Already a brief reading of the designed Article 44b The penal code, which provides for the confiscation of a mechanical vehicle, allows for the assumption that there will be heated disputes among judges, prosecutors and defenders and attorneys in practice. One of the most common concerns surrounding this institution was whether the court would rule on the loss of a car not belonging to the perpetrator, in other words, which, when the car belonged to a third party – the employer or the sponsor.
These doubts have been noticed and the legislator has provided for a number of circumstances in the event of the occurrence of which the court will not rule the loss of a motor vehicle.
The first concerns cases where the car will be disposed of, lost, destroyed or badly damaged by the perpetrator – in such a situation, the loss of the equivalent of the mechanical vehicle will be ruled out by the court. This situation will be particularly severe for the perpetrator who destroyed or damaged his car under the influence of alcohol, as on the one hand he will be obliged to pay its equivalent, and on the other hand the insurer will not pay compensation even from autocasco.
The second concerns cases where the motor vehicle is not the sole property of the perpetrator and where the perpetrator has operated a non-proprietary motor vehicle, in the performance of his professional or professional activities, consisting in driving a motor vehicle.
At this point, the legal situation of the perpetrators begins to differ significantly depending on whether the offence was committed by a person who was driving a motor vehicle under the influence of alcohol in the course of professional activities – that is to say, it concerns professional drivers, but also motorists, because in such a situation, instead of the decision of car forfeiture or its equivalent, the court will order a stamp of not less than 5,000 PLN for the Fund for Harmful Aid and Postpenitentiary Aid, and where a motor vehicle has been driven by a person who is not the sole owner of a motor vehicle, e.g. the lessee, the court will charge the offender with the forfeiture of the equivalent of a motor vehicle.
It is therefore highly likely that paradoxically the perpetrators who are engaged in professional transport, who will be threatened by at least 5,000 PLN, than those who are not professionally engaged in driving vehicles, because for the latter the financial responsibility will be limited by the value of the car and this is rarely lower than 5,000 PLN.
It is also interesting how the court will determine the value of the mechanical vehicle – binding will be the value disclosed in the policy, and in its absence the average market value of the vehicle. In principle, the court will not appoint an expert to determine the value of the vehicle, and the expert's consultation will only apply if the vehicle has specific characteristics.