How to buy and register a car assembled legally?
There are many offers on the net to buy a Japanese or European used car without mileage in Russia for a reasonable price. Interest in such cars is justified: the quality of car assembly and foreign roads are much higher than in Russia. But even here there are pitfalls and pitfalls: dismantling, impossibility to be registered by GIBDD, and high rates of customs duties. What to pay attention to, what nuances to consider when passing through customs, whether and how to legally legalize and register a car constructor in 2022, tell us in this article.
Where can I buy an autoconstructor?
Let’s deal with the reasons for such purchase:
- To buy a quality car cheaper to legalize and drive.
- you need spare parts for your motor vehicle (after the accident, because of the dilapidated parts).
These are the most popular reasons for contacting companies that deal with the delivery of the desired car from abroad.
What is a construction set?
It is important to distinguish auto constructor, “lego” from sawed and karpil. The second one is also unsafe in operation.
So, let’s understand the terms!
- Constructor, in a nutshell – a car in disassembled form. Usually, the engine, the body and the running gear are transported through the customs. As separate elements. Often it is registered to different people.
- Dismantled car – partially disassembled car with cut body. The cheapest option. And it is often used by swindlers. After customs clearance they weld the body and pass off the sawed-off vehicle as imported from abroad.
- A carpile is a partially dismantled vehicle. That is everything is taken off, what can be removed without damaging the integrity of parts: bumper, fenders, doors. Also sawed off “TV”. After customs clearance all the parts are assembled into one car. The most acceptable way to buy parts.
Where to buy?
Car kits are purchased, as a rule, at auctions. You do not need to go to Japan or Europe specifically for that. Many brokerage firms and agents offer their services to purchase and process cars at customs. And some even deliver the car from Vladivostok, for example (if auto auction Japanese) to your city. Naturally, for an additional fee. But there is a clear saving of time and nerves.
The most popular countries for importing constructors are Japan and Germany.
We selected several sites where you can both participate in the auction, and skip the paperwork on the shoulders of brokers and managers intermediary company.
The most authoritative popular sites:
JU Motors. The company offers a selection of different cars and motorcycles. With inspection of equipment, assembly and delivery to your city. You can order a whole car as well as individual parts.
How to buy?
The scheme is quite simple:
On the site, see the approximate cost of the car (you choose the model, year of manufacture, mileage, engine capacity).
You can pick up the car and take it to the car service. Or you can use the services of the same firm-agent (you can agree on this beforehand). They will assemble and deliver to the required city.
Sometimes you have to wait several months for the right car. What is important to understand: An intermediary firm will not help you with the question of how to register the car at the traffic police. Usually, its duties cease when the car is transferred to the buyer.
How much does it cost?
On the 2022 websites, the price for a car assembler is usually specified without brokerage, customs duties, and delivery charges. It depends on the year of manufacture of the car, mileage, engine displacement. The value of custom duty also depends on these characteristics. More details about it and other customs payments are given below.
And the cost of related expenses, which are included to the calculation at the conclusion of the contract usually does not change. But they vary with each firm. For example.
Costs in Japan:
Costs in Russia:
Shipping to your city is counted separately, whether it’s Moscow, St. Petersburg or others. What if you want to travel around the country by car yourself?
Why can’t you just bring your own car?
If we’re talking about a car that we plan to drive on the roads, then, in general, you can. All you have to do is:
arrange a visa (to Japan – from 0 (if independently) to 4500 rubles (when applying to an agency); to Germany – from 2500 to 8000 rubles, respectively),
At first glance, this is cheaper. But know that at customs you have to pay about half the value of your car, as required by law. Add here the time for collecting documents and obtaining visas.And many people also have the question: “How do you know that this car will still be on the Russian roads? “After all, there are crooked sellers everywhere.
And now let’s deal with the customs payments. Let’s start with the duty.
The amount of the customs duty for a car
Amount of the import duty
54% of the customs value but not less than 2,5 Euro per 1 cc of engine displacement
From 325.000 to 650.000 rub.
48% of customs cost, but not less than 3,5 Euro per 1 cc of engine working volume
From 650.000 to 1.625.000 rub.
48% of customs cost but not less than 5,5 Euro per 1 cc of engine working volume
From 1.625.000 to 3.250.000 rub.
48% of customs value, but not less than 7,5 Euro per 1 cc of engine working volume
From 3.250.000 to 6.500.000 rub.
48% of customs cost, but not less than 15 Euro per 1 cc of engine working volume
over 6 500 000 rub
48% of customs cost but not less than 20 Euro per 1 cc of engine working volume
Amount of the import duty
1.5 Euro per 1 cc of engine displacement
From 1.000 to 1.500 cc
1.7 Euro per 1 cc of engine displacement
1.500 to 1.800 cc
2.5 euros per 1 cc of engine displacement
1,800 to 2,300 cc
2,7 Euro per 1 cc of engine displacement
2,300 to 3,000 cc
3 Euro per 1 cc engine displacement
over 3.000 cc
3.6 Euro per 1 cc of engine displacement.
| Engine volume | Amount of the import duty |
|---|---|
| Up to 1.000 cc | 3 Euro per 1 cc engine displacement |
| From 1.000 to 1.500 cc | 3.2 Euro per 1 cc of engine displacement |
| 1.500 to 1.800 cc | 3.5 euros per 1 cc of engine displacement |
| 1,800 to 2,300 cc | 4,8 Euro per 1 cc of engine displacement |
| 2,300 to 3,000 cc | 5 Euro per 1 cc engine displacement |
| over 3.000 cc | 5.7 Euro per 1 cc engine displacement |
In addition, it is possible to obtain documents for the car and then legalize it by putting it on the registration in the traffic police, only if the car is not earlier than 2007 year of production. This is connected with the ecological class of the car. That is, at customs they would issue a CPC for a car of the 4th class only. Everything that was issued earlier goes without documents. That is as spare parts and scrap metal. These are the cars that are sold on the sites “under documents” or “without documents”.
How much do I have to pay for parts?
At customs you have to pay the duty for autoconstructor (we are talking about some parts of the car, made in 2007 and earlier):
And additionally the customs fee, which is 250 rubles.
But it is assumed that these very parts are not intended for sale or will not be used for business activities: for example, installed on a car for the transportation of goods.
How is the customs value determined?
You specify the customs value in the declaration. But this price must not be lower than what is usually paid for the same goods. To prove the truth of the price is helped by the contract, checks, orders and other payment documents.
The Russian customs has a database of the approximate cost of similar goods. Therefore, if the price in your documents will be too low, the data from the customs database can be taken to calculate the duty and fees.
In what cases will I have to pay for the construction kit as for the whole car?
This is possible if all the documents are in the name of one person. For example, you decided to bring the body, engine and chassis, and you indicate them as separate parts. A separate declaration can be filled out for each of them. But if these parts are for the same make, series and year of manufacture, and they are registered to one person, the customs officers will easily consider them as the whole car. On the basis of paragraph “2a” of the Basic Rules of Interpretation. And this is one more reason, why intermediary firms are used when buying a car abroad.
Is it possible to buy without vehicle registration certificate and drive?
If only it were that simple. The customs office issues for all overseas cars the DVT. We have already said above that the cars produced before 2007 year of manufacture are prohibited for declaring, i.e. to legally import the car and make customs documents for it. Consequently, such a car will be without a motor license plate. And this is one of the main documents for car registration in GIBDD.
So you can buy a construction set or a sawed-off car, and then assemble it, put it on the registration plate and quietly drive?
No. And these variants will not work either. Without documents for parts, you can not legalize your vehicle: it will not be registered with the State Traffic Safety Inspectorate.
Is it possible to make documents in Russia?
No. In order to register one’s car, the owner must produce the vehicle registration certificate, among other documents. And as we mentioned above, for all foreign cars the DVS is issued only by the customs. Without the DVT no one will register the car in the State Traffic Police.
Can it be assembled and driven?
You can, if it’s a construction vehicle, not a salvaged one. And if there are documents for the parts. That is, there are no problems with the identification of the parts at customs. If we are talking about a “sawed car”, then in the customs documents it would be treated as scrap metal. And this means that a car with such parts cannot be registered. See the Decree #399.
How to register a construction vehicle legally?
Nevertheless, it is quite possible to register a construction vehicle in Russia according to the law.
For that we need a body or an old car that is registered in Russia (of the same make, series and year of manufacture as the imported constructor) and the constructor itself with the paperwork from the customs.
If you don’t have a body or a car, you can buy one. Why the body? Because the traffic police check the VIN when you register your car, and the VIN is stamped on the body. All the other parts are spare parts.
Registration of the vehicle, changing its registration data associated with the replacement of number units, subject to the requirements of paragraph 4 of these Rules on the basis of an agreement concluded in the prescribed manner, or other documents certifying ownership of the vehicle and (or) frame, body (cabin) and confirming their ability to participate in road traffic on public roads in the Russian Federation.
As you can see, the engine number when registering does not play any role. But it must be similar in type and model to the one listed on the certificate of registration. The requirement of inspectors to show the engine documents in this case is illegal. But if the engine is of different capacity, the registration procedure follows different rules
Clause 17: If the engine of a vehicle is replaced with one of the same type and model, information on its number is entered into the database of owners of vehicles by the registration unit of the State Automobile Inspection while performing registration actions on the basis of the inspection results without submitting the documents that certify the ownership of the engine.
The registration procedure itself, if you have all the documents, is simple, and we have described it in a special article.
As you can see, it is quite troublesome to legalize a car that you bought at a car market abroad. If you do it yourself. It is much more advantageous to pay money to reliable intermediaries and wait for the car at home.
Regarding spare parts, recently car owners can buy parts for their old foreign cars at “auto junkyards”, the owners of which order parts from the same middlemen, but on different terms.
Is the auto junkyard legal? Let’s find out!
Hello all! Very often I face on the Internet with the fact that in some areas of the country do not put to the registration constructors, in some put. That there are “honest” designers, there are “not honest” … Even, crooked, etc. What is a “constructor” and why can there be problems with registration? Let’s figure it out!
Well for starters, let’s take as a constant that our state is one and all of its regions and provinces are SUBJECT TO ONE LAW! This is a dogma! The rules for registering a vehicle in Buryatia, for example, are exactly the same as in the Moscow region! And there is no other way…
Legal “constructor”.
So, a construction vehicle is a car with a replacement body and engine in the certificate of registration. Simultaneous replacement of any nodes and units in cars was allowed by the laws of the Russian Federation until the end of 2012, although limited by the Technical Regulations back in 2009 (about this below)! This means that such a car is completely legal! The main rule – the units to be replaced had to be legally imported into the country, cleared and have the appropriate document to meet the technical requirements! Further, on the basis of SSCTS (Certificate of Conformity of Design of the Vehicle) and the conclusion from the NAMI the replacement units were registered at the traffic police, with entering appropriate notes on the certificate of registration, writing the new body and engine. Year of manufacture, generation of a body and engine do not necessarily have to be the same as originally written in the certificate of registration! If there is a conclusion from NAMI, everything is OK! If you have purchased such a “constructor” and your traffic police department refuses to register it, then you need to demand a written reason for the refusal (stating the law, article, full name and position of the Traffic Police officer) and then you are free to go to court or to the Office of Public Prosecutor, since the “constructor” itself is not a reason to refuse to have it registered! The vehicle registration document has a number, date of SSKTS and this document can always be restored! If at the time of registration the car was legal, if at the time of replacement of the body, engine and other units the law allowed it, then such a car is completely legal! For the law is not retroactive!
What kind of “constructors” are not registered? I will write about this below. The thing is that after 2008, the import duties on the whole body rose sharply at times! This forced the people not to register the bodies, but to import them as spare parts, scrap metal, or completely disassemble to the last bolt – the so-called “carcasses”. For a legal constructor, the body must be cleared exactly as a car body! And not as a set of body parts… I could be wrong, but in 2010 they prohibited import of any kind of body without payment of huge customs duty. And in 2011 “frames” and “carcasses” were equated with bodies. Duty is 5000 euros. Then they lowered it to €3000. After this enormous duty was replaced by no less enormous recycling fee… Also in December, 2012 all registration units were instructed to no longer carry out simultaneous replacement of units on vehicles, as it is a hidden form of assembly of another car. Technical regulation “About safety of wheeled vehicles”, approved by the Government of the Russian Federation № 720 dated 10.09.2009 (hereinafter – technical regulation) defines the basic concepts: “base vehicle” – the vehicle, which as a whole, or its body or chassis were used to create another vehicle; “type of vehicle (chassis)” – vehicles (chassis) with the same design features recorded in the technical description, manufactured by the same manufacturer. Thus, a constructor vehicle cannot be a base vehicle, since this vehicle lacks the elements (body or chassis) of a base vehicle. In general, the registration of “constructors” in Russia is actually banned since 2009. The registration of replacement units is forbidden, not the registration of already registered “constructors”, which are registered in accordance with the law! It often happens that someone out there, somewhere, registers constructors for money. Unfortunately, there is such a practice. In fact, the traffic inspectors have no legal grounds for refusing to register an “honest constructor”! But they start pulling the rubber, scaring the impossibility of registration, etc. Thereby stupidly forcing to agree with the right people for money …
In the certificate of one car, in fact the other.
Also in the period of general lawlessness was widespread registration on the certificate of one model of another car model. For example, Nissan Skyline could be registered on the Nissan Laurel, Subaru Forester – Subaru Impreza, etc. Legitimacy of such constructors is questionable. Although if this “constructor” is registered, you can safely drive it legally. But if you try to register it under another owner, the certificate of inspection will show that the model does not correspond to the car and to put it into registration will be possible only through a big bribe! But there is one BUT! Earlier there were lists of interchangeability of bodies (one base for different models) and if the body model in documents and body model actually corresponded to this list, the change was registered legally! NAMI had no problem issuing CSCTS for such unit replacements. Added 11/30/2016 – Just three days ago a friend of mine bought a 1995 Nissan Skyline, originally a 1998 Laurel on the PTS and without a single problem put it on the register in Irkutsk! So such a constructor is quite legal…
“Crooked constructor, frame, saw, carpil, etc.”
All of the above changes from 2009 to 2013, made the registration of legal “constructors” not possible, and the import of whole bodies, as well as cars of old years of production in general very unprofitable! And a wave of importing a huge amount of sawn-off bodies into Russia, which were imported as spare parts, scrap metal, etc. began. So called “saws”.
It is not a fact that all the bodies were sawn into two parts. Given the general corruption of our officials and other officials to this day, some people have the opportunity to import un-sawed bodies. Also, some bodies are not sawed in two parts along the interior, but, for example, only the front part is sawn off along the cups of the front pillars – the so-called “karpils”. But all these bodies were imported not legally! Or rather, they were imported legally, but the duty was paid for them as for parts, scrap metal, etc., and not as for a whole body! So it is not a body, but a scrap metal, a set of body parts, etc. You cannot register such a body! At least legally! But in our country there are always some “left” schemes through which until recently we managed to register it. Such “constructors” are not legal, “crooked”, “fake” and etc. It is a common opinion that all “constructors” registered after 2008 are not legal. Although of course this is not true! There were people who went broke on duty and imported entire bodies legally. You also need to understand that the date of importation (payment of customs duty for the body, etc.) and the date of registration at the traffic police are completely different dates! Legally imported until 2009, the body could be registered in 2010 and later. But the majority of builders imported after 2008 were imported and registered under “left” schemes…
All this doesn’t apply to cars imported under full duty, whichever year it happened!
There is also a variant of legalization of the body – welding together the engine shield or its part with number (or vin) from legal car. So called “plank”. Such a car gets under suspicion at once and most likely will be arrested until found out if there is any evidence of rewelding! Since it can be a stolen car, illegal car sawing and so on… The law of our country does not prohibit importing a sawed car as spare parts and restore the legal car after the accident with these parts, including replacement of almost all body parts, provided that the integrity of supporting parts is not broken! But it is not allowed to touch the license plate parts! If the engine board is well welded over all factory seams and the body has no non-factory seams on the power parts, the claims of traffic police officers to such a car should not arise …
P.S. Reconciliation of the engine number when registering. So it would be desirable to write about verification of numbers of the engine when registering vehicles. Since recently in the Russian Federation the engine is not a numbered unit! And its replacement does not require registration! But this does not mean that you can put under the hood of any engine! The model of the engine must match the model listed on the PTS! Any off-model swap must be made out accordingly! Otherwise, not matching the model of the engine is grounds for refusal of registration! Don’t forget this…
I am not a lawyer, but based on reading various regulatory literature and personal experience. If you have anything to add, or refute, then welcome to the comments!
