issue of mandatory payment for towing services and impound parking depends on the fact of the offense.
If the motorist’s guilt is obvious and proven, then he will have to spend money on a fine and towing the vehicle. In cases with opposite circumstances, payment from the motorist is not required.
Let us consider in detail the cases when payment is mandatory:
- parking violations;
- lack of a driver's license to drive a vehicle;
- faulty technical condition of the car, which directly affects its functioning;
- expired technical inspection;
- driving without compulsory motor liability insurance or with a fake/expired insurance policy;
- illegal transportation of dangerous cargo without special marking with identification marks, lack of transportation permits;
- drunk driving;
- other violations of traffic rules and the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation.
The above aspects are supported by the legislative framework, namely Article 27.13 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of our country.
In addition, its article 12.9 regulates penalties for such offenses. For example, if you leave your car at a distance of up to 5 meters from a pedestrian crossing or block traffic on the sidewalk, you will be subject to a fine of 1,000 rubles.
Please note that this amount can be paid after returning the vehicle from the impound area.
Not all situations are clear-cut, and the driver’s fault is not always obvious. Therefore, there are a number of cases when a citizen is not required to pay a fine and tow truck services.
If doubts arise about the legality of the verdict of the authorized inspectors, then it should be immediately appealed using the services of a competent motor vehicle lawyer.
For example, a driver is often forced to make an immediate stop without taking into account their location: let’s say a motorist stopped in front of a pedestrian crossing, and the reason for this was a breakdown of a part.
In this case, to justify yourself, you will have to prove that the car did not break down due to previous breakdowns, otherwise a fine cannot be avoided.
To do this, a certificate of technical inspection is provided and an independent examination is carried out to determine the limitation period and the causes of the breakdown.
Therefore, knowledge of the legislative framework for motorists is a prerequisite, because they act in the interests of the drivers themselves when they help protect their rights and interests.
Rules for payment of impound parking
There are no strict regulations regarding the payment algorithm for tow truck services and the penalty area. But there are unspoken rules that drivers must follow for their own benefit, so as not to overpay money on this.
It is known that the cost of transportation and downtime at such a site becomes a larger sum for citizens if they do not respond promptly enough, putting off a procedure that is unpleasant for many.
A large number of car owners make the same mistake - they immediately contact law enforcement agencies, proving that they are right, but at the same time wasting precious time for themselves.
Therefore, initially inform a car lawyer about the incident and order his rights protection services. And at this time, call tow truck services and impound areas, take a traffic police report on the offense in order to return your own vehicle.
Then you will pay the cost of transporting your car to such a parking lot, and at the same time, you will not have to pay for downtime, because the first day of the vehicle being in the impound lot is free. Also remember that only a full day of downtime is paid.
If the driver’s guilt is confirmed, then after returning the vehicle he can also pay fines, and if he is acquitted, then he has the right to appeal such a decision and demand the return of his money, but in court.
Illegal evacuation of a car to an impound lot is covered in the article: illegal evacuation of a car to an impound lot. In what cases the car is not returned from the impound lot, read here.
Procedure for receiving a car
How to pick up a car from the impound lot after an accident with victims? The procedure for obtaining a detained vehicle from a specialized impound lot is as follows:
- if a car is evacuated from the scene of a road accident in the presence of the owner or any other driver allowed to drive it, then law enforcement officers will issue a copy of the compiled protocol, which indicates all the information about the car, the owner, the driver, the reason for the detention, and the place of storage;
- if as a result of a road accident the driver was injured and taken to the hospital, then you can get a copy of the report from the traffic police department that processed the detention of the car;
- further, the reason for taking such an administrative measure as detention is eliminated;
- at the next stage, a package of documents necessary for return is collected (indicated earlier);
- after providing the parking lot representative with all the documents, the received vehicle is inspected for the presence/absence of damage during evacuation or storage and safety of personal property located in the car;
- if no defects are found, then the owner or his representative signs the acceptance and transfer certificate of the vehicle and the car is picked up.
If during the inspection of the vehicle any deficiencies are identified, then it is not recommended to sign the report, since the presence of a signature on the document indicates that there are no claims against the towing service or the impound lot.
In this case, it is necessary to call law enforcement officers to the parking lot and record the fact of theft or damage to movable property.
How to pick up a car from a parking lot after an accident with a fatal outcome of the owner? This situation requires longer registration, since the power of attorney and the MTPL insurance policy become invalid under these circumstances.
At the first stage you need:
- enter into inheritance rights to a vehicle. This procedure is carried out by a notary within 6 months;
- re-register the car at the State Traffic Inspectorate for the new owner;
- only after this perform all the previously specified actions (receiving the protocol, collecting documents, and so on).
Thus, placing a car in a impound lot after a traffic accident occurs quite often.
The reasons for such an action can be both banal violations of traffic rules and the need for investigative actions.
The sooner the car owner can pick up the vehicle from a specialized parking lot, the less he will have to pay for the storage services provided by the organization.
When receiving a car, it is recommended to conduct a thorough inspection of the vehicle itself and personal belongings.
Cost of services
If you analyze the pricing policies of different towing services and penalty areas, you will notice a tendency that there is no single tariff for all companies. First you need to know why this is so.
The cost of transportation and storage services directly depends on the type of vehicle. The price directly depends on the region: in megacities with developed infrastructure and heavy traffic, the cost will be higher than in ordinary administrative centers.
Municipal laws consider evacuation rules and the cost of this procedure, so local authorities independently deal with this issue, but are guided by federal legislation.
The penalty areas themselves can also adopt their own tariffs, but they must be justified from a financial point of view.
For one full day of idle time for vehicles of various types in the regions of our country, a motorist will have to pay the following amounts in rubles:
| Name of administrative center | Cost for categories A and B (less than 80 hp) | Cost for category B | Cost for category D |
| MSC and region | 500 | 1 000-2 000 | 3 000 |
| St. Petersburg | 500 | 1 000-2 000 | 3 000 |
| Belgorod | 400 | 900-1 500 | 2 000 |
| Lipetsk | 400 | 800-1 200 | 1 600 |
| Novosibirsk | 400 | 600-800 | 1 000 |
| Chelyabinsk | 500 | 1 000 | 2 000 |
| Ekaterinburg | 360 | 720-1 080 | 1 440 |
| Penza | 450 | 900-1 400 | 1 900 |
| Samara | 450 | 900-1 350 | 1 800 |
| Naberezhnye Chelny | 400 | 900-1 400 | 1 800 |
| Kaluga | 400 | 900-1 300 | 1 800 |
| Smolensk | 400 | 800-1 200 | 1 600 |
| Krasnoyarsk | 500 | 1 000-2 000 | 3 000 |
| Novgorod | 500 | 1 000-2 000 | 3 000 |
| Voronezh | 450 | 1 000-1 600 | 2 100 |
| Kazan | 500 | 1 000-1 500 | 2 000 |
| Rostov | 500 | 1 000-2 000 | 3 000 |
The table shows that tariffs for different types of road transport have their own upper and lower thresholds, and the average cost for all regions differs only in the amount of several hundred rubles.
Payment for towing a car to an impound lot in 2021 in different cities and even companies is carried out according to their own tariffs (in rubles):
| City | Cost for categories A and B (up to 80 hp) | Cost for category B | Cost for trucks and buses |
| MSC and region | 3 000 | 5 000-7 000 | 27 000 |
| St. Petersburg | 2 700 | 2 700 | 16 000 |
| Samara | 1 700 | 1 700 | 1 700 |
| Saratov | 1 800 | 1 800 | 1 800 |
| Tolyatti | 1 700 | 1 700 | 1 700 |
| Krasnodar | 2 000 | 2 000 | 2 500 |
| Nizhny Novgorod | 1 890 | 1 890-7 650 | 7 650 |
| Kazan | 1 201 | 1 201 | 1 201 |
| Vladivostok | 1 124 | 2 247-4 494 | 6 738 |
| Novosibirsk | 1 505 | 1 505-4 706 | 4 706 |
If you pick up the car with permission from law enforcement agencies, you will only have to pay the amount from the second table. Because downtime is charged only for a full day.
Deadline for depositing the amount
This aspect largely depends on the motorists themselves, because the amount it will cost to detain the car directly depends on their efficiency. Therefore, it is only in his interests to pick up his movable property as quickly as possible, so as not to overpay.
The maximum period is secretly considered to be more than six months, because if the legal owner is not announced within such a period, the vehicle can be put up for auction. And there are plenty of people willing to buy a car at a reasonable price.
Also, the driver can only imagine with horror the cost of the return, if for every day of downtime he must pay from 500 to 3,000 rubles , an especially large amount for the owners of trucks.
How is a fine imposed for towing a car?
The traffic police inspector records a violation. In the capital, in addition to the traffic police, this is done by employees of the Moscow Administrative Road Inspectorate (MADI).
Draws up a protocol. If an employee of one of the services discovers that a car is parked in violation of traffic rules, he issues a report.
The protocol must indicate:
- time of violation, place and date;
- grounds for detaining a car;
- first, last and patronymic names of the inspector;
- information about the car and its owner;
- details of the evacuation employee who will take the car to a special parking lot.
A copy of the protocol is sent to the owner of the car and to the towing service.
The tow truck picks up the car. If the car owner does not show up before the tow truck leaves and does not eliminate the reason for the detention, the car will be sent to a special parking lot.
How to pick up a car
In this process, the main thing is to pay the required amount and receive a receipt that will indicate the completion of the financial transaction.
In general, the return process looks like this:
- Contacting law enforcement agencies to obtain a report.
- Contact the penalty area to find out the amount and details for payment.
- Direct payment itself.
- Return of the vehicle.
After you have received your vehicle back, you should report it to law enforcement authorities.
To prevent an offense from the Code of Administrative Offenses or a simple accident from becoming an expensive event for a motorist, you should know the basic rules for returning a vehicle.
The penalty fee for the first day in 2021 is not charged, so there is an opportunity not to overpay.
You should learn the legislative framework in order to be able to defend your rights and interests and not spend extra money.
Payment of impound parking at a discount is not provided for by law, but may be a marketing ploy from some companies.
When paying, it is important to receive a check or receipt that will indicate that the money has been deposited.
The pricing policy for each penalty area is set individually, so the exact amount for a specific case should be clarified individually.
How to find out which impound lot a car was taken to in Voronezh is described in the article: How to find out which impound lot a car was taken to. How to buy a motorcycle from an impound lot, see the page.
Is it possible to pick up a car from an impound lot without insurance? Find out from this information.
What to do if there is no money to return the car?
There may be cases when the driver would like to pick up the car, but does not have enough financial resources to do so. Meanwhile, the amount of parking fees is growing rapidly every day, and the driver turns into a debtor. The way out of this situation is quite simple - the services of storing a vehicle at an impound lot can be paid for with a deferment.
According to Article 27.13 of the Administrative Code, the evacuated car can be returned after the reasons for the detention have been eliminated and upon presentation of documents for it.
To pick up a car from the impound lot, you need to do the following:
- Pay a fine for the violation due to which the car was towed.
- Submit the receipt for payment of the fine to the State Traffic Inspectorate department and receive a photocopy of the decision, documents on detention, permission to return the vehicle.
- Pick up the car from the parking lot, providing the received documents, as well as license plate, compulsory motor liability insurance and vehicle registration certificate.
After this, the driver will have at least 30 days to pay the fine. The exact period is set separately in each region, but it cannot be less than the specified minimum. If you try to evade payment again, the debt will again begin to grow due to the accrual of penalties.
