Fine for driving without insurance in someone else's car

Why can fines be received for other people's cars?

A huge number of motorists regularly receive receipts sent by mistake. The first reaction is surprise, because often on that day the owner of the car did not even drive it, was absent from the city or was in a completely different place, and at that time received a “letter of happiness” for absolutely no reason.

In most cases, drivers note the difference in car license plates in just one number or letter. Some are convinced that the “real” owner received the same letter and are in no hurry to figure it out, which is not entirely correct.

One of these reasons is the inattention of the inspector signing the receipts. When you have to sign several hundred papers a day, there is unlikely to be a desire to carefully look at each document, so everyone signs in one fell swoop, and then the drivers deal with the situation.

Traffic police fine.

Difficulties often arise with a huge flow of receipts, since there is physically not enough time to check, but this is not a good reason to send “chain letters” to everyone.

In this case, we can talk about the irresponsibility of workers, violations of the requirements of the law by traffic police officers of their duties, as well as insufficient qualifications of the official.

However, the fact remains that letters continue to arrive in the wrong place.

What to do first?

If you have received fines from cameras for a double's car, then first of all you must wait to receive the official decision by mail. After all, today you can view fines on the Internet - on the traffic police website or on the State Services portal. However, you need to understand that these systems sometimes work with malfunctions - for example, on the State Services portal there is often an error when someone else’s fines or debts are displayed to a person. Therefore, there is no need to rush: if you see a fine on the Internet, then wait until you receive a notification by mail - it is quite possible that the police will sort everything out themselves and you will not have to pay other people’s fines for duplicate cars.

More on the topic: Fine for not having a compulsory motor liability insurance policy

If the decision does arrive, then you need to appeal it. However, there is no need to rush here either: if you come to the traffic police and start saying, cancel the fine, since my car did not violate the traffic rules, then with a high degree of probability they simply will not believe you (the traffic police here can also be understood - what if you just want avoid responsibility). Remember that to the police you will have to prove your innocence with objective facts:

• If the look-alike car is completely similar to your car, then be sure to take a photo of your car. Don’t save money - make a high-quality printout and highlight the main differences (for example, a different brand of car, there are characteristic scratches, different rims on the wheels, and so on).
• You can also prepare a written alibi that will confirm your innocence. For example, on the day of the offense, your car was in a repair shop and therefore it is obvious that you could not use it - visit this workshop and ask the master to write a report stating that your car was under repair on that day.

How does the photo and video recording system work?

To better understand the cause of the error, let's look at how radars work. The amount of equipment is increasing every year, which is good, because it allows you to better monitor violators.

The camera captures even wide roads with several lanes and is capable of monitoring flows in opposite directions.

When a violation is detected, the information is transferred to the information processing center, where the computer recognizes the car’s license plates, finds information about the owner in the database, compares them and sends them to the computer to the operator.

Further processing occurs manually, the information is checked and sent to the inspector, who checks it again and signs it by hand or electronically. Then receipts are sent.

Mistakes are made even at the stage of camera recording. It is believed that recognition accuracy is 90-95%, that is, there is a 5-10 percent chance of error. Sometimes the technician can confuse a one with a seven, or there is dirt on the numbers and then the computer makes a mistake.

Letters are often confused - O with S or M and N are also not always recognized correctly. And then the human factor comes into play - whether the operator and the inspector noticed the error or not. If not, then the owner of the car receives someone else’s traffic fines.

Registration procedure

Since the question of the possibility of driving someone else’s car without a power of attorney has been clarified, you can understand the rules for registering and receiving the document.

The power of attorney consists of:

• handwritten;
• on a prepared form, according to the established template.

A correctly drawn up document has legal force without a notary’s signature.

The vehicle use permit indicates:

• Full name, passport details, address of the principal and attorney;
• car details;
• PTS number;
• data from the vehicle registration certificate.

The power of attorney ends with a description of the powers of the attorney (management or other capabilities) and the validity period of the document. The validity period is important, since upon expiration the permit is revoked. If the validity period is not specified, it defaults to 1 year. After its expiration, the legal right to drive a vehicle is ensured by the MTPL insurance policy.

A power of attorney limits the attorney's ownership of the vehicle, but allows the attorney to legally drive the vehicle.

Procedure for dealing with a fine on someone else's car

Be that as it may, the letter cannot be ignored. Then the question arises, what to do if someone else’s fine is sent. It is necessary to appeal the receipt as soon as possible, since you are given only 10 days after receiving it. For this, there are two appeal options - the traffic police or the district court.

In two cases, a number of documents or their copies should be prepared:

• written statement;
• fine decision;
• driver's license;
• STS;
• receipts, radar recordings or additional materials to prove innocence.

First, it is recommended to write a statement addressed to the head of the traffic police, in which you indicate that you do not agree with the decision and the letter arrived by mistake. You can also submit an application using the official website of the State Traffic Inspectorate or send it by mail by ordering the notification service.

Sample application.

People go to court after unsuccessful attempts to resolve the issue at the previous stage. Please attach the documents listed above to your application.

There are several reasons for filing a claim:

• an unreasonable refusal to consider the application was received;
• the response did not arrive within the required 10 days;
• the authorized body insists on the correctness of the decision.

Expert opinion

Sergey Aleksandrovich

An independent expert in the field of assessment after an accident, an experienced car lawyer.

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Since it is important to file a complaint no later than 10 days from the date of receipt of the fine, it is important not to miss the moment.

It is recommended to periodically check for regulations; there are several options for this:

• official page of the traffic police;
• State Services portal;
• Yandex.Money service;
• mobile application “Traffic Police Fines”;
• bank websites.

I received a fine from a duplicate car - what should I do?

What to do if fines come to a duplicate car, which has exactly the same license plates? In this case, you need to act in two directions at once - you need to appeal the imposition of fines + it is recommended to change your numbers so that a similar situation does not happen again. Why are both actions so important? Let's figure it out:

• If you appeal the fine, but do not change your numbers, the situation may repeat. After establishing the fact of the presence of a car double, the traffic police must open a case to find the attacker. In most cases, the police do initiate a criminal case, but in reality it is not always possible to catch the attacker on time.
• If you simply change your numbers (without appeal), then the fine will still be yours, since from the point of view of the law, you are the offender. And sooner or later this fine will have to be paid.

Method number 1: appeal

The only possible way to cancel someone else's fine that a duplicate car received is to file a complaint with the simultaneous opening of a criminal case regarding the fact of illegal assignment of license plates. If you have outstanding fines for real offenses, then before submitting the application (the best option is before receiving a notice by mail), you must pay off all debts. Therefore, before visiting the traffic police, it is recommended to check your car for fines. This can be done, for example, through the official website of the traffic police using the STS number or by submitting an application to the traffic police for outstanding fines.

More on the topic: Fine in a store parking lot

After checking, make a copy of the resolution, passport, PTS and STS - and now you can start appealing:

1. Write a statement about the theft of numbers in free form. A statement is written and submitted to the police or to the traffic police department that issued you a fine (that is, the option of going to court is excluded). The text of the application must state the circumstances of your case. You also need to demand that the fines be cancelled, and that a criminal case be initiated regarding the theft of the license plate.
2. After this, you need to collect all the necessary documents in addition to the application - passport, copy of the resolution, STS and PTS. If you have any documents confirming your case (written statements from other people confirming your alibi, photographs of your real car, and so on), then you must also take them with you.
3. You come to the police station or traffic police department and hand over your application and documents. In exchange, you must receive a special coupon, from which you must make a copy. After receiving a copy, write another complaint statement in which you demand that the fine be cancelled. This document is filled out in the same way - a heading is written, then the essence of the case is briefly stated + the request to cancel the fine is entered. This document can only be submitted to the traffic police department - in this case, when submitting the application, you must submit a copy of the coupon received earlier.
4. If successful, the fine will be lifted and you will receive a notification letter at home. Please note that if the criminal who falsified the license plates is caught, you may be summoned to court as a witness.

Can I just ignore it?

If you disagree with the traffic police fine you received and miss the period for appeal, you won’t be able to simply forget about it. After 10 days, it will be considered that the driver has agreed with the penalty received. After this, another 60 days are given to pay it.

Even if the resolution came in the form of a “chain letter” and its recipient did not show up to receive it, it will be sent back after a month. After returning, the report will begin according to the same scheme - 10 plus 60 days. Thus, the car owner delayed the deadline, but did not avoid responsibility.

Expert opinion

Natalya Alekseevna

There is a penalty for failure to pay a fine, which is regulated by law.

The violator faces a sanction in the form of doubling the fine, administrative arrest for up to 15 days or up to 50 hours of compulsory labor.

Practice shows that judges most often choose the first option as a punishment. To bring someone to justice, you need to “catch” the owner of the fine.

There is another option to wait until the fine is no longer relevant, which takes two years. However, luck here occurs in rare cases. If an inspector stops you on the road, he will quickly find out about the non-payment of the debt and then he will no longer be able to get away with it, since the information will be visible in the database.

Bottom line

Complaints about receiving other people's fines are not uncommon. The main reason for this is a technical error and the inspector’s inattention when checking receipts. Radars rarely make mistakes, but there is still such a possibility, and a traffic police officer may not physically have time to carefully check every decision or be irresponsible about his work.

In any case, the driver will have to figure it out. First of all, you should appeal the decision, and then act on the situation. If you fail to meet the deadline allocated for filing a complaint, you will have to pay for someone else’s violation.

Have you received other people's fines?

Necessity of registration

Is it possible to drive a car without a power of attorney? The entry into force of the resolution “On Amendments to Certain Acts of the Government of the Russian Federation” dated November 12, 2012, which amended the traffic rules, initiated a long-term discussion about the advisability of issuing a power of attorney for a vehicle. Therefore, many people believe that there is no fine for driving without a power of attorney. How true is this?

The legislator has created an exhaustive list of mandatory documents that give the right to drive a vehicle and must be presented to the traffic police inspector.

According to the “old” rules, the driver of a passenger car not engaged in commercial transportation was required to present:

• certificate (temporary permission to drive a vehicle);
• registration documents;
• civil liability insurance policy.

Next on the list was a power of attorney, which was not included in the updated list. It turns out that the document was excluded from the list of those presented for verification, but was left for other actions.

After making changes to the traffic rules, the documents confirming the driver’s rights were: registration certificate, compulsory motor liability insurance policy, and car keys.

So, let's summarize. A vehicle use permit is a required document. Its absence makes it impossible to perform any actions in relation to someone else's vehicle. At the same time, the driver is no longer obliged to present it to the traffic police.