The key facts
- Customs additional charges are possible years after the deal, even if the car is clean according to databases
- The Federal Customs Service service by VIN does not confirm the completeness of payment calculations
- The State Duma is discussing an initiative to protect end owners from someone else's recycling fee debts
Database checks do not guarantee protection
A buyer of an imported car may face financial claims from customs authorities several years after the deal — even if they carefully checked the documents. This was reported by automotive expert and auto lawyer Alexey Chugaev to Life.ru. According to him, there are known cases where owners learned about underpayment only two or three years later, after already receiving demands from customs. He especially advises being cautious with cars imported into Russia over the last three years.
What can actually be checked
Some information is available through the official Federal Customs Service service by VIN number: it shows whether the recycling fee has been paid, the date of the customs receipt order, and whether a preferential rate was applied. However, as the expert emphasized, the service does not confirm the completeness and correctness of the payment calculation, so the risk of additional charges cannot be fully ruled out with its help. An additional way to verify is to request from the seller all payment orders and receipts for customs clearance and pass them to a customs broker, who will calculate the duties and fees due for the specific car and compare the amounts with the documents.
The contract as the main tool
Chugaev named a properly drafted purchase and sale agreement as the buyer's main protection: it should include a clause obligating the previous owner to cover any unforeseen costs related to customs duties and fees. At the same time, such a condition does not eliminate possible claims from the Federal Customs Service — it merely gives the buyer the right to demand compensation for losses from the seller.
An initiative at the State Duma level
The issue of someone else's recycling fee debts is also being raised at the legislative level: Life.ru previously reported on an initiative by State Duma deputy Kaplan Panesh, who proposed banning the collection of additional charges from end owners who were unaware of the importer's violations, as well as creating a unified register of cars with confirmed full payment of the fee — so that buyers could assess risks in advance.
