Experts are sure that dozens of fraudsters illegally sell cars without registration in the country

Thousands of cars are illegally imported into Ukraine every month. At the border crossing they forge documents or register temporary importation. After transportation with foreign license plates are sold to Ukrainians who "fall for low prices". Customs officers of the owners of the non-customized car are fined or confiscate the car, experts say.

The site "Segodnya.ua" found out what threatens the owners of cars without local registration and how not to fall for the scammers.

How in Ukraine sell cars with foreign license plates

In Europe, a foreign car, for which in Ukraine ask 8-10 thousand dollars, you can buy for 3-4 thousand. However, a few months ago it was not profitable to import such cars legally - all the savings were "eaten up" by taxes. From July 1, one car can be imported at preferential excise rates per year, and it will be possible to sell it only after 12 months. Thus, the preferential excise tax will not affect sellers of cars, who import cars in whole batches.

It is possible to buy a car registered in another country not only abroad. There are hundreds of ads on specialized websites "selling an unregistered car". Most often such cars are imported and sold by foreigners. Experts explain - at the border with Ukraine they signed an obligation to take the car out in a year and not to transfer it to the ownership of Ukrainians. Only non-residents of the country can use such a car, explains the Director General of the All-Ukrainian Association of automobile importers and dealers Oleg Nazarenko.

"And a non-resident is a foreigner, or a Ukrainian, who has in his passport a stamp of permanent consular registration in a foreign country. And if you are a non-resident, you do not need the right to use someone else's car, as you can legally import such a car for a year," - says the expert.

Despite this, hundreds of Ukrainians buy non-customized cars and then face problems - they have to pay fines for violation of the customs code, and in extreme cases - the car can be taken away.

Most of all non-customized cars imported from Bulgaria and Lithuania, writes on his page in the social network director of investment consulting company "Amond Invest" Sergey Kreimer. "Now revealed clear record breakers from Bulgaria and Lithuania, which imported more than 2,000 cars per legal entity. The absolute record-breaker is a Lithuanian office, which transported more than 3,800 cars," the expert notes.

Ukrainians can drive a car (which they imported themselves) without registration for five days in one region, and ten days - when traveling in several regions. At the same time, the unregistered car can be used for no more than one year. However, in order to do this, a Ukrainian will have to pay the same amount as for customs clearance.

However, enterprising fellow citizens have come up with a number of schemes to circumvent customs requirements. Domestic sites for auto sales are full of attractive ads offering to buy a foreign car at a ridiculously low price. The car, as a rule, is accompanied by a complete package of documents, allegedly allowing you to drive in Ukraine on foreign license plates without paying customs duties. We would like to warn you right away: all these schemes are illegal and threaten with administrative and criminal liability.

Business consultant Serhiy Kreimer told about the most widespread illegal schemes of operating non-customized vehicles in Ukraine on his Facebook page. One of the most widespread schemes is "Employee". It has been practiced for a long time and is based on the Istanbul Convention, according to which the importation of commercial vehicles into the territory of another state is possible for up to a year without paying customs duties. In the Ukrainian version, clever businessmen have adapted the scheme to suit themselves. If the correct registration of commercial vehicles, the driver must have a trip sheet, a work order, and a service license, our deceivers, colluding with customs officials, do without it.

Their scheme looks like this: the buyer finds an ad on the Internet about the sale of a car or services for its delivery without customs clearance with a full package of documents for "legal" driving in Ukraine. Intermediaries offer to pick up a car on one of the European sites. Lithuania is the most popular (most of the cars on "Istanbul" were imported from this country). The buyer pays the intermediary the cost of the selected car and the intermediary's services. The intermediary buys the car abroad (say, in Lithuania) and registers it with a local company. Then he takes out insurance for a minimum period of time (usually one month) and delivers the vehicle to the border with Ukraine, where it is handed over to the buyer. Accompanied by the intermediary, the car enters Ukraine under the temporary import regime. Then the intermediary deregisters the car in Lithuania. The documents handed over to the buyer, such as a work contract, contract of employment, etc., are nothing more than a letter of credit and are not registered anywhere.