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- We've had a full ride: the number of carsharing claims has increased by almost a third over the year
We've had a full ride: the number of carsharing claims has increased by almost a third over the year
Since the beginning of the year, the number of lawsuits against car-sharing companies has increased by almost a third compared to the same period in 2025, Izvestia found out. The peak occurred in the spring, when their number jumped by almost 50%. Experts attribute this trend not only to an increase in the number of disputed charges, but also to the fact that drivers increasingly expect to achieve the cancellation or significant reduction of sanctions through the courts. Such expectations are reinforced by judicial practice: instances often side with clients and review the amount of fines. What the tenants complain about and how justified their hopes are is in the Izvestia article.
When fines are challenged
Since the beginning of 2026, Russians have become 31% more likely to sue carsharing services than in the same period last year, DestraLegal told Izvestia. In the spring, growth stood at 48%, with the highest figures recorded in March and May. The increase in the number of such disputes was confirmed to the editorial staff by other law firms.
If a few years ago such situations could be relatively easily resolved through the support service, now notifications of fines of hundreds of thousands of rubles come unexpectedly, even if the trip ended without incident, users complain. Moreover, companies sometimes take only a day to pay for claims, offering only a small discount for quick repayment.
So, one of the clients who was involved in an accident was charged an additional fine of 140 thousand rubles, promising to reduce it to 125 thousand with prompt payment (Izvestia has correspondence). Soon the amount of the fine was reduced to 70 thousand rubles, but again only in case of repayment on a day-to-day basis.
Large fines have become one of the reasons for the increase in the number of disputes with carsharing companies, according to lawyers interviewed by the editorial board. Users consider them unfounded.
"People began to realize that this was more of an attempt to make unfair money from clients than a fair measure of responsibility," the head of the legal team told Izvestia. DestraLegal.ru Kirill Saprygin.
Two categories of charges are usually appealed to the courts of general jurisdiction: damage to the car and transfer of control to third parties, said judicial lawyer and public figure Elena Shalaton. According to her, the average amount of the claim is 158 thousand rubles.
"Smaller fines — for example, for smoking in the cabin, dirt or illegal parking — are also contested, but more often at the pre—trial stage," the expert added.
On the contrary, the Citydrive carsharing service recorded a decrease in the number of requests for such issues, the company told Izvestia. Thus, there were 36% fewer complaints about fines stipulated in the offer. In addition, according to the company, only in 5% of cases when considering claims due to damage to the car, decisions are made against the client.
— As a rule, these are situations where the driver has grossly and unequivocally violated basic safety rules and there are no objective grounds for canceling the charge. In other cases, the company either finds a compromise solution or removes the payment requirement," Citydrive noted.
In case of traffic violations, government agencies impose fines, and the company only reimburses its expenses at the user's expense, the service explained. The driver can independently challenge such a charge in court.
Izvestia sent a request to other carsharing services, but at the time of publication they had not received any responses.
Is it possible to win a trial
Users often complain about unjustified write-offs: some time after the end of the trip, a large amount is withdrawn from the card, allegedly for involvement in an accident. Stanislav faced this situation. Before renting, he found no visible damage to the car, reached his destination without incident and completed the trip. Soon, about 100 thousand rubles were deducted from his card as a fine for leaving the scene of an accident and another 50 thousand were demanded for the damaged bumper and headlight. At the same time, the service did not provide evidence that Stanislav caused the damage.
"I didn't get into an accident, and I definitely didn't break the bumper," he told Izvestia. — The company is not interested in the fact that after the lease was completed, someone could crash into a car and escape, or that the user might simply not notice the damage.
Stanislav appealed to the court. The trial took about a year and, according to him, turned out to be difficult. Most of the time was spent waiting for confirmation from the traffic police that the car had not been involved in an accident during his trip.
As a result, the court sided with Stanislav and ordered the carsharing service to return the written-off funds, pay a fine and compensation for moral damage.
"The damage was caused by another user and subsequently intensified during the operation of the vehicle by other tenants," the court said.
However, Stanislav has not received the money yet.
— Carsharing is a good alternative to public and private transport. But many are afraid to use it because of such risks and shortcomings in the regulation of relations between services and customers," he stressed.
Despite what happened, Stanislav did not give up carsharing, but changed the company: he believes that the advantages of this method of transportation are still more than the risks.
— As a rule, if a fine is imposed on a client unreasonably, the chances of a review of the decision in his favor are quite high. This year we see more positive solutions for users," Kirill Saprygin said.
According to him, clients often have neither proof of their innocence nor the opportunity to obtain it. Companies can quickly request information from the traffic police and city services, as well as use telematics data from on—board systems that record the vehicle's location, speed limit, sudden maneuvers and braking.
— Therefore, one of the main defense strategies is to challenge the terms of the contract, which largely protect the interests of the service itself. With proper legal reasoning, this makes it possible to achieve the cancellation of the fine or a significant reduction in its amount as a penalty," the lawyer emphasized.
A user who has actually violated the rules can also challenge the charge, Denis Kunaev, a lawyer for the Business Legal Group, told Izvestia. According to him, car-sharing services often require not only to pay for repairs, but also to compensate for additional losses, the amount of which may be disproportionate to the consequences.
"Courts satisfy such requirements quite often," he noted. — If the repair cost has already been reimbursed, the service needs to explain what other losses the additional amount covers. By itself, the presence of such a condition in the offer does not mean that the company has the right to automatically debit money," the lawyer noted.
According to Elena Shalaton, courts most often side with carsharing users in disputes about car damage. They also reduce disproportionate fines, for example, 100,000 rubles for driving at a yellow traffic light. At the same time, it is almost impossible to challenge penalties for drunk driving or refusal of a medical examination, the expert noted. In such cases, authorities consistently recognize fines of 150,000 rubles or more as legitimate due to the high public danger of such actions.
— The period when car-sharing companies could write off any amount with impunity based on internal regulations has ended. If there is basic evidence — photos of the car before and after the trip — going to court has become an effective tool for protecting the financial interests of the driver," she stressed.
The experts interviewed advise users to save these pictures on their phone, as well as record correspondence with the company and store receipts.
— If the condition of the car is in doubt, it is better to cancel the lease, — Kirill Saprygin said.
Why are clients suing more often?
Experts attribute the increase in the number of disputes not only to an increase in the amount and frequency of fines, but also to stricter control over users, as well as the practice of writing off money without convincing evidence of a violation. At the same time, Russians have become more attentive to expenses and more active in protecting their rights: the legal literacy of the population is growing, and examples of successful appeals against sanctions encourage other users to go to court.
— If earlier people agreed to pay fines, even when they considered them unfair, now they are ready to defend their interests, — said Vice-president of the National Automobile Union Jan Haitser.
Automotive expert Maxim Pastushenko explained that the increased control is due, among other things, to the need to monitor dangerous user maneuvers.
"As a result, violators receive more fines, and their amounts are increasing," he stressed.
According to Maxim Pastushenko, many perceive accruals as a way to replenish the budget of carsharing companies, but the expert associates them primarily with the costs of services. So, for parking on a lawn in Moscow, an individual faces a fine of 5 thousand rubles, and a legal entity for which the car is registered is already 300 thousand rubles. In addition, restrictions on certain actions imposed due to violations on one car may affect the entire fleet.
Such measures also help to discipline users and compensate for losses from car downtime after an accident, the expert believes. Repairs can take from two to four months, and during that time the car will not generate income. Additional sanctions, according to Maxim Pastushenko, are designed to cover these costs.
According to Nikos Paraskevov, managing partner of the Moscow Business Legal Group, violations are increasingly being recorded automatically, and money is debited from the card before the user has time to figure out the situation.
— Previously, it was about reimbursing the traffic police fine and a small commission, now the compensation amounts under the contract are measured in tens and hundreds of thousands of rubles, — he said. — Questions arise even from those who are ready to be responsible for their actions.
At the same time, court proceedings in such cases do not require high costs: plaintiffs are often exempt from paying state duty, the expert emphasized. If the user's requirements are satisfied, the service may be required to pay a fine of 50% of the amount awarded, compensate for moral damage and reimburse legal aid costs.
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