Right hand drive: the "Valley scheme" is being asked to be stopped on the car market

One of the trade unions was asked by the State Duma and the government of the Russian Federation to prevent the use of the "Dolina scheme" when selling cars. Over the past few weeks, the organization has received many calls from self-employed taxi drivers and couriers who bought used cars, but were left without them and without money. The trade union proposes to oblige dealers and insurers to carry out additional inspections, as well as to legally link the return of purchased car equipment with a full refund to the buyer. About what measures are possible to protect car purchases, see the Izvestia article.

What couriers and taxi drivers complain about

Buying a car on the secondary market turns into a risky lottery, according to a letter from the Novy Trud trade union to the Russian government and the State Duma.

"In the last few weeks, our union has been receiving disturbing calls from self—employed taxi drivers and couriers," it says. The authors note that we are talking about the extension of the so-called Valley scheme from the real estate market to the field of used car sales.

The document explains the essence of the scheme: after legally correct car purchase and sale transactions, sellers, usually elderly people, demand cancellation of the contract in court. The basis is statements about the pressure of third parties or fraudsters when concluding transactions. A bona fide buyer who has invested in a purchase is left without a car and without money as a result of the trial.

So at first it was with the case of the People's Artist of the Russian Federation Larisa Dolina, who was deceived by scammers: the court returned her apartment worth 112 million rubles, and the buyer was left without housing and without money. However, on December 16, 2025, the Supreme Court sided with the buyer and recognized the transaction as legitimate.

But if the courts have "received a signal" regarding real estate, then the car market is still not settled. Izvestia has already reported that the frequency of using the Dolina scheme in this area is growing — the number of fraudulent actions with Russian cars has increased by 40% compared to 2024, experts said.

"Next year, the number of such cases may increase by 50-70%," the letter says. "The gray segment of the market is becoming an extremely vulnerable area with the participation of overbidders, who act as an intermediary in the transaction, without ensuring its security."

The document notes that the problem has become extremely acute for self—employed carriers: for this category, a car is not just a property, but a means of production. His loss as a result of fraudulent actions by a private seller deprives the self-employed and his family of a significant part of their income.

Therefore, the trade union proposed to legislate the "cooling-off period" and non-cash payments: to establish a mandatory period for transactions involving sellers from the risk group between signing the contract and transferring money or registering with the traffic police. It is also proposed to carry out settlements on such transactions exclusively in non-cash form to the seller's registered bank account to create a financial footprint.

It is also proposed to legally link the return of ownership to the seller with a full and preliminary refund of funds to the buyer.

"This will deprive the fraudsters of the main benefit — obtaining both property and money, leaving the car to the buyer as collateral until the funds are refunded," the appeal says.

Drama on wheels: in Russia, they began to challenge car deals under the "Valley scheme"

People sell cars at low prices, give money to scammers, and then try to cancel the contract.

In addition, the union proposes to oblige dealers and used car sales sites to conduct additional checks on sellers for risks. At the same time, they are asking to work out mechanisms to stimulate voluntary insurance to financially protect buyers from the risk of loss of ownership.

The letter was sent to Yaroslav Nilov, Chairman of the State Duma Committee on Labor, Social Policy and Veterans' Affairs, who confirmed that the problem had become systemic.

"People find themselves without a car and without money, although their transactions are legally correct," said the deputy, noting that the private segment, that is, hand—to—hand transactions, which make up 80-90% of the market, is the most vulnerable today.

What measures are possible to protect car parts

When concluding transactions, buyers of vehicles should carefully analyze not only the actual condition of the purchased car, but also the flawlessness of its legal status, Vyacheslav Zhigalov, president of the Union of Automobile Dealers, told Izvestia.

"Buying a car, especially with mileage, contains a number of legal and technical vulnerabilities that an untrained person is often unable to control," he said. — The main thing from the point of view of the law is the redistribution of responsibility. In a direct transaction between individuals, the entire burden of proving one's good faith in court falls on the buyer. When the seller is a professional market participant, for example, a large car dealership, he bears full responsibility to the buyer.

Yuri Pustovit, the manager of the Yug Law Office, noted that the Dolinoy scheme is universal and can be used to sell any property, including a car. Maria Yakovleva, director of the Yakovlev and Partners Law Group, also confirmed that the Dolinoy scheme is already being used in the secondary car market.

"There are cases described when a car is put on the wanted list, a bona fide buyer is called to the police and demanded to return the car, after which a dispute begins about the validity of the transaction and the fate of the money," she said.

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Such a scheme is used in relation to cars, but less often than in the real estate sector, added Yuri Pustovit.

— The proposed initiatives already exist in the current legislation. Both the car dealer and the insurer have the right to verify the legality of the transaction, including requiring the seller to provide evidence of its adequate condition," he said.

Moreover, the provisions of the Code of Civil Procedure give the court the opportunity, recognizing the contract of sale as an invalid transaction, to establish a special procedure for restitution - to indicate in the decision that the buyer returns the car to the seller only after the seller fully returns the money received from him to the buyer.

Maria Yakovleva noted that so far there are no official statistics specifically on the "Valley scheme" as an independent category: such stories are dissolved in the mass of cases of invalidation of transactions and disputes over the recovery of property.

"But the trend itself is confirmed by a lot of appeals and a series of cases in the regions, and most importantly, by the fact that the Supreme Court drew attention to the problem at the level of principles," the expert said.

From the point of view of protecting the buyer, the key behavior model is to prove the good faith and reality of the transaction and at the same time not allow the dispute to turn into a situation where he loses both the car and the money.

— In practice, this means: keeping all the evidence of negotiations and purchases, recording the transfer of the car and money, confirming the marketability of the price and the reasonableness of the checks that you made before the transaction, — said Maria Yakovleva. — The car cannot be given away "on a call": seizure is permissible only in a procedural form — arrest, seizure, interim measures, and in a civil dispute it is important to insist on the reciprocal nature of the consequences: if they try to destroy the deal and return the car to the previous owner, the fate of the money must be decided at the same time.

At the same time, according to Maria Yakovleva, the most effective legislative solution is to fix a mechanism in which it is impossible to return the car to the previous owner without simultaneously ensuring a refund to the buyer. For example, this can be done through a court deposit, escrow, or other guarantee.

Mandatory inspections of transactions by dealers and insurers are difficult to implement, added Evgeniya Bezmalenko, a lawyer and member of the International Association of Lawyers and Mediators 4LEGAL. Inspections will require clear, formalized criteria for "volunteerism," which are difficult to work out, which can lead to an increase in the cost of services.

At the legislative level, according to the lawyer, the most likely and effective change may be the introduction of a mechanism for securing a car until the money is returned to the buyer in case the transaction is declared invalid.