Is registration of a towbar with the traffic police necessary or not: changes for 2021

Dear readers! Our article is for informational purposes only, which does not imply the provision of services described in the article!

In 2021, any change to the design of the car must be registered, including the installation of additional LED headlights, a tow bar, and others not provided by the manufacturer.

Is it necessary to register the installation of a towbar, what documents are required and what to do if you bought a vehicle with a towbar, but the owner did not hand over the documents for it, we will tell you in the article.

Do I need to register a tow bar in 2021?

• If a hook for attaching a trailer is installed at the factory and is provided for by the design, additional registration will not be required;
• in the case where the installation of a trailer hitch is provided for by the design and the manufacturer has indicated this in the technical documentation, it is necessary to purchase the original device with documents and registration will not be required;
• when the manufacturer has indicated the possibility of installing a part, but the owner does not have documents (non-original product, lost, not transferred upon sale), you will have to go through the procedure for approving changes made to the design of the car or buy a new one - a factory one with documents and replace it;
• if the manufacturer has not indicated the possibility of installing a tow bar on the car, it will have to be registered with the traffic police, but it is not a fact that it will be possible to agree on it.

Fines for unregistered tow bar

The use of the device is not allowed if it is not listed in the OTTS as an additional equipment for the vehicle.

There are several options where you can get a copy of the document:

1. At the dealership.
2. At the factory that made the car.

Only manufacturers and importers have such information.

The driver will drive with a towbar, but without a trailer, if the design of the car directly prohibits the addition of towed vehicles.

If you have category “B”, the driver will still have restrictions. The trailer weight limit should not exceed the maximum vehicle weight and a total of 3.5 tons. For heavier trailers, category “E” will be required.

Fines are possible when the vehicle:

• non-standard sample or has breakdowns;
• blocks optics, license plate;
• the rules for installing the towbar have been violated (the installation location or method has been chosen incorrectly).

If a traffic police representative does not allow the vehicle to be registered because of the tow bar, you must request a written explanation. Then a complaint is written and addressed to the employee’s supervisor.

Liability is provided for under Part 1 of Article 12.5 of the Administrative Code. The fine here is insignificant, only 500 rubles. Using Article 32.2 of the Code of Administrative Offenses, the driver will be limited to only half the fine if he transfers the funds within 20 days from the date of its assignment.

Structural changes to vehicles require permission and registration. Otherwise, the driver will create a danger on the road.

How to register a tow bar?

You can check whether a trailer hitch is provided in the technical passport of the vehicle. Manufacturers and sellers of such parts claim that they can be installed on almost any car, the main thing is that they are original with the necessary documentation. But in practice, not all domestic cars and small foreign cars are suitable for installing a towbar; in 2020, the towbar must be registered with the traffic police.

If the technical documentation does not indicate the possibility of installing a trailer hook, you must go through a regulated registration procedure.

1. Before installing the part, you need to coordinate the planned actions with the testing laboratory. There they will conduct a preliminary technical examination and, if installation of such equipment is possible, they will issue a conclusion on the possibility of making changes.
2. With this permission, you need to contact the traffic police and obtain permission to make changes from the inspectorate.
3. Next, you need to buy a factory towing hook with a full package of documents and install it at a certified service station.
4. After installation, you need to return to the testing laboratory and obtain a protocol for checking the safety of the vehicle design.
5. Pass a technical inspection and receive a diagnostic card.
6. Then visit the inspection again and receive a certificate of compliance of the changes made with safety requirements.
7. Pick up the PTS and vehicle registration certificate with changed data.

The procedure is not quick and expensive, but as a result the driver receives reliable, correctly installed equipment, peace of mind and safety on the road, an argument in a conversation with the inspector.

What to do if the installation is not provided by the factory?

The question is the question... And in this case there is a way out. If we are not talking about changing the car, then it can be legalized with the help of an examination. Now, in order.

• Firstly, you will still have to do everything you read about above. Either install or obtain documents from a legalized installation center.
• You need to undergo an examination by the traffic police. There you will need documents issued by the auto center and documents for the car.
• Notes about changes to the design will be added to the PTS and technical certificate.

*The traffic police itself does not conduct any examination, but issues document forms and sends them to the address.

Documents for trailer hitch

To use the towbar you need:

• a note indicating permission to use the device in the vehicle operating manual;
• official papers confirming compatibility with the model and make of the car;
• certificate of compliance of the part with the requirements of the Technical Regulations.

You don’t have to carry the papers with you, but store them at home. In case of a stop, inform the employee that they are there and show a photo. If the inspector issues a resolution by presenting these documents, the fine can be challenged.

Making changes to the car design

Installation or dismantling of vehicle equipment that affects its level of safety on the road is a change in the design of the vehicle.

Read more about how to make changes to your car.

All changes made concern:

• appearance of the car (replacement of car components or installation of additional parts);
• traffic permeability;
• technical characteristics (changes in engine parts, suspension and other structural elements).

Definition of tow bar

A device installed to couple a vehicle to a trailer or other vehicle when towing is called a towbar.

The use of this device allows you to evenly distribute the load from the pulled car or trailer in order to ensure safety on the road.

The towbar can be:

• folding (the design easily folds thanks to hinges and is stowed under the bumper);
• welded (use on passenger vehicles is prohibited);
• removable (secured with a lock).

When is registration of a towbar necessary, and when is it possible to do without it?

Registration of the trailer hitch of passenger cars is necessary in case of self-installation, loss of documentation for the existing coupling device, and is carried out in accordance with the Rules for the state registration of motor vehicles, approved by Order of the Ministry of Internal Affairs No. 399 of June 26, 2018.

The installation of the trailer hitch should be registered:

• if the transport documentation does not indicate the possibility of use;
• in the absence of a certificate of conformity;
• in case of a manufacturer’s ban or restriction on the use of the device;
• non-standard sizes and shapes of the device.

To avoid all sorts of problems when meeting with traffic police officers, you must have with you:

• device passport;
• certificate of conformity;
• payment document confirming the purchase of the device.

No registration required:

• if the design of the vehicle provides for the possibility of installing a trailer;
• if installation of equipment or its parts takes place at the factory.

Registration is not required if you have a passport or a vehicle transport certificate; the absence of these documents may serve as a reason for imposing an administrative fine.

You may be interested in: What do you need to register a vehicle?

Information on the possible installation of a trailer hitch is contained in the operating papers and operating instructions for the vehicle.

The load chart indicates towing approval (you can check by VIN or look at the information on the vehicle rack).

If there are no documents

The former owner of the car might not have handed over the papers or they might have been lost. What to do in such a situation, is it necessary to register a towbar for a passenger car ? If the equipment is installed according to the rules, the device itself is original, it can be restored from the factory by contacting the manufacturer for copies. If the equipment is homemade or it was not possible to restore the certificates, it is better to replace it with a new one; if the technical documentation does not provide for installation, the tow bar for a passenger car must be registered. If you bought a car with a tow hook without documents for the device, the traffic police may require you to dismantle it before registering it.

What to do if the towbar is already installed

It happens that the registration of the tow bar has not been carried out, but the car has it in the absence of documents. When the device was purchased from an official manufacturer, there are no problems with restoring documentation.

You need to contact the supplier:

• using the official portal;
• through the regional office (if there is one);
• by writing a letter to the established legal address.

Usually, buyers of products are not turned away; upon request, all copies of documents are sent.

It’s another matter if they didn’t want to send manually assembled trailer hitches or send duplicate documents upon request.

Then you should proceed like this:

• When purchasing a vehicle on a secondary market, you need to call the previous owner. Perhaps he still has a certificate.
• Send a message to the traffic police about the planned registration of the vehicle modification.
• It is not advisable to use the vehicle until the towbar has time to be legalized: there will be an admin panel.
• Inspections must be completed and documentation must be completed to confirm that the characteristics meet the requirements.

How to choose a new trailer hitch

Only original equipment with a full package of documents can be registered and legally installed. The buyer has the right to request them from the manufacturer before purchase and check for compliance. If the manufacturer refuses to show or there are no documents, you should not buy such equipment, it may threaten road users, and it will not be possible to register it.

Whether the towbar needs to be registered with the traffic police depends on the situation. If the vehicle is used infrequently, the chances that the post will notice its presence and clarify the availability of permits are not so great, but in this case the issue of road safety and accident reduction comes to the fore.

Is it possible to avoid a fine for a tow bar without registration?

There are several options when you can avoid imposing an administrative fine:

1. Convince the inspector that the omission indicated by him will be corrected immediately.

Sometimes the inspector may limit himself to a warning, especially since Article 12.5 of the Code of Administrative Offenses provides for such a possibility. Polite drivers who have not been found violating traffic rules for a long time have a better chance of reaching an agreement.

1. The tow bar has a removable design. When it's not used that often, this is the way to go. There are no protruding elements - a powerful argument.
2. Factory trailer hitch or availability of fastenings.
3. Reference to paragraph 77 of the Technical Regulations. When fulfilling the requirements of this document - certification of the trailer hitch and assessment of the device - there is no need to be afraid of inspections. Penalty excluded.

Where to get the service

We think that you can find an official representative of the towbar manufacturer in any city with its own certified installation center. By contacting him, you will receive this service. If you are in Volgograd, they will help you at:

Volgograd st. Istoricheskaya no. 193

Registration by phone:

8-988-498-33-33 (MTS)

8-937-721-91-82 (Megaphone)

8 (8442) 988-012

Or leave us your phone number. We will call you and make an appointment at a convenient time.

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Good afternoon friends! Our company is a dealer of trailer hitches (towbars) Bosal, Aragon, Westfalia. We ourselves are manufacturers of universal electrics and smart connections “Koffer”. and lately we have often been asked the question: “Do I need to register a towbar with the traffic police?”

Specifically, to clarify this issue, we turned to the traffic police of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. The official answer was not long in coming. So, only changes made to the design of the vehicle need to be registered with the traffic police, and the installation of a towbar on 99% of car models is permitted by the manufacturers of these cars (see the vehicle's operating manual) and this is not a change in the design of the vehicle. We received similar responses from other Departments of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia; two responses were sent to us by our clients.

Read more: How to restore a passport without a birth certificate

Therefore, a towbar is not subject to registration with the traffic police if:

1. Installation of a towbar on a car is provided by the car manufacturer. But there are models for which the factory has not given recommendations for use as a tractor for a trailer. You can find out for yourself whether it is possible to install a towbar on your iron horse by looking at the plate with the VIN code on your car. They are usually located on the middle right door pillar or under the hood. Let's look at the Renault Sandero sign as an example. Pay attention to the numbers with kilograms at the end. In this case, there are 4 of them. 4. Indicates the total weight of the car. That is, the mass of the equipped vehicle plus the permissible weight of cargo or passengers; 5. Indicates the permissible weight with the trailer. Here I think there is no need to explain; 6. and 7. These are the masses of the maximum load on the front and rear axles. It follows from this that if your plate contains a trailer weight designation, then the vehicle is equipped with a tow bar. And if there is no number, then a coupling device is not provided.

2. The towbar has a certificate of conformity and a passport. 3. The towbar is installed according to the instructions specified in the passport, i.e. without making changes to the vehicle design. When purchasing and installing a tow bar, you must have:

Good afternoon, dear reader.

A towbar (or towing device) is a special element of a car designed to secure a trailer. In simple terms, a towbar is a hook on which a trailer is attached. That is, if there is no towbar, then the trailer cannot be used.

In recent years, legislation has undergone many changes, including those related to the use of additional equipment, and readers of pddmaster.ru are increasingly sending questions about how legal it is to use a tow bar.

Let me remind you that for unauthorized changes to the design in 2021 you can receive not only a fine, but also cancellation of registration.

Question to the inspector

To our question, Deputy The head of the department replied that indeed many people are interested in this law. According to the new rules, changes to the design of the car must be registered. But there is a certain list of changes in the design that do not require approval from the traffic police. And it is precisely the TSU that is on this list. But again, there is one “but”.

The design of the passenger car must allow for the future installation of this device. In other words, the car manufacturer has structurally calculated that a towbar can be installed on this car. According to statistics, it is possible to install a trailer hitch on almost 99% of cars.

If you wish, you can document the changes to the traffic police. After that, an entry is made in special marks in the technical ticket and PTS.

Can you bet on everything? How to find out?

Most vehicles are approved for installation of a trailer hitch by the manufacturer. But there are models for which the factory has not given recommendations for use as a tractor for a trailer. You can find out for yourself whether it is possible to install a towbar on your iron horse by looking at the plate with the VIN code on your car. They are usually located on the middle right door pillar or under the hood. Let's look at the example of a Renault Sandero sign.

Pay attention to the numbers with kilograms at the end. In this case there are 4 of them.

• 4. Indicates the total weight of the car. That is, the mass of the equipped vehicle plus the permissible weight of cargo or passengers;
• 5. Indicates the permissible weight with the trailer. Here I think there is no need to explain;
• 6. and 7. These are the masses of the maximum load on the front and rear axles.

Read more: Standard limited license card what is it

It follows from this that if your plate contains a trailer weight designation, then the vehicle is equipped with a tow bar. And if there is no number, then a coupling device is not provided.

The current state of affairs on the road

Despite the fact that we nevertheless came to the conclusion that a fine for a tow bar is not only possible, but also quite legal, everything is not so bad. Indeed, in practice, motorists are not often issued such a fine. Let's say more, no one really pays attention to the presence of a towbar, and does not think about what the motorist is violating. Therefore, actual objectivity is not so gloomy, and until some high-profile incident occurs in our country or the idea of ​​a “fix” arises, there is no need to be particularly afraid of a fine for a tow bar. The likelihood of such administrative punishment is not high.

Towbar connected to frame

Thus, to make the device, you need to find a ball with eyes (on the market or used does not matter). After that, remove the bumper, cut off the lugs and make a hole using a drill and a drill bit. Next, you will need a pipe of suitable diameter up to 1 meter long. Connect with a fastening weld. After this, in the middle of the pipe, another pipe is strengthened at a right angle by welding. After this operation, the structure can be primed and painted. To increase the spar, you can insert a small piece of angle iron with a nut welded to it, eventually you will get something like a removable towbar.

Mounting to body

We made a towbar with our own hands and now we need to attach it to the car body.

1. The first thing to do is to combine the trailer frame with the body frame frame. This allows you to get a load-bearing body. To get the platform, you will need to use five small crossbars and place them between the crossbars.
2. Then, it is necessary to weld the longitudinal elements on both sides. It is necessary to install 4 racks through each crossbar and weld them carefully. Now you will need rectangular pipes.
3. I recommend making the sides folding, as this will allow you to transport long and large objects. Lay a sheet of iron on the floor. A sheet of iron needs to be welded to the grille of your body.
4. If suddenly you do not have the material for your homemade trailer hitch, then the supplier of the tools you will use will be an old car. You will need two springs from it; they will connect the beams and the frame. Now your trailer will need wheels, these can also be borrowed from an old car.

To install the tow hitch you will need an inspection hole or a lift. Before installing, I recommend disconnecting the car from the battery. Then remove all contents of the trunk and remove the trim.

Attention to details

After this, as they say, you need to estimate the towbar at the attachment point. Next, you must first attach the structure in a place prepared for this with the help of bars, clamps, or something else; help from a friend will not be superfluous.

The second stage is drilling holes for fastening. For this job you will need a drill. Holes are made on both sides using a drill and a drill bit with a diameter of 12.5 mm. Insert washers and bolts into the formed holes and tighten the nuts. Tightening is done using a wrench of the appropriate diameter.

Then you need to make two holes on the inside of the trunk and in the lower part of the spar, using a reinforcing lining. Bolts are inserted into the drilled holes, linings are put on, followed by washers, and then tightened with a wrench to “17-19”.

At the final stage

Make a hole in the bottom of the trunk to connect the wires to the trailer outlet. Before you start drilling, think carefully and make a mark of the place that needs to be drilled. Secure the connector to the towbar, and then through the hole in the bottom of the trunk, pull out the wire and connect it to the socket, taking into account the color of the wires.