First of all, you should know that, according to the decision of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine, due to the introduction of martial law, not all administrative services in Ukraine are currently provided. However, some service centers of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, located in regions where there are no active hostilities, work.
True, you can’t get all the services from them yet. It will be possible to re-register the vehicle one month after the termination or cancellation of martial law.
At the same time, the same decision extended the validity of car documents, which are now expiring for the entire duration of martial law in Ukraine.
How to conclude a contract for the sale of a car?
It is temporarily impossible to conclude a sales contract and re-register at the Ministry of Internal Affairs Service Center, so the only option left is to buy on the basis of the “registration certificate” for money exchange principle. It is not easy to draw up such an agreement or power of attorney with a notary, especially in regions where active hostilities continue.
However, you can still try to use the services of notaries who continue to work by finding such a familiar search tool or by contacting one of the members of the Notary Chamber of Ukraine in the relevant area to suggest which of the local notaries can accept you.
Please note that an agreement or a power of attorney certified by a notary can be issued on a regular white sheet, however, in accordance with the order, they will have the same legal force as those documents that were previously printed on special secure forms.
Option number 2
As another option, you can conclude an agreement in any form on paper and certify it with the signatures of the parties to the transaction – the owner of the car, and the one who buys it under martial law. Although the legal weight of such a step is doubtful, it is better than nothing – the moment of signing the contract with the voice acting aloud of the voluntary consent of both parties can be recorded on video.
If you have a car that you have recently cleared through customs, you can register it (more precisely, carry out its first registration). This service has already been relaunched.
If buying a car is only in your plans, you can pay attention to those options that are cleared by customs “for a company”, that is, for a legal entity (and there are many of them), buy it, and even then register it for yourself, having received a “registration certificate” and license plates. Freshly distilled cars can be registered at the service centers of the Ministry of Internal Affairs.
Starting from March 16, new cars can be registered at service centers of the Ministry of Internal Affairs.
How to drive such a car abroad?
The State Customs Service is now allowed to travel abroad in cars whose drivers can prove their family ties with the owner (for example, a woman whose man stayed in Ukraine is driving, the driver has a marriage certificate with her). Or other documents that can prove a family relationship with the legal owner (i.e., whose name and surname are indicated in the certificate of registration of the vehicle). When the car is registered to another person, not a relative, due to the current complexity of issuing a notarized power of attorney and the impossibility of issuing a temporary coupon for the right to drive, you can get such a power of attorney from the owner on a simple sheet of paper, where his main data and contacts would be indicated.
In some cases, even if there are no such documents, the decision to let the vehicle pass is made by customs officers individually, in each individual situation, however, they only apply to those vehicles driven by women who drive alone or with children. In other situations (transit license plates, cars not cleared by customs, when the owner is a legal entity, etc.) – you should get individual advice at the customs office in whose area you plan to cross the border. Their contacts can be found at this link: https://customs.gov.ua/contacts
Also, a law is soon to come into force, exempting from duties and taxes for imported cars in wartime. See next article.
Everything will be Ukraine! Victory is near!