Car theft report: where to file

March 26, 2021 Car theft is a common incident, especially in big cities. Moreover, the statistics change from year to year, but do not tend to zero at all, because new cars that are even more attractive for theft regularly appear on the roads.

For example, the return of a stolen car to the Russian Federation was required in almost 20 thousand cases over the past 2019; you can find detailed statistics for the Moscow region in our previous article.

Not all of the cars were returned. Of course, if we compare an even earlier year, 2021, then this figure has clearly become smaller (you can see detailed statistics on thefts for 2021 here).

Moreover, it lists only those vehicles that were stolen specifically for the purpose of resale or dismantling for parts.

You should also consider cars that were taken without asking for a ride and then simply abandoned or returned to their place. As a rule, teenagers do this without thinking about material gain.

Where to report a stolen car

Theft of a vehicle is always a psychological blow to its owner, leaving the owner of the car in shock and confusion. But if suddenly this happens to you, you need to know how to behave in such a situation, and where you can report the theft. By responding to such an unpleasant incident in a timely manner, you can make the task of law enforcement agencies easier and help them quickly find the stolen car.

Knowing the procedure to take when a car is stolen, the injured car owner should not panic. Here you need to act calmly and systematically, adhering to a certain algorithm for responding to the situation.

Algorithm of actions: what to do and where to call?

First of all, you need to understand what exactly is theft. Theft (Article 166 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation) is often confused with theft of a car: theft (Article 158 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation), robbery (Article 161 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation) or even robbery (Article 162 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation).

The key feature that allows you to differentiate the theft of a vehicle from theft is the absence of a purpose for the theft. This means that when committing a theft, the person does not plan and does not intend to appropriate the car.

Why then commit a crime? Goals can be different: the desire to demonstrate driving skills, just to ride and enjoy the trip.

So, intoxicated with alcohol, P. P. A. wanted to ride around the city. He approached someone else's car, near which he saw a metal crowbar. With this device, P. P. A. broke the rear left window of the car, and, having removed the lock from the car doors, sat in the driver’s seat.

Fortunately for the attacker and unfortunately for the owner of the car, the engine was running and the key was in the ignition. Therefore, the thief only had to press the brake pedal, shift the gearbox and, pressing the gas pedal, start moving.

Of course, at the first stage, when you did not find your car in the place where you left it, you still cannot know whether the car was stolen or stolen.

Therefore, the following algorithm of actions will be relevant for both situations.

Make sure the car is really missing.
A situation is possible in which one of your loved ones, a member of your family, took the car for a short trip without warning you about it. Even if none of your loved ones has a driver's license, it's still worth checking with them first. As practice shows, often at this stage the problem of “theft” of a car is solved by itself.
It is worth checking whether you have violated the traffic rules and whether your car was parked in accordance with the rules.
You can call 112 and find out if your car has been towed. If you live in Moscow, you can call the number (GKU “Administrator of the Moscow Parking Space”).
If the previous steps did not give the desired result, you need to call the police station.
It is necessary to report the theft: state your last name, first name and patronymic, make, color, license plate number of the car, address of the place where you left it.
While you are waiting for the local police officer to arrive, make a call to the insurance company.
Tell the consultant all the necessary information, clarify what actions you need to take next, what documents (or copies thereof) to provide to the insurance company.
The police officer who arrives at the scene of the incident will hand you a ticket consisting of two parts: a notice (remains with you) and a stub (remains with the police).
You can go to the station and write a statement about the crime committed. Your appeal will be entered into the Book of Statements and Reports of Crimes. Also, in the near future you will need to receive a decision to initiate a criminal case (after the check has been carried out).
It is important to understand that in case of theft, delay can be too costly: attackers can quickly repaint the car, change the license plates, and finally, simply drive it to another region. Each of these actions will significantly complicate (or even make it impossible) the search for a stolen vehicle.
You should take additional independent steps to find your car.
Your task is to attract as much attention as possible to your problem. A random passerby may notice your car in the most unexpected place and thus help you with your search. It is worth looking for thematic communities on social networks dedicated to finding stolen or missing cars.
It is also recommended to advertise with the promise of a reward. In addition, you can contact the public movement of motorists MDA “Avtobrat”. This organization can become a guarantor, that is, guarantee that you will actually pay a reward to the person who found your stolen car.
Remember that after publishing an ad, you become bait for scammers.
Often, criminals, having seen the advertisement, contact the owner of the stolen car and report that they have valuable information, access to which can be opened in exchange for an immediate and relatively high reward.
In order to protect yourself, ask for the most accurate information about the car you found; if the person contacting you sends you photos, ask them to take new ones, but from a different angle or together with certain objects (the simplest thing is a photo with today’s newspaper). You should transfer money only when you are convinced that this information will really be useful to you, and the person writing to you is not deceiving you.
Contact the tax office with a police theft certificate.
This must be done so that transport tax is not charged until the car is found. The accrual of transport tax will resume from the month when your car is found. The second way to avoid excess taxation is to deregister a car or other vehicle with the traffic police.

Recommended reading:

What is theft? Let's look at Article 166 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation

“How much do they give for car theft (Article 166 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation)?”

Investigation methods and forensic characteristics of thefts

Procedure in case of car theft

Car theft, called theft in the criminal code, is a fairly common type of crime in our time. After all, a vehicle is a fairly expensive property, which attracts dishonest citizens. No one is immune from such a nuisance, so you need to know what to do in such a situation. The procedure for the injured party should be as follows:

The very first step that needs to be taken is to call the police duty station at number 02 from a landline phone or 112 from a mobile phone, and briefly state the essence of the crime that happened. In this case, you must provide the following information to the duty officer who received your call:

state registration number of the stolen car;
its color;
distinctive features by which you can identify a stolen car (noticeable damage, stickers or the original color of the upholstery);
if the car has an alarm system that allows you to monitor its movements via the Internet, you must immediately report this;
that the car was not handed over to anyone for temporary management.

If the car was insured, you need to call the insurer;
Wait for the arrival of the investigation team to inspect the scene of the incident;
Within two days, submit to law enforcement authorities a corresponding statement about the theft of a car, if it was not found in hot pursuit during Operation Interception, which is traditionally carried out in such cases.

Even before the police arrive, and then together with them, you need to go around the nearest yards and make sure that the thieves have not abandoned your car. After all, it could have been stolen for the purpose of driving.

What to do if documents are stolen

Keeping a PTS in a car is not the smartest solution, because traffic police officers do not require this document for inspection (the only exception is those cars that move without license plates).

If you are unlucky and the car is stolen along with its documents, it may happen that it is sold to an inattentive buyer, with the new owner entered in the empty document column. If the car is found, the process of transferring it to the previous owner will be complicated.

What to do if the title and other documents were stolen along with the car?

First, you need to write about this in the theft report. You fill out a regular form, which does not differ from the standard one (indicating all the information about the car (model, VIN, etc.), the owner, his contact information). The police will tell you what to do next.

If absolutely all the documents were stolen, you will have to restore them, and it is better to deal with this issue in advance. For this procedure, you will need to provide a certificate of theft of the vehicle, which can be obtained from the police.

Why do you need to do this? In case the stolen car is still not found and the criminal case is closed. Documents will be needed in order to:

receive insurance compensation;
deregister the car.

In any case, before doing anything, consult with the investigator. Documents can be restored only after the case is closed, but you can deregister a stolen car on the basis of a document confirming the theft of the car itself and the documents for it, which the police will give you.

Filing an application to the tax office about car theft

It is necessary to report the theft of a car to the tax office where it is registered and where its owner pays transport tax. The application is submitted to the head of the Federal Tax Service on a standard form, which indicates the following information:

taxpayer identification and contact information;
the make of the stolen car for which tax accrual is required to be suspended;
tax period for which recalculation should be made.

The following documents must be attached to the application submitted to the tax service:

a copy of the car owner's civil passport;
copy of TIN;
originals of a police certificate and a resolution to initiate a criminal case into the theft of a vehicle.

The tax period for calculating transport tax is a calendar year. If the vehicle was not found during this period, it is necessary to again apply for a suspension of taxation for the subsequent period.

To save yourself from submitting an application to the Tax Service every year, you can temporarily interrupt the vehicle registration. When the stolen car is returned to the owner, the tax office will receive information about this without the participation of the taxpayer, directly from the police, and will resume calculating the due tax.

Author of the article

Dmitry Leonov

Work experience 15 years, specialization - housing, family, inheritance, land, criminal cases.

Author's rating

721

Articles written

712

about the author

Useful information on criminal cases

My wallet was stolen, what should I do?
Evidence of shoplifting
Criminal liability for robbery
What is the punishment for stealing a phone?
Theft with illegal entry into a home
Pickpocketing
Bicycle theft
Attempted theft
Passport theft
Report of car theft
Break-in
What does a minor face for theft?
What to do if your documents are stolen
Car theft
Liability for shoplifting
Is it possible to withdraw a theft report?
Petty theft
Apartment robbery
Stealing money
Attempted car theft - article of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation
Sample statement to the police about theft of property
Electricity theft
Driver's license stolen

Submission of documents

The statement must be written to the police on a special form that will be provided to you. If the owner of the car himself cannot write a statement for some reason, a police officer will do so based on his words. But a corresponding note will be made about this at the end of the application.

The form must contain the following items:

information about the applicant, his location;
free part, which sets out in detail all the circumstances of the abduction;
a place to record that the person is familiar with the responsibility for false reporting;
place, date of application, signature of the applicant.

In addition to basic information, the application must also provide additional information:

Were any protective measures used (alarms, etc.).
Information about the car from the title or other information that helps to identify it (presence of chips, unusual painting, any secret marks). It is also advisable to list what was in the cabin and how much fuel there was before you discovered the loss.
Is the car issued on credit, as well as the type of insurance (CASCO, OSAGO).
If you bought the car secondhand, you need to provide the contact information of the former owner. You also need to provide information about everyone who had access to control the machine (for example, by proxy).
If there are witnesses to the theft or CCTV footage, this must also be indicated in the application.
The place where the car was last left, as well as your thoughts about when it might have been stolen.

In order to speed up the search for a car, all important information in full must be immediately reported to the duty officer and all additional questions must be answered.

With the application, you must submit the keys and all documents for the car confirming ownership of it (PTS, STS, purchase and sale agreement, if any).

How do you submit an application if you drove a car under a power of attorney? Everything will depend on what type of power of attorney was issued. If this is an ordinary power of attorney written by the owner himself, then it only gives the right to drive the car. That is, only the owner can file a report of theft. If a general power of attorney is issued, then it must indicate the rights granted to the authorized person. If the owner himself cannot submit an application, then for this it will be necessary to draw up a new power of attorney.

Making a statement

As a rule, stolen vehicles are immediately sent for dismantling. In such a situation, you need to quickly navigate your actions, maintain your common sense and promptly call the police. To start the search procedure, you must submit a written application. Only this is considered the main basis for opening a criminal case or refusing to initiate one. Investigators cannot act without a submitted application for consideration. It must indicate the requirements and will of the victim and explain the basic facts. The owner has two days from the moment the vehicle is lost to draw up and submit a report of theft.

How to put a car on the wanted list without documents

Lack of documents is not a reason for refusing to search for a stolen car. Moreover, all documents for the vehicle can be inside the cabin.

How to put a car on the wanted list without documents? In this case, the algorithm for conducting search activities is the same, but the application must indicate that the documents for the car were in the cabin of the stolen vehicle.

After the case is closed, document recovery should begin. There is no point in postponing this matter, since without documentation for the vehicle it will be impossible to issue a policy and other papers necessary for the legal driving of the car.

You can find out whether a car is wanted or not online. To do this, you should enter the VIN code on the website of the state traffic inspectorate, and the system will provide all the relevant information.

Provocations from scammers

Many vehicle owners additionally advertise in the media about the theft of a car in order to find witnesses to what happened or to discover new information about what happened. After this, scammers may start calling you with an offer to provide information or even a car for a certain amount.

In the case of such factors, it is better to contact the investigator who is leading the theft case and inform him about the circumstances. Law enforcement officials will check the information, and you will not make the mistake of wasting extra money.

What should the owner do before drawing up

Initially, try to check if a car is being quickly sold online. In some cases, you come across not very smart car thieves who try to get rid of the car right away by offering a clearly low price. It is important to reassure the police representative that an atrocity is indeed taking place. In other words, the car was not leased, by proxy, is not in use by relatives, was not sent to the impound lot for violating traffic rules, and so on.

Note! If possible, show the documents for the car before submitting your application. In legal practice, this is direct evidence that you are the injured party. Additionally, outline all the individual features of the machine that can speed up the search process. The police officer must also receive an additional key with the alarm fob.

To the insurance company

As mentioned above, immediately after the loss of a vehicle, you should contact your insurance company, and this should be done immediately, since according to the contract, the time frame for contacting is calculated in hours, not days. The timing for providing information may vary depending on the company, but in any case there is no need to delay. After the call, you need to visit the company’s office in person and write a statement about the occurrence of an insured event; sample statements will be given to you. Most insurance companies prefer to insure themselves, so in addition they will be asked to conclude an agreement on mandatory notification of the insurer when a vehicle is found or about the availability of any information. Insurance companies do not recommend giving away duplicate keys and key fobs for anti-theft systems, but the police almost always ask for them, so you need to take a key acceptance certificate as well. After initiating a criminal case, you should return to the insurance company’s office with the same package of documents as when applying to the tax office and provide copies of the documents. It should be remembered that payments are made only by bank transfer, so you will also be asked for bank details, be prepared to provide them.

So, the minimum package of documents to receive insurance payments is as follows:

certificate and resolution on the acceptance and initiation of a criminal case;
documents for the vehicle;
car keys and anti-theft key fobs or an acceptance certificate to police officers;
original insurance policy.

How is theft and arrest checked by the traffic police?

When registering a purchased vehicle with an inspectorate, it is checked. This is important to determine the legality of the procedure. After all, no registration actions can be performed with a vehicle that is on the wanted list.

The traffic police check takes place in several stages:

The car is searched for using its documents on the electronic wanted list. It is also checked by owner, that is, they look in the registration database to see whether the property is actually being sold by the owner or a trusted person, and not by a stranger. There is a separate electronic list for seized vehicles, in which the presented vehicle is also searched.
The car is inspected on site. They check the VIN numbers, as well as the numbers on the body and chassis, with what is indicated in the documents. To exclude the purchase of a dubious vehicle, it is worth looking at the engine number. The traffic police don’t always do this, but if you ask, the officer will check this detail too.
Perform an examination. This is necessary if the numbers on the units and parts of the car are not readable, the documents look suspicious. The examination can be ordered by the inspectorate or a future buyer. In the first case, it is performed by full-time criminologists of the Ministry of Internal Affairs.

Checking a car for theft using the traffic police database

The future owner can check the car himself using different databases:

on the traffic police website in the “Vehicle check” service by VIN, body and chassis numbers;
on “Autocode”, if the car is registered in Moscow or the region;
on the FSSP website to find out if the vehicle has been arrested;
on the portal of the Federal Notary Chamber, this will allow you to find out whether it is registered as collateral.

Term for crime

It happens that a car is stolen in order to go for a ride and leave it wherever necessary. For this, the perpetrator will be convicted under Part 1 of Article 166 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation:

Wrongful seizure of a car or other means of transport without the purpose of theft (hijacking) is punishable by a fine in the amount of up to one hundred twenty thousand rubles or in the amount of the wages or other income of the convicted person for a period of up to one year, or by restriction of freedom for a term of up to three years, or by forced labor for a period of up to three years. a term of up to five years, or arrest for a term of up to six months, or imprisonment for a term of up to five years.

If there was more than one criminal, the driver suffered non-life-threatening injuries or was threatened, the culprits (or several) will receive up to 200,000 rubles. fine or up to 5 years of forced labor. Another punishment option in the same cases is up to 7 years in prison.

If the theft for the purpose of “ride and return” is committed by a group, or large damage is caused as a result of the crime, the perpetrators will receive up to 10 years in prison. And those who did the same using violence endangering the lives of others or threatening to kill could go to prison for up to 12 years.

A different article of the law applies when the car was stolen for profit. This is 158 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation:

Theft, that is, the secret theft of someone else's property, is punishable by a fine in the amount of up to eighty thousand rubles or in the amount of the wages or other income of the convicted person for a period of up to six months, or by compulsory labor for a period of up to three hundred sixty hours, or by corrective labor for a period of up to one year. , or restriction of freedom for a term of up to two years, or forced labor for a term of up to two years, or arrest for a term of up to four months, or imprisonment for a term of up to two years.

That's how much a thief of an old cheap car would get. If it was a group crime, it is established that significant damage was caused, the perpetrators will face a fine of 200 thousand rubles. or repair work up to 2 years. The alternative is imprisonment for up to 5 years.