New technical inspection: how to anger 40 million citizens on the eve of elections

Sergey Lvov

Draconian sanctions are also envisaged for technical centers that will continue to trade fake documents - from 100 to 300 thousand rubles. The police will check the fact of the inspection using the database: each car at the inspection point will be photographed twice - before and after the diagnosis, moreover, the pictures must be accompanied by the coordinates of the place.

In addition, the inspection itself is not at all a superficial assessment of the car.

In the new edition of the law "On technical inspection of vehicles and on amendments to certain legislative acts of the Russian Federation", the Ministry of Internal Affairs prescribed over 80 (!!!) requirements for the safety of a car when passing the notorious MOT.

True, the population has been given a time indulgence - drivers will be fined 2 thousand rubles from 2022. But they still do not have the right to drive without a CTP policy! An exception was made only for owners of cars under the age of 4 years - they do not need any technical inspection even under the new rules.

However, we do not live in Japan, where the average age of cars is 2.3 years.

In 2020, the number of vehicles of all types in Russia was estimated by experts at 59 million units, which is 15 million more than at the beginning of 2010. Rosstat gives the figure several million less. The average age of passenger cars in Russia is 13.4 years.

It turns out that at least 35-40 million people will have to either go to their work or on their day off to trudge to the inspection points, stand in queues, pay another "tax" for a "service" from which they have long lost the habit and which the absolute majority assesses it as another bullying of the state over its citizens.

It is enough to go to the forums of motorists on social networks or comments under the publications of the automobile media about the new rules of technical inspection to feel the full force of hatred and outrage. We do not have the right to give hyperlinks to these network resources, - Roskomnadzor will fine for rewording, which is abundant there.

However, even supporters of the technical condition of cars "like in Europe" (where you can't drive a kilometer without a real technical inspection!) Remember well why in Russia they made indulgence to motorists, reducing the receipt of a technical certificate to a simple formality.

No, not out of love for the people. Due to the lack of infrastructure (read - technical centers), which could diagnose cars without unnecessary hassle and deadly queues.

When adopting the new rules, it was assumed that such a system would be created by March 1, 2021.

So what?

Where is she?

And nothing.

And nowhere ...

The head of the Russian Union of Auto Insurers (RSA) Igor Yurgens has already announced a general collapse. It can and should happen, at least because the operators of the vehicle inspection, on whom new requirements have been imposed, are not ready to work according to the old tariffs of 2012 - it is simply unprofitable for them.

The register now contains about 5,000 stations, but half - about 2,500 - did not even respond to the request of the Russian Union of Auto Insurers, whether they are ready to continue working according to fresh requirements! In turn, the Federal Antimonopoly Service has not even set tariffs for technical inspection until now.

In the traffic police - also panic. They say that a closed meeting was held there, at which it was recognized that in 15 regions of the country the technical inspection system would completely collapse on March 1, and if the reform is not postponed, motorists from Moscow, the Moscow region, Buryatia, Bashkiria, Crimea, Mordovia, Primorsky and Kamchatka Territories, Ingushetia, Irkutsk, Kaluga, Novosibirsk, Sakhalin, Irkutsk and Rostov Regions ...

In other words, millions of citizens of the country will suddenly realize that the use of their personal car is OUT OF THE LAW.

And it would be okay to checkup under the new rules was the only trouble for motorists. In the end, the government is obliged to stimulate the purchase of new cars and get rid of auto junk.

But can Russians buy new cars in droves?

The key figure here is personal income statistics. From 2010 to 2020 inclusive, they grew by 3.3 percent in rubles.

And here's how the prices of new cars grew from 2014 to 2020:

Toyota Camry: minimum grade from 998,000 to 1,741,000 rubles, maximum from 1,519,000 to 2,719,000 rubles = 79 percent.

Land Cruiser Prado: minimum speed from 1,723,000 to 2,656,000 rubles, maximum speed from 2,936,000 to 4,787,000 rubles = 63 percent.

KIA Cerato: minimum speed from 669,000 to 1,189,000 rubles, maximum speed from 919,000 to 1,539,000 rubles = 67 percent. KIA Rio - 72 percent.

Mazda 6: minimum salary from 925,000 to 1,620,000 rubles, maximum from 1,250,000 to 2,424,000 rubles = 94 percent.

Lada Granta: minimum speed from 314,000 to 483,900 rubles, maximum speed from 477,500 to 677,800 rubles = 42 percent.

Lada Niva: it was 459,000 rubles, now it is 738,000 rubles = 60 percent.

Over the same seven years, luxury cars have risen in price by more than 110 percent.

And this is not the limit.

Together with the fall of the ruble, which in 2020 exceeded 20 percent, prices for new cars are also growing. In addition, the Ministry of Industry and Trade announced an increase in the utilization fee for new cars. Presumably, the tax levied on automakers could increase by 25-30%.

But there is also the cost of fuel. Which has almost doubled in 10 years. If someone does not remember, then in 2010 the average price of 95th gasoline was 25.6 rubles per liter. Today - from 45 rubles and more.

For 10 years all of Russia has been covered with a network of video cameras. And here's the bottom line: in 2020, motorists paid 110 billion rubles in fines. Which are popularly nicknamed "the road tax". And here we were ahead of the rest! The number of cameras on Russian roads is comparable only to China ...

And against such a financial and emotional background, the authorities, for some reason, are beginning to reform the vehicle inspection. Although there is no objective evidence that the number of accidents in the country is increasing due to the poor condition of cars. It does not grow, because there are only a few people who want to drive with leaking brakes, broken steering or inoperative wipers, and people, at the very least, have learned to monitor the health of their cars.

And what is completely surprising is that the anti-popular reform without any quotation marks was deliberately started in the year of elections to the State Duma and in an economic situation that does not promise citizens anything good for at least the next three years.

The political effect of technical inspection under the new rules can be more abrupt than from the old videos of a twice convicted "blogger". Angry motorists are unlikely to block the roads and buzz "we are power here." But the sediment in the soul of everyone will remain. For a long time ...