Auto fine in Kyiv, Ukraine

Hi there
Firstly . If you dont pay your fine be it on lime or late , if you try and leave the Ukraine know that they are Digital you will be arrested and delt with acoringly. Secondly you could have any visas cancelled and i garentee your next stop , you will loose the car at least.
You are only permitted to drive in the Ukraine for One year, with your Native Language. You can translate it into what ever language you wish, but after one year your licence is not valid in the Ukraine and your Insurance is also not valid.
In short pay up, and get a Ukrainian licence, its not hard and you can take the test in English
regards

martin

Not coming from a position of knowledge but frankly why wouldn't you follow the rules of the country you are in? Ok if there are some silly rules that you're sure virtually everyone ignores that is one thing but you'd want to be _really_ sure about that.

That all said how do they know how long you've been driving or perhaps I should say when does the 1 year start? What if you are travelling back and forth etc? If its when you're residency starts what if you are Ukranian but were living abroad and have a full licence from that county (my wife's position) but no Ukranian licence. Of course we will pass the Ukranian test in the coming months and certainly before a year.

Hi Michael1123
there are some very interesting points, you put. Some i do know and the odd one i am not 100% sure on.
In days of old when the Ukraine was new to being independant it was easy to drop the odd 100 grivna and away you go. This was an attitude well used from people over the pond as we say. But know they police are cracking down and its become easy to catch the odd blagger.. How you may ask. well digital tech, and when you go through the boarder your details are logged and if you pop out and back , all year, if and really only if, somebody wished to check you 100% then they would see your full movements. So easy to see how long you have stayed etc.
Know in order to drive in the Ukraine you need two things. Diving licence and insurance. So lets say your licence is British and you are stopped for a police check. They will ask your details, if a Ukrainian reg car the insurance for that car. NOT YOU.
As you are aware its the car that has the insurance in Ukraine not a person. They will see your UK driving licence and ask for you IDL.Which you can only hold for a year and (grey area) need to renew but not sure if there is a period of time you need to wait in order to get a new one. If you are driving a registration none Ukrainian then there system know gives details of when you entered the Ukraine with sead car. So you need green card insurance. If the car has been in Ukraine for longer than one year a fine is know given starting at 5,000 usd and must be paid within 30 days, your car will be impounded and (another grey area) charges are added.
I have an old friend brought a Jag from UK, more than 5 years old, he has perminent res. He was told park it up and he needs to remove it or scrap it in the Ukraine."he drove it to Spain last year" Cars have so many rules and god forbid you have a prange. and find your the wrong site of the laws.
As for your wife thats easy, she may be very luky and just well swap it, or at very worst, she will need too attend a driving school, sit a few basic lessons, drive round in an instructors car a few hours, and take the medical and test. I did all of it took 2 months and then was given a Ukrainian one for two years , with restrictions ( as a learner). Then after two years a quick medical and pop to police station and swap for Full licence. As i said not 100% how it would work for your wife but would guess almost the same.
Anyway good luke

Hello
I agree with Martin, you’d better pay up your fine to avoid more problems in the future. Also, you could maybe change your license for an international driving license to keep driving in Ukraine without having to go through all the tests again. You might find further information on this website.
Hope this helps!

Hi there

Just a foot note to the question of a fine. IDL (International Driving Licence ) is only valid for 1 Year. Regardless of what country you come from

regards

Martin

While we're talking about fines I thought I'd share my recent experience in late August 2021.

I was taking my car back from Kyiv to the UK when I got stopped in western ukraine for speeding. It was an officer using a speeding gun. It was also the first time I'd ever been stopped by Ukraine police.

I was taken aback by the professionalism of the officers. There was little doubt in my mind I was above the limit even though I wasn't driving like a lunatic. I'd just emerged from a petrol station in a small town on a motorway. I'd expected the limit to be around 80 or so kmh but it turned out to be 50 as it was in a town. It was my fault I didn't have a clue and I should have made it my business to find out.

Anyway, the chaps that stopped me were friendly. My demeanor was no different to had it been a british cop - I was respectful and apologetic. Anyway, their english was far better than my Ukranian or Russian so I asked whether it would be a big fine to which the answer was a firm "no it won't ....don't worry...".

They then spent a long time filling out the official forms. In the meantime I called my wife and they spoke. From hearing all the stories I was fully expecting to be offered a "cash alternative" aka bribe. None of it. They wanted to do it properly and get me to pay at the bank as per the official procedure.

The most interesting bit (to me) was that they knew I was driving to the border and indeed was only about 100Km from it when I was stopped. They knew and told me it might be a problem leaving the country if the fine wasn't cleared. It was that that scared me the most having driven already perhaps 4 or 5 hundred Km.

They allowed me to take a picture of the top copy of the fine (since the writing on the carbon paper copies below was very faint) so that I could send it to my wife to pay. But in any case, paying could take 1 day and thus I could still face issues at the border.

So to cut this story short, when my wife went to pay it said that the crime reference number wasn't valid. In other words, we believe the officer didn't actually file the report on their computer system because I believe he didn't want me to face even more of a hell at the border than I did anyway. She has tried several times since to pay and still gets the same error.

Regardless of that his entire handling of the situation was in my view a real credit to the police there. My wife muttered something about "...western Ukranians are very proud of their country...". That's a good thing in my book.