Moscow authorities have urged drivers to get their technical inspection done as soon as possible in a bid to avert a crippling rush in April and May.

"Analyzing the situation over many years, one can say that the peak months at technical inspection stations are April and May. We appeal to motorists not to make life difficult and get down there as soon as possible," said Maxim Likustov, head of City Hall's department for transportation and development of road-transportation infrastructure, at a news conference Thursday.

Meanwhile, deputy Moscow traffic police chief Vladimir Tomchak said there should be no problems with documentation at inspection points in the capital.

Long lines at police-regulated technical inspection stations in recent years inspired a reform introduced Jan.1 that handed responsibility for inspections of a vehicle's technical condition to insurance companies.

The new system has been racked by a shortage of the actual certificates that centers are meant to hand over to customers after the inspection.

Tomchak said Thursday that every licensed station in Moscow has now received the new certificates, which are the same 11-by-7 centimeter size as the previous ones, in a yellow-green color but with a larger hologram.

A licensed technical inspection provider told The Moscow Times that he understood the new certificates would not be introduced until April. Until then he would keep issuing old ones, he said.