Who should I call if my car is taken to the impound lot?

Checking a car for theft

The first action you need to take is to contact the traffic police department directly.

Your main task at this stage is to find out whether your car has been towed or stolen.

Information about all evacuated cars is centralized to the “duty room”, so if a car is detained and delivered to a special parking lot, you will be informed about this.

If the car has been towed, then check which traffic police department inspector drew up the administrative violation report and which parking lot the car was sent to. Have a pen and a piece of paper to write down all the data. The code states that the decision to return the car to you or not should only be made by the traffic police inspector. Therefore, the next stage is communication with officials of the traffic inspection department, whose inspector drew up a report and called a tow truck.

To communicate with the inspector you will need:

driver's license;
vehicle registration certificate;
OSAGO policy.

Impound lots

What to do if documents are left in the car

Very often, the registration certificate, along with the license, is in the purse, and the MTPL policy is in the glove compartment of the car. If this is your case, then we go to the impound lot, politely but persistently ask the employee to unseal the car in order to pick up the documents, and then seal it again.

We go with the documents to the traffic police department and receive a copy of the protocol on the administrative violation or a copy of the protocol on the detention of the vehicle. Make sure that the inspector puts a mark on the document indicating that the violation has been eliminated. This will be the basis for returning the car.

Payment of fines

Tyumen residents have 10 days to appeal the inspector’s decision, and if you find it legal, the deadline for paying the fine is no later than 60 days after drawing up the protocol (source). Storage and delivery of the car to the special parking lot are paid for in the same terms.

Amount for evacuation and finding the car in the impound lot

The amount for evacuation can be found out at the traffic police department. Until August 2021, the cost of evacuation directly depended on the car’s engine power. But the Federal Antimonopoly Service considered that this state of affairs was incorrect and in August 2021 a document was registered with the Ministry of Justice entitled “Methodological instructions for calculating tariffs for the movement and storage of detained vehicles and establishing payment terms.

In these rules, the department invited the regions to set evacuation rates themselves, using three calculation methods to choose from. Therefore, the final figure can only be clarified at the traffic police and at the impound lot.

Practice shows that in most cases a car is towed precisely because of violations of parking rules, although there are many more reasons for this. A complete list of reasons for detaining a car is given in Art. 27.13 Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation.

Having your car towed to an impound lot is a rather unpleasant incident, but there is no need to panic. Using our instructions, you will rescue your “iron horse” from captivity with minimal moral and material costs.

Who to call and what to do if your car is towed?

Car evacuation is a process associated not only with further documentary problems, but also with monetary losses. Especially if you are in a metropolis. Collecting all the necessary documents to return a convoyed car may take more than one day, for each of which you will have to pay a large sum at the impound lot. How to resolve this situation relatively easily - read on.

Reasons for car evacuation

Tow trucks operate in accordance with the law of the Russian Federation - they have the right to pick up any car only if one of the violations occurs under Article 27.13 of the Code of Administrative Offenses:

You parked incorrectly or left your car for a period longer than permitted in that parking area.
You do not have a vehicle registration certificate.
You are deprived of the right to drive a car.
You are drunk.
You are drunk and refuse to be examined.
You were driving a car that had broken brakes or steering.

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They do not have the right to evacuate if:

You do not have MTPL (since 2015).
You do not have a driver's license (since 2015).
There is another driver next to the car who has the right to drive this vehicle (there is STS, license and OSAGO), and he expressed his readiness to drive the car before the tow truck moved from the evacuation site.
There is no traffic police officer nearby to draw up a report.

Where to call

First of all, you should know that a report must be drawn up upon the evacuation and handed to you if you were at the scene of the incident. Accordingly, regarding the return of the car, you need to call the traffic police or go there in person.

However, it is first recommended to call the impound lot directly using the tow truck’s phone number, since each of them has its own requirements and additional nuances for “releasing” the cars that have reached them.

Here are some contacts for big cities that will help in the first minutes after evacuation:

Moscow - +74955395454 (unified help desk for tow trucks);
Saint Petersburg — +78126803333;
Ekaterinburg — +73433545553;
Kazan - +78432776677 (control room) or +78435333812 (traffic police duty room);
Ufa — +73472793335;
Nizhny Novgorod — +73124171707.

To check whether the vehicle was actually evacuated or whether it was stolen by attackers, you need to dial “02” or “112” (from a mobile phone). If the car is actually driven to the impound lot, the police will tell you where to go to resolve the situation.

Where to call in St. Petersburg if your car has been towed

If the owner of the car was absent at the time of evacuation, then you need to call the unified information and dispatch service number - 004. Using this phone number, the driver will be able to announce the reason for the evacuation of the vehicle, and will also indicate the traffic police department that carried out the evacuation. In addition, the dispatcher can also give the address and telephone number of the relevant department, and contacts, and the name of the impound lot, as well as the location of the car.

1. st. Ilyushina, 18a, t.: 573-58-83; 2. st. Shvetsova, 39, t: 252-77-07, 252-37-91; 3. Levashovsky Ave., 20a, t: 573-46-47, 573-46-35; 4. st. Frontovaya, 8a, t: 573-53-31, 573-53-33; 5. lane Kakhovskogo, 11, t: 573-05-10; 6. Maurice Thorez Ave., 65, t.: 552-61-81; 7. Sestroretsk, Gorskaya village, st. Pushkinskaya, 10, t. 437-44-81, 434-83-55; 8. st. Luzhskaya, 9, t: 596-50-57; 9. Veteranov Ave., 141, building 3, t: 573-54-85, 573-54-73; 10. emb. Obvodny Canal, 205, t: 573-03-23, 573-03-18; 11. st. Kommuny, 13, t: 573-17-03, 573-17-07; 12. Kronstadt, st. Surgina, 6 b, t. 311-67-93, 311-11-97; 13. st. Tsimbalina, 22, t: 560-31-52, 560-61-44; 14. st. Rastannaya, 25A, t: 767-23-48, 766-35-75; 15. st. Mayakovskogo, 37, t: 275-40-19, 573-50-70; 16. st. Rybinskaya, 7b, t: 252-78-70, 252-11-22; 17. Pavlovsk, pos. Tyarlevo, st. Novaya, 1, t: 466-48-72, 466-48-69; 18. Kolpino, st. Tazaeva, 28, t: 469-31-12; 469-31-13.

an hour after the evacuation. — illegal parking in St. Petersburg is now VERY expensive: 2.7 rubles for a tow truck, 30 rubles per hour for storing a car in an impound lot, 3 rubles for a fine for violating traffic rules, in total, at least 5.7 rubles! - during the same day you can go straight to the parking lot, everything will be processed there and the car will be returned (payment only in CASH) - if later - through the traffic police. Something like that. PS I must note that I didn’t encounter any rudeness or rudeness anywhere, I was surprised. PPS Do not violate, and you will be happy! PPPS Good luck to everyone and good luck on the roads!

PS If you manage to find out contacts in the first stages and contact the duty department of the traffic police unit that made the arrest, then you will be able to find out from them how to obtain permission to issue a vehicle. Maybe you won't have to go to the impound lot twice.

What to do

After you clarify where and why your car is located, you need to do the following:

If you have the documents in your hands (OSAGO, V/u, SoRTS, etc.), go to the traffic police.
Receive a decree/protocol on the detention of the car from the traffic police.
Pay the fines or immediately receive permission to pick up the car and pay the fine within the time established by law.
Go to pick up your car at the designated impound lot.

If you don’t have the documents on hand, before going to the traffic police, you need to:

Go to the impound lot and fill out a protocol for opening the car.
Sign the protocol.
Let the impound lot employee seal the car after seizing the documents.
Go to the traffic police to obtain a resolution or protocol, as well as permission to pick up the car.
Return to the impound lot and pick up the car.

Returning the car

The return of the car itself is carried out after completing the procedure described above. To do this, you must present the following documents at the impound lot:

ID card of the driver or owner of the vehicle (yours);
vehicle registration certificate;
STS auto;
OSAGO;
driver's license;
car registration certificate;
permission to issue a car from the traffic police;
a copy of the evacuation protocol;
a power of attorney certified by a notary, if you are not the owner of the car.

Additionally, at the impound lot they may require a receipt for payment of the fine, however, such actions are unlawful, since by law the driver is given 60 days to do this. You also don’t have to pay for the impound lot right away, but many points give a 25 percent discount on the cost if you pay on the spot (for Moscow).

If the parking lot employees insist on paying immediately, warn them about the recording and start filming your conversation - this will allow you to appeal their unlawful actions. However, then you won’t be able to get the car right away; you will still have to either pay immediately for this or wait for the consideration of the appeal against unlawful actions. During this time, a decent amount of money may accrue for the car being in the impound lot, so it is recommended that all issues be resolved on the same day.

Where to call if your car has been towed to St. Petersburg

— You come to the traffic police, receive written permission to release your car, presenting all the necessary documents (a document confirming the ownership of the detained vehicle, i.e. a vehicle registration certificate and a power of attorney, for those who are not the owner of the car). Here you will be given a fine of 3,000 rubles (which you must pay within 40 days), and will be asked to mark: agree, disagree.

The towed car will be returned to you only after paying the cost of moving the car. You can pay for the towing of your car at any bank, at terminals installed in traffic police departments or directly in the parking lots themselves. For this purpose, special terminals have begun to be installed at impound lots in Moscow (the commission for transferring funds is 2%). To pay through terminals, you need to select Payment for services in the main screen of the terminal, then go to the Transport section, touch the Moscow parking button and click on Payment of a fine for storing/towing a car. Then enter the state number of the vehicle, after which the amount of debt will be displayed on the screen. Remember, terminals often only accept cash.

How to check car evacuation online

A special map of impound lots has been created for drivers in Moscow and the Moscow region. Below it there is a field where you can check where exactly the car was taken. For this:

Go to https://parking.mos.ru/.
Scroll down to the green “Search for a Vehicle” form.
Fill out the form - all you need is the license plate number of the car and the captcha code from the picture.
Click Search.

Also, on the mos.ru in the “Services” section there is a page that contains additional resources for finding a car at impound lots in Moscow. Among them:

The above https://parking.mos.ru/ is “Moscow Parking”.
Moscow Transport website.
Mayor's Portal (registration may be required).

Find out which impound lot the car is in

Phone number of the single contact center, information desk: +7 (495) 539-54-54
Official website: parking.mos.ru (there is a car search by state number)
And from June 1, 2021, you can subscribe to an SMS evacuation notification. The message will indicate the address of the specialized parking lot to which the car, the department and the traffic police telephone number were sent.

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It helps you find and pay for parking spaces, and in case of evacuation, it will tell you which impound lot in Moscow your car was moved to. According to available statistics, the application is used by up to 75% of motorists in the capital.

Fine and tariffs

The fine will depend on what exactly you violated. For example, for illegal parking in Moscow in 2021 it is 3,000 rubles. To these costs are added the tariffs for the work of the tow truck and the hourly presence of the car in a special parking lot.

Below are some approximate figures by city:

City	Hour in the impound lot, rub.	Tow truck services, rub.
Moscow	41.6 from the second day (the first is free)	5000
Saint Petersburg	32	2700
Novosibirsk	44,8	1750
Ufa	25 from 13 hours of presence	1500
Kazan	60	1200
Ekaterinburg	33	1090
Krasnodar	25	2225

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Thus, for example, evacuation in Moscow can cost the driver about 9-10 thousand rubles (5000 for the tow truck itself, 3000 for incorrect parking, 1000 for a day of parking). This is quite a large amount, so there are “incentive” discounts, for example:

For paying a fine on the spot or within 1-2 days – 25 percent.
For paying a fine in the first 20 days - 50 percent of the fine.

Discounts, like the cost itself, depend on the city, the impound lot and the nature of the offense.

How to find out which impound lot a car is in Moscow

In this case, the first thing you need to do is go to the impound lot. In the presence of the car owner, the employee will have to fill out an autopsy report, after which it will be possible to obtain the necessary documents. Unfortunately, drivers do not always comply with traffic rules: they drive while drunk or without a license.

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Nobody wants to quarrel with the law, be nervous while looking for a car, and even part with a lot of money in order to get the car back safe and sound. A traffic police inspector can fine a car when there is a driver in it, but also when there is not. Let's figure out in what cases a car ends up in a parking lot.

Did you tow the car? Don't rush to pay for a tow truck!

Hello, dear readers! If you park incorrectly, your car may be towed. You can pick up your car with a tow truck even if you parked correctly . Personally, I believe that in some situations evacuation is a necessary measure. But it also happens that the evacuation sign is completely unjustified. So, for example, I was once “evacuated” actually from the yard of my house in a situation where the effect of the sign prohibiting parking was not obvious.

Or another case. For many years there was a no stopping . But paid municipal parking has appeared in the city, and municipal paid parking has been organized in the place where parking was previously prohibited. This suggests that there was no reason to previously prohibit parking in this area.

Or here's another one. There is paid municipal parking on one side of the road. And around a radius of a kilometer, on every corner there is a sign prohibiting stopping. Those. the driver seems to be driven into a municipal paid parking lot.

Let's figure out what to do if a tow truck picks us up?

Regarding why there should be no fines for municipal parking, read the article here!

What to do, a tow truck took the car to the impound lot

Having found the evacuation procedure for your car “in progress”, you need to demand that the inspector stop the evacuation - he is obliged to fulfill your request, since he has the opportunity to resolve the problem on the spot by collecting a fine. Removing your vehicle from a tow truck is easier than returning your driver's license. Violation of parking rules is subject to a fine of 3,000 rubles in St. Petersburg. – the amount established by traffic rules from July 2021.

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The car must remain in the place where it was previously parked by the owner. And this confidence is unshakable among car owners until one day, upon returning to the place where the car was parked, it is not there. The first panicky thoughts are about theft, but when you pull yourself together and look around, you see a road sign, and the side of the street, which just yesterday was lined with cars, including yours, is empty. This means the car was not stolen, but evacuated by the police, because... the parking rules specified in the traffic rules were violated. So how do you get your car out of the impound lot?

Have you been evacuated?

Let’s imagine a situation where your car was “stolen” . You categorically disagree with this and you don’t want to pay for the “service” imposed on you. What to do in this case? First, find out where the car was towed. The telephone number to call in such cases can be easily found on the Internet.

The evacuation process itself consists of two elements:

administrative offense for violating traffic rules
payment for the services of a commercial company that transported your car

Those. Not only the budget is filled, but also the “pocket” of the company that carries out the evacuation of the vehicle. Moreover, the evacuation itself is greater in monetary terms than the fine.

The fine goes to the budget, but payment for evacuation goes to specific people on the ground. Therefore, the entire evacuation process is interesting only from the point of view of payments for the “commercial part”.

When is a car towed and who pays for the tow?

In some cases, if traffic rules are violated, the vehicle may be towed to a special impound lot.
At the same time, the decision to evacuate can only be made by a traffic police inspector on the basis of the law, and most often evacuation occurs if the driver is absent or cannot, for objective reasons, move the car, and the current location or further movement of the vehicle is problematic from the point of view of traffic rules. It should be understood that the responsibility for paying all expenses falls on the driver. In fact, when evacuating, the driver pays for 3 items:

An administrative fine that serves as grounds for evacuation.
Cost of tow truck services.
The cost of vehicle idle time at the penalty area.

Thus, for a minor violation of traffic rules, the violator may ultimately receive a large fine. However, it should be understood that the traffic police inspector cannot evacuate the car in all cases. The main situations when an inspector can evacuate a vehicle to a penalty area in accordance with traffic rules and the Code of Administrative Offenses:

The brake system has broken down, making further movement of the vehicle impossible.
The driver is under the influence of alcohol and/or drugs. This fact must be confirmed based on a medical examination. If the driver refuses to be examined, then such behavior is also considered an administrative offense, which in some cases may be accompanied by the forced evacuation of the vehicle.
The driver does not have some required documents for the car (driver's license, vehicle registration certificate, etc.). Please note that driving a car without compulsory motor insurance is subject to a fine, but the car is not subject to evacuation to the penalty area.
The driver parked in the wrong place (wrong parking, stopping the car in the middle of the road, etc.).
Violation of the rules for transporting large, heavy and dangerous goods.
Some other cases that may serve as grounds for evacuation on the basis of traffic rules and the Code of Administrative Offenses.

Request a vehicle seizure report

When you arrive at a specialized parking lot (impounded parking lot) for detained vehicles and find your car, immediately request a vehicle detention report .

According to clause 8. Art. 27.13 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation, a protocol on the detention of a vehicle in the absence of the driver is drawn up in the presence of two witnesses or using video recording . A copy of the protocol on the detention of a vehicle drawn up in the absence of the driver, with the official’s decision to return the detained vehicle, is handed over to its owner, the owner’s representative or a person who has the documents necessary to drive this vehicle, immediately after the reason for the detention of the vehicle has been eliminated.
In accordance with Art. clause 10 art. 27.13 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation, the return of detained vehicles to their owners, representatives of the owners or persons who have with them the documents necessary to drive these vehicles is carried out immediately after the reason for their detention has been eliminated .

Thus, you do not have the right to detain you after the police have drawn up documents regarding the offense . If the employees of this parking lot do not let you out of a special parking lot, this is not legal! In fact, they themselves are breaking the law, call the police !

What to do if the evacuation is carried out in your presence?

Experienced drivers know that if the owner of the car managed to appear at the place of evacuation of his vehicle before the tow truck started moving, then the further evacuation process should be suspended, and the vehicle itself should be returned to the driver, but only on condition that the reason for the detention is eliminated on the spot . (Article 27.13 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation).

But what does the phrase “eliminate the reason for the detention on the spot” mean? We will find the answer in paragraph 147.1 of Order of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia dated March 2, 2009 N 185, which reads as follows:

“If the reason for the detention of the vehicle is eliminated at the scene of the discovery of an administrative offense

provision of documents provided for by the Traffic Rules;
troubleshooting the brake system, steering or coupling device (as part of a train);
eliminating violations of the rules for stopping or parking vehicles on the roadway, which resulted in the creation of obstacles to the movement of other vehicles, or stopping or parking a vehicle in a tunnel;
eliminating violations of the rules for transporting large, heavy or dangerous goods;
provision of another person to drive the vehicle, in the absence of grounds for his removal from driving the vehicle; Before the detained vehicle begins to move, the vehicle is not placed in a specialized parking lot.”

An important document, without which evacuation of the vehicle will be impossible, is the vehicle detention protocol . It is drawn up by the traffic police inspector in two copies, and must strictly comply with the requirements for its content, namely:

indication of the time, date, place of drawing up the protocol;
the basis for making a decision to detain the vehicle;
surname and initials, position, rank of the employee who compiled the protocol;
information about the vehicle, as well as about the person (car owner) in respect of whom this measure was applied to ensure proceedings in the case of an administrative offense (in the event of the vehicle being detained in his presence);
information about the body (institution), position, surname and initials of the person who will execute the decision to detain the vehicle;
if the vehicle detention protocol is drawn up in the absence of the driver, it must be signed by two witnesses; It is possible to use a video recording (as a means of recording what is happening), which should be attached to the protocol. The protocol must also be signed by the person who compiled it.

Information ! If you, the driver, are near the car when it is detained, but despite the legal grounds for its return, the inspector continues to fill out the protocol, insist that he include in it a list of valuables located inside the car, and also indicate which There is damage to the vehicle.

Don't pay for tow truck services

The whole idea of evacuating for wrong parking comes down to commerce . They simply collect money from ordinary citizens for the imposed tow truck services. Do not pay for this service on site. Let them write out the invoice .

Towing service workers do not have the right to seize your vehicle. In fact, they do. If they get really impudent, call the police . Let them check.

Sometimes, tow truck operators are simply outrageous:

As a rule, “tow truck operators” are a kind of commercial structure that imposes and provides a service at an arbitrarily set rate.

In order to issue you an invoice for tow truck services, tow truck operators must know personal information about the driver of the vehicle. You don’t have to provide any information to tow truck operators or sign any statements. But in this case, they will not let your car out of the parking lot. If you have a principled position, then call the police. The fact is that tow trucks do not have the right to detain your car. Only police officers can do this.

Don't pay tow trucks on the spot. Let them write out an invoice for the services (give them a receipt).

Further, there are two ways to pay for tow truck services:

after the decision on an administrative offense comes into force and the fine is paid, you can voluntarily pay for the services of a tow truck.
do not pay for the services of a tow truck at all, let them go to court and collect in court , prove in court that they provided a service for transporting the vehicle.

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You took the car. What's next?

decision to bring you to administrative responsibility
arrest report
protocol on administrative offense (optional)
invoice (receipt) for payment for tow truck services

Appealing a decision on an administrative offense

You can appeal a decision in a case of an administrative offense according to the rules of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation. You can appeal to a superior manager or to court. I suggest appealing to the court.

In order to effectively appeal a decision to hold you administratively liable, you can:

contact a lawyer to write a complaint against the decision;
write a complaint yourself; For your own writing, I suggest you use my sample. It needs to be slightly modified to suit you.

The decision came into force

Where to call if your car is towed in St. Petersburg

If the car was towed in St. Petersburg in the absence of the driver, then he has every right to receive information about the offense and the location of his vehicle. To do this, he must call the dispatch service number 004. To identify the vehicle, a person must provide his personal data and the state number of the vehicle. After this, the dispatcher must provide the driver with the following information:

Grounds for evacuation (usually a protocol on an administrative violation).
Basic information about the traffic police department that carried out the evacuation (department address, department phone number, etc.).
The current location of the vehicle (usually the name, number and address of the St. Petersburg impound area).

When calling the dispatch service, be sure to check the telephone number of the traffic police department that carried out the evacuation. After this, call this number and arrange to obtain permission to return the vehicle, and without permission, the impound yard employee does not have the right to return the car to you.

Typically, a permit is issued only if the driver has already paid all expenses (the main fine, towing costs and downtime). To obtain a permit, you must provide the following documents to the traffic police inspector:

Personal passport.
Driver's license.
Receipts for repayment of debts.

What to do if your car is towed in St. Petersburg