Up to 40% of cars in Russian fleets are in a state of wear and tear and require major repairs. This is reported by Andrei Popkov, deputy chairman of the Taxi Driver trade union.
According to him, the mass transition to Chinese cars has led to a reduction in their average mileage from 250 to 150 thousand kilometers, after which the engine and gearbox need to be replaced. If the trend continues, the wear rate may reach 60% by the end of the year.
Andrei Popkov noted that Chinese cars turned out to be less reliable compared to European, Korean and Japanese models. Problems arise primarily with engines and automatic transmissions, which leads to significant repair costs.
Vice President of the National Automobile Union Jan Heitzer also confirmed to the Parliamentary Gazette that Chinese cars have reliability problems, but noted that it is premature to scrap them. In his opinion, taxi fleets will choose the most reliable models, which will help smooth out the situation.
In addition, according to Igor Korovkin, executive director of the Association of Russian Automobile Manufacturers, Russian dealers face delays in the supply of spare parts from China due to problems with payments through Chinese banks. These delays also affect the cost and time of car repairs.
In response to the problems, a bill on cab localization has been proposed, which was passed in the first reading by the State Duma in January this year. This bill is aimed at stimulating sales of domestic cars and developing the auto component industry. The bill is at the stage of finalization, and one of the government's proposals suggests assessing the level of localization by country of production, which may encourage the opening of production facilities in Russia.
Earlier, the service “Yandex Go” predicted that by the end of the year due to a shortage of drivers, prices for cab services will increase significantly. The expert also explained in which cases a cab driver can refuse a passenger a ride.