Gray car imports and EPTS cancellations in Russia

A wave of cancellations of electronic vehicle passports, known as EPTS, has hit drivers who brought cars into Russia through gray imports. Officials point to a series of fraud schemes, a concern highlighted by Maxim Shelkov, the head of the Autocriminalist expert center. The case involves a Kia Stinger liftback bought in Moscow in September 2024, with the owner reporting that a month earlier the recycling fee had increased in Russia. A fake vehicle safety certificate was presented to customs for the car in question. The buyer paid 4.7 million rubles for a 2020 Kia Stinger that arrived via gray import routes through Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan. He gathered all documents and registered the vehicle with the traffic police, but later discovered that the EPTS had been canceled. The information provided about the vehicle’s engine had been incorrect, which led to the recycling fee calculation being off. Instead of the expected 970 thousand rubles, the buyer paid far less. Shelkov notes that state institutions and bodies involved in EPTS publication failed to verify the document’s authenticity. The law assigns the declarant the obligation to present genuine documents a priori. Today, the Kia Stinger owner is trying to pay the recycling fee at the old rates and is unsure how to proceed.