Kazan begins to get rid of taxi fleets with foreign cars
In Kazan, two taxi fleets, consisting entirely of Kia cars, were put up for sale almost simultaneously. Their total cost is almost 110 million rubles. It is noteworthy that this coincided with the discussion of the bill on the use of exclusively domestic cars in taxis. Realnoe Vremya spoke with the owner of the business and an expert about the reasons for such a sale. Read more about it in the report.
“It is sometimes more difficult to find spare parts even for Lada Granta”
Offers for the sale of two Kazan taxi fleets located in Novo-Savinovsky District, not far from Tatneft Arena, appeared on a popular classifieds website. The first, consisting of 88 Kia Rio cars of different years of production (2018-2021) — 18 with manual transmission and 70 with automatic transmission — is valued at 100 million rubles. The second, including nine cars, is sold for 9 million rubles.
The ad for the sale of a large fleet emphasizes that the cars are “transferred with current drivers,” and the occupancy rate is 95%. The seller promises to provide all financial documentation and guarantees the business will pay off in 1.5 years.
Realnoe Vremya contacted the owner to find out the reasons for the sale.
“We are changing the structure of the business. The cars that were to be bought out remain, and we decided to sell the rental cars. This is simply asset optimization,” she said.
When asked about possible problems with car maintenance and repairs, she assured that Kia has this “advantage” compared to other foreign brands.
“Kia Rio is one of the easiest cars to maintain. Spare parts are always available. This is not BMW or Volvo, where they often cause problems. Even for Lada Granta, it is sometimes more difficult to find spare parts,” she said.
Why Kazan residents prefer foreign cars as taxis
The second ad is less informative. It states that all nine cars are licensed and have a manual transmission. The taxi fleet is also 100% full. The seller assures that revenue for 2024 amounted to 5.6 million rubles, while expenses amounted to 1.08 million — this includes OSAGO car insurance, spare parts and employee salaries. All cars are owned.
Dmitry Zolotov explained that taxi companies usually sell cars older than three years, because “they require investment.” He noted that the resource of such cars is already sufficiently exhausted and they need increased attention, especially given the high prices for spare parts.
“Now many use either Chinese or more budget options for taxis. Because the most important thing is not to buy a car, but to maintain it, and these consumables are a problem for all service organizations. Therefore, when taxi companies were just starting to work, they bought several cars at once. Now the time has come when they have to sell them,” he said.
Zolotov also spoke about the use of Russian cars in taxis.
“There are very few domestic cars in general. This is most likely the most budget option. [Their number] in Kazan is difficult to say. There are a lot of such cars in the regions, but they are already quite old and operate in regions with a low income level. In Kazan, more basic and premium classes are used, so these cars simply do not fit the same standard in terms of characteristics and dimensions, the speaker concluded.”