How long can you drive without compulsory motor third party insurance: using the policy after purchase

What does the law say?

Paragraph 2 of Article 4 of the Federal Law on Compulsory Motor Liability Insurance establishes the obligation of the motorist to insure liability no later than ten days after the owner’s rights to the car arise. Accordingly, you can only drive without insurance for 10 days.

It is necessary to implement this rule after purchase before the state registration of the vehicle with the authorized body. Ten days are allotted for this. The countdown of the period begins from the moment the purchase and sale agreement is concluded.

The grounds for the emergence of the right to motor transport are the following legal facts:

Acquisition of property (purchase and sale, barter, donation).
Receipt of property under the right of economic management and operational management.
Entry into the rights of an heir.

Based on the above, we find that until the expiration of 10 days it is allowed to drive a car without insurance. The validity of the conclusion is confirmed by the explanation of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation dated April 17, 2012 No. AKPI12-205.

Another, more troublesome solution is to re-sign the purchase and sale agreement, that is, imaginary purchase of a car and putting down a new date. If you do this regularly, you can delay the issuance of the policy for the required time.

Is driving allowed under a sales contract without compulsory motor liability insurance?

On a new car

To become a full-fledged owner of a car, you must register the car in accordance with the law. To do this, you will need to take out insurance for the new owner. Therefore, after purchasing a car, every car owner needs to register for compulsory motor liability insurance .

REFERENCE. According to Federal Law No. 40, the owner of the car is required to register civil liability.

This can be done before the car is registered. Registration of a car 10 days after taking ownership already qualifies as a violation. Nothing is said about the possibility of driving a vehicle without insurance.

The law on compulsory motor liability insurance allows driving without insurance, on the basis of only a purchase and sale agreement or a contract of gratuitous use. But for this, certain conditions must be met.

Used car

Regardless of whether the car being purchased is new or used, the rules in this regard in Art. 4 FZ-40 are the same. After purchasing a car and concluding a purchase and sale agreement, you can drive without a policy if the following conditions are met :

If there is a contract with the seller, which, if necessary, should be presented to representatives of regulatory authorities.
Until the new owner registers the car with the traffic police.
For a period of no more than 10 days from the date of purchase specified in the contract.

This means that the driver will be able to drive without an insurance policy if he has documents on the purchase and sale of the vehicle before a certain period (read more about what the fine is for lack of compulsory motor liability insurance and whether it can be avoided, read here). There will be no fines during this period. This possibility is enshrined in the law and is mentioned in Art. 12.37 Code of Administrative Offenses and in paragraph 2.1.1 p.2 of the Traffic Regulations. Insurance is mandatory for all car owners.

Driving a vehicle during the period of its use, not provided for by the insurance policy of compulsory insurance of civil liability of vehicle owners, as well as driving a vehicle in violation of the conditions provided for by this insurance policy for driving this vehicle only by the drivers specified in this insurance policy shall entail the imposition of an administrative fine in the amount of five hundred rubles
Failure by the owner of a vehicle to fulfill the obligation established by federal “law” to insure his civil liability, as well as driving a vehicle if such compulsory insurance is obviously absent, entails the imposition of an administrative fine in the amount of eight hundred rubles.

Several factors can affect the cost of the policy:

Car engine volume.
Type and purpose of transport.
Driving experience of the car owner.
Transport registration location.

After registration of compulsory motor liability insurance, the car owner acquires the right to receive compensation for damage to the car as a result of an accident. Insurance payments are used for this. Lack of insurance is grounds for imposing a fine.

Which days are working days or calendar days?

From one question “how many days can you drive without insurance” the following inevitably follows: the legislator means calendar or working days. If the normative act does not directly indicate working days, consecutive days (working days, weekends, holidays) are taken as a basis.

The ten-day period starts from 00:00. 00min. days that follow the day of acquisition of the right to motor vehicles. During this period, the owner registers with the traffic police, undergoes a technical inspection and issues an insurance policy. By the way, if you get into an accident without a valid policy, you will not be able to get insurance after the accident, so you will have to restore the car at your own expense.

Why is it better to hurry up and get your car license?

Despite the fact that you can drive without a policy for a sufficient period of time, it is better not to delay obtaining the document. Driving without insurance is fraught with the following troubles:

If you get into an accident, you will have to compensate for the damage yourself. This applies not only to the breakdown of your car, but also to the restoration of vehicles injured in an accident.
If you drive without a vehicle license, each time you check your documents you will have to explain the situation and evidence of your recent purchase of a vehicle.
In the event of a minor accident, it will not be possible to document the incident according to the European Protocol. And in any case, you will have to call law enforcement officers.

More information about the procedure for registering the Europrotocol can be found here.

All this suggests that delaying this process can result in very unpleasant situations. And in the end, the costs incurred may be much greater than the policy purchased. However, to receive a penalty, it is necessary that the driver’s guilt be proven.

IMPORTANT! The absence of a motor vehicle license does not in any way affect the determination of the culprit of the accident.

What are the dangers of driving a car without insurance?

There are several options for administrative punishment for operating a vehicle without a policy. Here are the current fines for 2021:

Warning. The penalty is written and expresses the censure of the state for the offense committed. Applies to the owner of a car, while driving which he did not have a policy, for example, left it at home, forgot it at work. It is pronounced when a person first stumbles.
A fine of 500 rubles. This monetary penalty is used when a motorist has been found to be driving outside the time allowed by the terms of the insurance. For example, if the period of use of the policy is 3 months, the very next day after the expiration of this period the violator may be brought to administrative responsibility.
A fine of 800 rubles. Imposed on the violator in the absence of a policy.

If traffic police officers catch a person behind the wheel whose details are not included in the insurance policy of the car being driven, he will face a similar punishment.

Additional measures taken by traffic police officers for driving without a policy are considered even more formidable. These include:

Placing the car in a special parking lot.
Removal from management.

Agree, if this is a long-awaited purchase, then parting with it soon is clearly not included in the plans. You can rescue your car from captivity and get back behind the wheel after paying an administrative fine and concluding an insurance contract.

Re-registration upon change of owner

When purchasing a used car, MTPL insurance is re-registered from the seller to another owner, or he is asked to issue a new document. If you do not want to be served by a company with which the previous owner collaborated, then it is better to choose the second option. In other cases, the procedure will be as follows:

Come to the insurance company with signed purchase and sale agreements.
Write an application for a change in the owner of the vehicle and the need to re-issue compulsory motor liability insurance.
Show the driver's license of the new owner, a copy of the vehicle title and the old insurance policy.
Wait for new data to be entered into the document and receive a completed form.

When purchasing a used car, MTPL insurance may remain registered to the previous owner. Then, even taking into account the change in the owner of the car, and the fact that he is included in the policy, the former policyholder will have to participate in receiving compensation if an accident occurs. Therefore, this option is recommended only for relatives, since it will create unnecessary worries with strangers.

How to get insurance after buying a used car?

Liability insurance when purchasing a used car is carried out at the office of the insurance company. Some companies offer online insurance, for which you send them purchase information and personal data. A little later, you pick up the finished document at the insurer’s office.

As you have probably already seen, the answer to the question of how long you can drive without insurance under a contract is quite simple. But you won’t be able to stay without a policy for a long time, so go to the nearest insurance office to get a policy. The sooner you comply with the requirements of the law, the easier it will be on the road.

Also on our website you will learn about what to do if your insurance has expired.

Acceptable period of use

Driver liability insurance laws and vehicle registration regulations are somewhat consistent. In case of a change of owner, the new owner is given 10 days to register the car . An insurance policy is issued within a short period of time - the time allotted for this by law is quite enough under normal circumstances.

ATTENTION! The new owner of the car can safely drive on roads for 10 days. If he is stopped for inspection by traffic police officers, you can show the purchase agreement.

Try to explain that it is not yet possible to allocate time to issue a policy.

Obtaining ownership of a vehicle can arise not only as a result of purchase. The right of ownership is recognized as follows :

Receiving a car as an inheritance. Inherited property is considered property from the moment the new owner assumes rights in accordance with the current legislation.
Receiving ownership of a car in other cases provided for by current laws.

How many days can you drive without insurance after buying a car?

The law allows you to drive without a policy for 10 days . No. 40-FZ “On Compulsory Motor Liability Insurance” does not directly state that it is allowed to operate a car during this period. At the same time, there is no direct prohibition. The Code of Administrative Offenses and the Traffic Regulations also do not contain exceptions regarding the timing of application of administrative punishment (fine for driving a vehicle without compulsory motor liability insurance).

However, the decision of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation dated April 17, 2012 No. AKPI12-205 clearly stipulates that in the first 10 days after the transfer of ownership, imposing a fine on the driver is unlawful. It turns out that you can drive the car.

Expert opinion

Ivan Strahovsky

Insurance expert

OSAGO calculator

In some cases, this is necessary (for example, getting to the office of an insurance company, a vehicle inspection point, from a car dealership to a parking lot, etc.). If a fine is nevertheless issued, then it can be challenged in the traffic police (10 days are allotted for consideration) or in court (an answer will be given within 60 days). Similar rules apply when receiving a car as a gift or as an inheritance.

On a new car

It is convenient to insure a new car directly at the dealership. It should be remembered that car dealer employees do not have the right to refuse sales without insurance. 10 days are calculated from the moment of signing the purchase and sale agreement, and not from the date of signing the acceptance certificate.

By a used car

Standard rules apply to used vehicles. However, there is still room for maneuver if the car was purchased from an individual. If the vehicle is not registered within 10 days, the contract can be rewritten and the required date can be entered.

The grace period for policy renewal of 30 days, which many drivers know about, was canceled back in 2009.

Who is to blame for an accident if you drive a vehicle without a policy?

When driving a vehicle without insurance, the culprits are identified in the standard manner. That is, the absence of compulsory motor liability insurance is not evidence of guilt in the incident. However, if it is installed, the motorist will be obliged to compensate for all losses caused to other participants.

Article on the topic: OSAGO for a car in installments

There are three possible scenarios:

negotiate with the victims on the spot;
use pre-trial proceedings;
resolve issues through court.

If there are not many participants in the incident and the damage caused is insignificant, it is usually possible to solve the problem in the first way. The parties assess the loss and the culprit compensates the amount necessary for repairs.

In a situation where the perpetrator does not have enough money, you should take a receipt from him, which indicates the amount of compensation and the procedure for paying it. It is also recommended to record on site all the circumstances of the incident and any existing damage. This will come in handy if the culprit fails to fulfill his obligations.

In addition, the practice of collateral is applied. In this case, the victim, as the last one, can take any valuable thing or document with the obligation to return it after receiving compensation. This should also be noted on the receipt.

After all mutual settlements have been made, the victim must also issue a receipt indicating that he has no claims against the other party.

If all parties to the incident cannot reach an agreement, a trial will have to begin. To do this, you must first file a pre-trial claim. It indicates the circumstances of the incident, the amount of expenses incurred, etc.

This document is accompanied by papers from the scene of the accident, damage assessment, etc. Copies of the entire package are sent to the culprit, after which he often agrees to compensate for the costs. If this does not happen, the papers are sent to court.

In this case, the judge decides whether the claims are justified, and if so, obliges the culprit to pay damages.

Thus, regulatory documents clearly establish how long you can drive without insurance after purchasing a car in 2021. Violation of this deadline is fraught not only with the payment of numerous fines, but also with great risks of incurring large losses in the event of an accident.