‘Car owners’ headache’: how to repair a car under sanctions
There are still cross-border problems with spare parts supplies: delivery time for parts from Europe can take 3-6 months
Repairing a car after an accident in Russia is a difficult quest. Since 2022, most manufacturers have stopped supplying auto parts to the country. At that time, experts scared car owners with a terrible shortage of spare parts and the most popular consumables — oil and air filters, brake pads, discs, shock absorbers, suspension components. However, in 2023-2024, logistics was established through third countries. The situation with spare parts has stabilised but remains difficult. Some original parts for repair have to wait up to six months.
As one of the representatives of the car service company told Realnoe Vremya, finding the necessary part for repair is difficult today, and it takes a long time. The problem is relevant, although the situation with auto parts is gradually improving, member of the board of the Union of Car Workshops of Russia Ilya Plisov confirmed.
Spare parts that are required for regular maintenance — these are spark plugs, filters, pads — are now available in Russia. The problems with them were resolved in 2023.
In general, the situation is difficult not only with the departed Western brands but also with the Chinese that replaced them. “At first, everything was bad with them too, because the Chinese spare parts first arrived and then began to think about how to service the cars,” says Ilya Plisov.
But since the beginning of 2024, at least three Chinese automakers have created their warehouses in Russia where, according to various estimates, 20-40,000 original Chinese spare parts are now stored.
However, this applies to the most popular brands, emphasises Plisov. Since 2022, more than 50 different Chinese brands have arrived in Russia, but only one tenth of them are replenishing warehouses. “Less popular models are less likely to be stocked, that is, filters and brake pads can be found, but there may be problems with glass, hood, headlights damaged in an accident,” he warns.
There are also still cross-border problems with spare parts supplies: delivery time for parts from Europe can take 3-6 months. Deliveries from China are faster — the delivery of components that are not available in Russia can take 2 months.
“We are monitoring the market situation, including prices. Recently, there was hysteria about the prices of auto components for Chinese cars. The media saw the problem when analysing the results of insurance payments. But insurance payments are made for all brands, and recently many premium Chinese cars have arrived in Russia. Accordingly, expensive brands have expensive spare parts, as a result, insurance payments have really increased,” Plisov commented. In general, spare parts for Chinese cars have not become as expensive as the media has presented it — Russians have simply started choosing more premium Chinese brands.
Vice President of the Automobile Service Association Alexander Kazachenko believes that there are no problems with the supply of Chinese spare parts today.
Earlier, he said that auto parts are now imported to Russia from Kyrgyzstan, Turkey, China and Korea.
“As for counterfeit goods, they make up about 50% of ours. Now some people live in the past and think that we can easily sell Mobil 1 oil or any other, but believe me: there will be a horse price tag, 8-9,000 for four litres. If someone buys it cheaper, then it is counterfeit,” he commented. “Now we bring spare parts from Kyrgyzstan, Turkey, China and Korea. There are difficulties with electronic control units for the German 3, keys, adaptation and windshields — all this is very expensive and is brought in a single copy. There are no problems with other spare parts.
The largest car dealers in Tatarstan — TTS and Kan-Auto — preferred not to comment on the newspaper’s request about interruptions in the supply of components from China.