It has become more difficult for potential buyers with Russian passports to buy cars in Kazakhstan. Trade in foreign cars is now organized mainly in the domestic market of the country.
Truck driver Oleg from the Yaroslavl region went shopping in Karaganda in February. Local car dealerships started to refuse the customer when they saw his passport.
“Hyundai dealership was informed that they would only make a purchase with a Kazakh passport or residence permit. When I asked if it was possible to somehow agree another, they offered one thing – to look for a local through which you can buy. There are no ready-made middlemen at the salon, it seems that they are not at all interested in selling to Russians ”, quotes the interlocutor Moskovsky Komsomolets.
The situation repeated itself in other dealerships. Oleg had to look for an intermediary among local residents using ads on Russian portals and exchange rubles for the tenge.
At the same time, car prices in Kazakhstan are significantly lower than in Russia. So, the new Hyundai i30 can be purchased for 1.87 million rubles instead of 2.05, the foreign car Hyundai Santa Fe costs a little more than 3 million instead of 4.8. According to the analyst, taking into account the dollar exchange rate, it is still profitable to transport premium cars to Russia from Kazakhstan by private order.
The national representative office of the republic did not increase the quotas for the supply of foreign cars to the country, since manufacturers knew where their cars would be sold. According to the publication’s source, it was possible to maintain previous delivery volumes largely because an agreement was reached not to sell cars to Russians.
Earlier it was reported that authorities in Kazakhstan have decided to close a loophole for Russian and Belarusian carriers re-registering vehicles in the republic so they can transport goods to the EU bypassing sanctions.
